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■7^ 

NARRATIVE 


OF 


THE  EXPEDITION  OF  AN  AMERICAN  SQUADRON 


TO 


THE  CHINA  SEAS  AND  JAPAN,^^ 

PEKFOKMED    IN    THE    YEAES    1852,  1853,  and   1854, 

UNDER  THE  COMMAND   OF 

/ 

COMMODORE  M.  C.  PERRY,  UNITED  STATES  NAVY, 

/ 

BY  ORDER  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


COMPaED    FROM   THE  ORIGINAL   NOTES  AND  JOURNALS  OP   COMMODORE  PERRY  AND   HIS  OFFICERS,  AT  HIS  REQrEST,  AND 

UNDER    HIS   SUPERVISION, 

By   FRANCIS    L.    HAWKS,   D.  D.  L.  L.  D. 

WITH   NUMEROUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


'4-0-!^-.^ ^t-+ 


WASHINGTON: 

A.  O.  P.  NICHOLSON,  PRINTER 
1856. 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


Pkompted  in  a  great  degree  Ly  feelings  of  personal  friendship  for  Commodore  Perry,  the 
compiler  of  the  following  pages  yielded  to  his  earnest  request,  enforced  as  it  was  hy  that 
of  other  fi-iends,  and  consented  to  undertake  the  task  of  preparing  this  Narrative  of  the 
United  States'   Expedition   to   Japan. 

And  here  it  is  proper  to  mention,  that  among  the  expressed  motives  which  induced  the 
Commander  of  the  Expedition  to  desire  the  execution  of  the  work  hy  other  hands  than  his 
own,  none  seemed  more  prominent  than  this  consideration :  that,  as  the  facts  here  emhodied 
were  to  he  gathered  not  merely  from  the  jiages  of  his  own  journal,  hut  from  those  also  of 
several  of  his  officers,  as  well  as  from  their  official  reports  to  him,  he  thought  it  hotter  to 
confide  the  compilation  to  a  disinterested  third  jiarty,  who  might  weave  the  various  mate- 
rials into  a  connected  narrative  of  all  the  important  events,  uninfluenced  hy  that  partiality 
for  his  own  words  or  acts,  from  which,  owing  to  the  infirmities  of  human  nature,  the  most 
honest  and  hest  of  men  arc  not  always  entirely  exempt. 

As  the  sole  ohject  on  the  part  of  the  Commander  was  to  afford  to  his  government  and 
countrymen  the  most  ample  account  he  could  of  what  had  heen  done  hy  himself,  hia 
officers,  and  men — as  in  this  respect  he  had  nothing  to  conceal,  as  lie  wished  to  present 
truly  all  of  interest  that  had  been  observed  either  by  himself  or  others,  and  to  do  justice 
to  the  deserving  officers  who  had  so  effectually  sustained  him  in  his  plans  for  carrying  out 
a  new,  delicate,  and  arduous  work — he  deemed  it  best  to  place  in  the  liands  of  the  compiler, 
without  reserve,  cdl  the  materials  in  his  possession,  whether  from  his  own  pen,  or  furnished 
hy  the  labor  of  others,  and  to  request  nothing  more  than  that  the  prejiaration  of  the 
work  might  be  conducted  in  a  spirit  conformable  to  the  ends  and  wishes  just  expressed. 

The  materials  were  abundant  and  varied.  Beside  the  manuscript  journal  of  the  Commo- 
dore, in  three  large  folios,  and  his  official  correspondence ;  the  journals  of  his  secretary  and 
other  officers,  the  diaries  of  the  fleet  captain  and  flag-lieutenants,  the  official  reports  of 
gentlemen  detailed  for  special  duties,  and  the   public  documents   connected  with  the  Expe- 


IV  PREFATORY     NOTE. 

dition,  were  all  placed  in  the  liaads  of  tlie  ■writer.     Of  these,  the  Commodore's  journal  and 
official  correspondence  form  much  the  larger  part.* 

The  vrork  to  be  performed  was  that  of  a  compiler  merely.  With  no  responsibility  as  to 
the  facts  related,  tlie  writer  believed  his  appropriate  duty  to  be  simply  to  weave  into  a 
connected  narrative  all  of  interest  or  importance  that  could  be  gathered  from  these  various 
materials,  and  to  present,  in  chronological  order,  the  incidents  of  the  Expedition.  Eminently 
suggestive,  as  were  many  portions  of  the  story,  the  compiler  felt  that  it  was  his  business 
to  deal  with  the  fads  only,  and  spare  the  reader  the  infliction  of  his  reflections  ou  them. 

The  book,  therefore,  is  but  little  encumbered  with  the  writer's  observations  or  conjectures 
on  the  incidents  related.  Where  a  momentary  digression  from  the  story  does  occur,  the 
remarks  it  embodies  are  generally  those  of  the  Commodore  himself  In  many  instances,  the 
language  of  the  Narrative  is  a  verbatim  copy  from  his  journal.  Wherever  it  was  possible 
thus  to  use  his  manuscript,  it  was  done,  as  being  the  course  most  likely  to  avoid  error. 
Every  word  of  the  work  was  read  to  the  Commodore  in  manuscript,  and  received  his 
correction  before  it  went  into  the  printer's  hands  ;  every  proof  sheet  also  was  read  by  him 
before  it  was  sent  back  to  the  press.  In  order  to  expedite  the  preparation  and  publication 
of  the  work  as  much  as  possible,  and  place  it,  at  an  early  period,  in  the  hands  of  Con- 
gress, as  the  labor  was  that  of  compilation  only,  the  present  writer,  with  the  approbation 
of  Commodore  Perry,  availed  himself  of  the  kindness  of  a  competent  literary  gentleman,! 
who  assisted  him  in  the  work  of  comparing  the  various  journals,  documents,  &c.,  arranging 
chronologically  the  incidents  gathered  from  all  sources,  and  presenting  them  in  a  connected 
form.  Some  portions  of  the  story  were  also,  in  the  first  instance,  sketched  by  this 
gentleman,  and  after  undergoing  the  revision  of  the  present  writer,  were  incorporated  by 
him  into  the  Narrative,  and  then  submitted  to  the  Commodore  for  his  corrections  and 
suggestions.  Some  of  the  descriptions  of  scenery  were  thus  prepared,  as  well  as  portions 
of  the  Narrative  relating  to  the  two  vistis  to  Japan.  By  means  of  this  valuable  aid,  the 
whole  story  was  written  out  in  loss  than  a  twelvemonth  from  the  time  its  jmblication 
was  ordered  by  Congress,   a  result  -frhich   would   otherwise   have  been  unattainable.      The 


*The  Commodore,  unwilling  to  appropriate  what  may  belong  to  others,  desires  here  to  acknowledge  the  use  of  the  journals 
of  the  captain  of  the  fleet,  Commander  Adams,  of  tlie  flag-lieutenants,  Mr.  Contee  and  Mr.  Bent,  those  of  Purser  Harris, 
Mr.  Perry,  (Commodore's  secretary,)  Mr.  Bayard  Taylor  and  Chaplain  Jones  ;  the  reports  of  Captains  Abbot,  Buchanan, 
and  Adams,  Commandants  Boyle,  Kelly,  and  Glasson,  Chaplain  Jones,  Mr.  Williams,  Chinese  interpreter,  and  Doctors 
Green  and  Fahs ;  the  services  of  Mr.  Portman,  Dutch  interpreter,  and  of  the  artists,  Mr.  W.  Heine  and  Mr.  E.  Brown,  jr. 
In  the  hydrographical  department  he  would  specially  acknowledge  the  accurate  and  laborious  work  of  Lieutenants  W. 
L.  Maury  and  S.  Bent.  Nor  would  he  pass  by  without  notice  minor  contributions  from  any  under  his  command  ;  to  all 
ho  would  render  due  credit  and  thanks. 

1  Robert  Tomes,  Esq.,  M.D. 


PREFATORY     NOTE.  V 

compiler  makes  this  statement,  not  only  to  acknowledge  the  kindness  of  a  friend,  but 
also  to  guard  himself  against  the  suspicion  of  being  willing  to  appropriate,  without 
recognition,  the  labors  of  another. 

As  to  the  Narrative  itself,  the  highest  ambition  of  the  writer  was  to  tell  the  story,  if 
he  could,  in  such  manner  as  would  not  only  present  a  true  picture,  but  also  keep  alive 
the  interest  of  the  reader  ;  his  wish  was  to  make  a  book  that  might  furnish  information 
without  being  wearisome.  If  in  this  he  has  succeeded,  he  has  attained  all  to  which  he 
aspired.     If  he  has  not,  he  has  only  to  say  that  he  will  feel  more  of  regret  than  surprise. 

In  some  instances  he  may  be  thought  to  be  needlessly  minute,  and  especially  in  describing 
the  pageantry  of  receptions,  entertainments,  &c.  In  this  matter  he  felt  obliged  to  consult 
something  beside  his  own  taste  merely ;  he  was  looking  to  the  natural  curiosity  of  his 
countrymen  to  know  every  particular  of  the  story,  and  therefore  preferred  to  tell  too  much 
rather  than  too  little.  Beside,  the  pageantry  was  often  an  important  part  of  the  history 
of  the  negotiation  itself,  with  a  people  so  ceremonious  as  the  Japanese. 

Nor  did  the  compiler  hesitate  to  use  freely  the  materials  placed  before  him  in  the  shape 
of  journals,  &c.,  even  though  the  substance  of  some  portions  of  them  is  already  in  the  hands 
of  the  public.  They  were  originally  prepared  for  just  such  use  as  is  here  made  of  them ; 
the  report  was  designed  to  tell  the  incidents  of  the  whole  story  fi-om  beginning  to  end ;  and 
the  compiler  was  directed  simply  to  use  the  materials  that  had  been  furnished  him.  It 
was  not  for  him  to  omit  facts  because  others  had  already  related  them. 

In  but  one  respect  did  he  venture  to  exercise  any  discretion.  His  duty  required  that  he 
should  tell  aU  that  occurred  from  the  moment  the  Mississippi  left  the  Capes  of  the  Chesa- 
peake. As,  however,  the  chief  interest  of  the  Expedition  was  to  be  found  in  events  that 
occurred  in  China,  Lew  Chew,  the  Bonin  Islands,  and  Japan,  he  endeavored  to  make  as 
brief  as  duty  would  permit  the  incidents  of  the  earlier  part  of  the  outward  voyage,  sensible 
that  but  little  new  remained  to  be  said  in  passing  over  a  track  so  often  traversed  and  so 
well  known  by  intelligent  Europeans  and  Americans.  Still  he  believes  he  has  omitted 
nothing,  which  his  materials  furnished,   that  is  likely  to  interest  the  general  reader. 

Distance  from  the  press  has  occasioned  some  typographical  errors,  which  the  intelligent 
reader  will  readily  correct  for  himself ;  there  are  probably  other  errors ;  for  these  the  other 
duties  of  the  compiler  and  the  circumstances  of  his  position  will,  he  hopes,  be  accepted  as 
an  apology.* 


*  This  Tolume  will  bo  followed  by  three  others,  as  soon  as  the  labors  of  the  government  press  can  produce  them. 
They  are  prepared.  Appendix,  vol.  1,  will  contain  the  Natural  History  and  Illustrations,  witli  various  reports  ;  vol.  2  will 
embrace  the  Astronomical  Observations;  and  vol.  .1  the  Hydrography  of  the  Expedition. 


VI  AUTHENTICATION     OP     THE     NARRATIVE, 

The  Narrative  here  presented  of  tlie  Japan  Expedition  has  been  prepared  under  my 
supervision  and  at  my  request,  from  materials  furnished  by  me,  and  is  authentic.  I 
present  it  as  my  official  report,  and  am  alone  responsible  for  the  statement  of  facts  it 
contains. 

M.  C.  PERRY,  Laic  Commamlcr-in-cldef 
of  the  United  Slates  Expedition  to  the  China  Seas  and  Japan. 
New  York,  January  1,  1856. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Ijjtbodcction 3 71 

CHAPTKR  I. 

Probabilities  of  a  successful  mission  from  the  United  States  to  Japan. — Such  a  mission  proposed  to  the  Govern- 
ment by  Commodore  Perry. — Expedition  resolved  on. — Vessels  selected  for  the  sijuadron. — Vexatious  delay 
in  their  equipment. — Commodore  Perry  sent  in  the  Mississippi  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. — Applications 
of  scientific  men  to  join  the  expedition  refused. — Causes  of  such  refusal. — Dr.  Von  Siebold. — Visit  of  the 
President  and  Secretary  of  the  Na\'y  to  Annapolis  to  take  leave  of  the  expedifiion. — Failure  of  the  machinery 
of  the  steamship  Princeton  on  the  passage  down  Chesapeake  Bay. — Substitution  of  steamer  Powhatan  in 
place  of  the  Princeton. — Final  departure  of  Commodore  Perry  on  the  mission  with  the  Mississippi  alone. -         75 — SO 

CHAPTER  II. 

Voyage  from  the  capes  of  the  Chesapeake  to  Madeira. — View  of  the  island. — Fimchal. — Hospitality  of  the  in- 
habifcints. — Salubrity  of  the  climate. — Exports  of  the  island. — Novel  mode  of  conveyance. — Departure  from 
Madeira  and  arrival  at  the  Canaries. — Early  failure  of  northeast  trades. — Extraordinary  swell  from  the 
northwest. — General  order  as  to  private  journals  and  coramimications  to  public  ijrints. — General  order  as 
to  scientific  investigations  by  officers. — The  "Harmattan,"  consideration  of  hypotheses  as  to  its  origin. — 
Southeast  trades. — Ship  steered  for  St.  Helena. — Observations  on  the  currents. — Chaplain's  observations  on 
the  zodiacal  lights. — Arrival  at  St.  Helena. — Description  of  the  island. — Jamestown. — Longwood. — Tomb 
of  Napoleon. — The  calculating  hospitality  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  island. — Adventure  of  Lieutenant 

. — Fortifications  of  the  island. — ^Their  sufficiency  against  sailing  vessels. — Probable  insufliciency 

against  an  ajiproach  from  the  west  by  steam. — Departure  from  St.  Helena 81 — 96 

CHAPTER  m. 

Passage  to  the  cape. — Fuel  for  steamers. — Table  rock  and  Cape  Town. — Description  of  Cape  Town. — Climate. — 
Annoyance  from  dust. — Violence  of  winds  and  difficulty  of  holding  to  anchorage. — Supplies  at  the  cape. — 
C'affre  war  and  its  effects. — Mode  of  transporting  produce  on  laud. — Vineyards  of  Constantia. — Effects  of 
emancipation  of  slaves  on  agricultural  labor. — Mode  of  cultivating  the  vine. — Population  of  Cape  Colony. — 
Bushmen. — The  Caffres. — Physical  characteristics. — Fingoes. — Military  organization  of  Caffres. — Condition 
of  tlie  emancipated  slaves. — Departure  from  Table  Bay. — Passage  to,  and  arrival  at,  Mauritius. — Harbor  of 
Port  Louis. — Dangers  of  the  harbor. — SkUl  of  port  officers  in  mooring  vessels 97 — lOG 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Mauritius,  its  discovery. — Geological  formation  and  physical  aspect. — Production  of  sugar. — Effect  on  agricul- 
ture of  the  abolition  of  slaverj-. — Coolies. — Population  of  the  island. — State  of  feeling  between  English 
and  French  residents. — Hospitable  treatment  of  the  expedition. — Description  of  Port  Louis. — Grand  Port. — - 
Paul  and  Virginia. — Facts  on  which  St.  Pierre  founded  his  story. — ^Tombs  of  Paul  and  Virginia. — Built  by 
an  eccentric  Frenchman. — Cyclones. — Their  probable  causes. — Ijitercst  felt  in  them  at  Mauritius. — Depart- 
ure of  the  Mississippi  from  Port  Louis. — Her  course  thence  to  Point  de  Galle,  island  of  Ceylon. — Reasons 
for  taking  it. — Point  de  Galle,  description  of.— Great  rendezvous  of  steamers. — Difficulty  of  procuring  fuel 
there. — American  consul. — Tlioughts  on  consular  system. — Early  knowledge  of  Ceylon. — Its  several  Euro- 
pean po8.scssors. — Climate. — .Siilubrity. — Causes  of  its  diminislied  prosperity. — Productions. — Value  of  cocoa- 
nut  palm. — Pearl  fi.shery. — Immense  numbui-s  of  elei>hants. — Great  slaugliter  of  them. — Boa  constrictor. — 
Population  of  Ceylon. — Physique  of  Cingalese,  Malabars,  and  Maliomedans  in  the  island. — Roligious  con- 
dition.— Buddhism. — Pilgrimage  to  the  temples.— Intercourse  witli  a  Siamese  naval  officer  at  Ceylon. — 
Commodore's  letter  to  the  second  king  of  Siam. — Departure  from  Ceylon. — Passage  through  the  Straits  of 
Malacca. — Ai'rival  at  Singapore - - - 107—121 


VIU  CONTENTS. 


CH.VITER  V. 


Page , 


Singapore. — Its  great  coimnerce. — Population. — Rapiil  iuoreasc. — Hospitality  of  a  wealthy  Chinese  merchant. — 
Importance  of  Singapore  to  England. — Coal  depot  at  Singapore. — Physical  aspect  of  the  country. — Agricul- 
tnral  products. — Animals. — Ferocity  of  the  tiger. — Water  Imft'alo. — Passage  from  Singapore  to  Hong  Kong. — 
Currents,  rocks,  tides. — Chinese  fishing  boats. — Arrival  at  Hong  Kong. — Finding  there  sloops-of-\var  Sara- 
toga and  Plymouth  and  store-ship  Supply. — Susquehanna  gone  to  Shanghai. — Disappointment  of  the  Com- 
modore.— Condition  and  prosperity  of  Hong  Kong. — Eim  to  Macao,  thence  to  Whampoa  on  Canton  river. — 
Navigation  of  the  river. — First  impressions  made  hy  the  city. — Disappointed  expectations. — Hospitality-of 
American  consul  at  Canton. — The  hongs  or  factories. — Streets  in  Canton. — Proper  name  of  the  city. — Bocca 
Tigris. — Chinese  forts. — Pirates  on  the  river. — Attempt  to  rob  one  of  the  officers. — Canton  market  place. — 
Trade  of  Canton  with  Europe  and  America - 125 — 138 

CHAPTER  \l. 

Hospitable  treatment  at  Macao. — Usages  of  the  foreign  merchants  toward  visitors. — Depressed  coBdition  of 
Macao. — Description  of  the  place.- — Tauka  boats,  and  girls  who  manage  them. — Cave  of  Camoens. — De- 
parture of  Mississippi  from  Macao. — Saratoga  left  to  bring  Mr.  Williams,  the  interpreter. — Difficulties  of 
navigation  from  Hong  Kong  to  the  mouth  of  Yang-tse-keang. — Entrance  of  the  river  dangerous. — Susque- 
hanna, Plymouth,  and  Supply  all  aground. — Mississippi  saved  by  the  power  of  her  engines  only. — Descrip- 
tion of  Shanghai. — Its  immense  trade. — Cultivation  of  the  country. — Population  of  the  city. — Visit  of  the 
Commodore  to  the  governor  of  the  city. — Chinese  rebellion. — Its  effects. — Plymouth  left  at  Shanghai  to 
protect  American  interests. — Departure  for  Great  Lew  Chew. — Arrival  of  the  squadron  at  the  capital,  Na- 
pha,  the  Saratoga  having  joined  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor 139 — 150 

CHAPTER  Vn. 

Number  and  position  of  islands  of  Lew  Chew. — Their  supposed  political  relations  to  Japan  and  China. — Descrip- 
tion of  the  island  of  Great  Lew  Chew,  as  seen  on  the  first  approach  to  it. — Visit  of  officials  to  the  Susque- 
hanna.— Visit  of  Dr.  Bettelhcim. — Refusal  of  presents,  and  consequent  mortification  of  the  LewChewans. — • 
Exploration  of  the  island  resolved  on  by  the  Commodore. — Daguerreotj-ping  on  shore. — Coral  insect  and  its 
formations. — Second  visit  of  the  authorities  of  Lew  Chew. — Regent  of  the  island  received  by  the  Commo- 
dore.— Friendly  nature  of  the  interview. — Surprise  of  the  Lew  Chewans  at  sight  of  the  steam-engine. — 
Commodore  announces  to  them  his  intention  of  returning  the  visit  at  the  palace  of  Shui.^ — Their  evident 
embarrassment  thereat. — Leave  to  go  on  shore. — Description  of  Napha  and  its  vicinity,  by  one  of  the  offi- 
cers.-— Exploring  party  sets  out,  placed  under  the  command  of  the  chaplain,  Mr.  Jones. — Mr.  Bayard  Taylor 
attached  to  it,  with  orders  to  take  notes  and  furnish  a  detailed  report  of  the  journey. — Negotiations  with 
the  Lew  Chew  authorities  to  obtain  a  house  on  shore. — Their  manifest  opposition. — Commodore  persists 
and  succeeds. — Officers,  when  on  shore,  continually  watched  by  spies. — Captain  Basil  Hall's  account  of  the 
Lew  Chewans  somewhat  exaggerated. — Impressions  made  on  the  officers  as  to  the  character  of  the  natives. — 
Hydrographic  surveys. — Boat  cxerci.se  of  the  crews,  and  drillmg  on  land  of  the  marines 151  — 161 

CILVPTER  VIII. 
Beport  of  an  inland  exploration  of  Great  Lew  Clicw,  by  a  party  from  the  squa<lron,  nn<kr  the  command  of 

Commodore  Perry ]  62 186 

CHAPl'ER  LX. 
Efforts  of  authorities  of  Lew  Chew  to  prevent  a  visit  to  tlie  palace. — All  unsuccessful. — Landing  for  the  visit. — 
Procession. — Appearance  of  the  country. — Reception,  at  the  palace. — Embarrassment  of  the  regent. — Enter- 
tainment at  the  regent's  house. ^Saki. — New  dishes. — Commodore  invites  authorities  to  a  dinner  on  board 
the  Susquehanna. — General  impressions  produced  by  the  visit. — Espionage  still  kept  up. — Daily  exercise  of 
Bailors  and  marines. — Settlement  of  accounts  with  Lew  Chew  authorities. — Mississippi  and  Supply  remain 
at  Lew  Chew. — Susquehanna  and  Saratoga  leave  for  the  Bonin  islands. — Death  of  an  opium  smoker  on  the 
passagc.^Inhimianity  of  Chinese. — Sunday  on  board.— Arrival  at  Port  Lloyd 187—196 

CIIAITER  X. 
Situation  of  Bonin  islands. — First  discovery  of  them. — Europeans  have  no  claim  as  the  discoverers. — Mixed 
character  of  present  settlers. — External  appearance  of  Peel  island. — Geological  fonnation. — Harbor  of  Port 
Lloyd. — Productions  of  the  island,  animal  and  vegetable. — Resort  of  whalers. — Condition  of  present  in- 
habitants.— Commodore  causes  the  island  to  be  explored. — Reports  of  exploring  parties. — Kanakas. — Ex- 
amination of  Stapleton  island,  and  report  thereon. — Survey  of  harbor  of  Port  Lloyd: — L'lnd  purchased  for 
a  coal  depot.— Departure  from  Bonin  islands  on  the  return  to  Lew  Chew.— Disappointment  island. — Its 
true  position.  — Borodinos. — Arrival  at  Naplia ]  97—214 


CONTENTS.  IX 

Tagn. 
CHAPTER  XI. 

(;Uangcs  at  Kapha. — New  regent. — Banquet  on  board  of  the  Susquehanna. — Excessive  dignity  of  the  new  re- 
gent.— %St;iteIiness  of  Lew  Chewans  thawed  out  by  the  dinner. — Guests  sent  home. — Bamboo  village. — In- 
terior of  Lew  Chew  houses. — Men  indolent. — Gossipping  at  Lew  Chew. — Lew  Chew  loom. — Different  classes 
of  the  people. — Their  fear  of  spies. — Slavery  of  peasants. — Causes  of  degradation. — E.\cellence  of  agricul- 
tural cultivation. — Origin  of  population  of  Lew  Chew. — Former  kingdoms  on  the  island. — Relation  of  Lew 
Chew  to  China  and  Japan,  respectivelj-. — Education  in  Lew  Chew. — Religion  of  the  inhabitants. — Christian 
mission  in  Lew  Chew. — Distinctions  of  dress. — People  sell  themselves  as  slaves. — Clanship. — Coin  in  Lew 
Chew. — Sugar  making. — Natural  products  of  the  island - 215 — 227 

CHAPTEK  XU. 

Departure  from  Napha  for  Japan. — Couree  of  the  ships. — Oho-Sima. — Island  seen  by  Commander  GImn,  probably 
Oho-Sima. — Cleopatra  islands. — Currents. — Fourth  of  July  on  hoard. — Approach  to  Cape  Idzu. — Squadron, 
led  by  the  Susquehanna,  enters  the  bay  of  Yedo. — Rock  island. — Hazy  atmosphere  of  Japan. — Surprise  of 
the  Japanese  at  sight  of  the  steamers  moving  against  wind  and  tide. — Bay  of  Sagami. — Appearance  of  the 
coast  and  country  inland. — Fusi-Jama. — Ships  made  ready  for  action. — Fleet  of  Japanese  boats  put  off  from 
the  shore. — Left  behind  by  squadron. — Bay  of  Uniga. — Opposite  coast  of  Awa. — Japanese  forts. — Squadron 
comes  to  anchor  in  the  bay  of  Uraga. — Soundings  on  approaching  the  anchorage. — Japanese  guard-boats 
put  off. — No  one  pennittcd  to  come  on  board  the  ships. — Appearance  of  guard-boats  and  crews. — Skill  of 
the  Japanese  in  managing  their  boats. — Guard-boat  comes  alongside  of  the  Mississippi,  and  Japanese 
functionary  demands  to  come  on  board. — Not  permitted. — Notice  in  the  French  language,  ordering  the 
ships  away,  held  up  to  be  read. — Interpreters  directed  to  inform  the  Japanese  that  the  Commodore  would 
confer  with  no  one  but  the  highest  official  in  Uraga. — Japanese  replied  that  they  had  the  vice  governor  on 
board. — ^This  officer  and  his  interpreter  allowed  to  come  on  board  the  Susquehanna. — Not  permitted  to  see 
the  Commodore. — Conference  with  Lieutenant  Contee,  who  explains  that  the  Americans  have  come  on  a 
friendly  mission,  and  that  the  Commodore  bears  a  letter  from  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  the 
Emperor. — Desires  the  appointment  of  an  officer  of  suitable  rank  to  receive  it  from  the  Commodore. — 
Commodore  refuses  to  go  to  Naga.saki. — Informs  the  .Japanese  officials  that  if  the  guard-boats  are  not 
immediately  removed  he  wUl  disperse  them  by  force. — The  boats  are  withdrawn. — Vice  governor  returns  to 
the  shore,  promising  further  communication  on  the  morrow. — Policy  resolved  on  by  the  Commodore. — 
Meteorological  phenomenon. — Visit  on  the  next  day  from  the  governor  of  Uraga. — Conference  between  him 
and  Commanders  Buchanan  and  Adams. — Second  refusal  of  the  Commodore  to  go  to  Nagasaki. — Deter- 
mination expressed  to  deliver  the  letter  there,  and,  if  necessary,  in  the  city  of  Yedo  itself. — Governor 
proposes  to  refer  the  matter  to  Tedo. — Commodore  assents  and  allows  three  days  for  an  answer. — Survey. 
by  the  squadron's  boats  of  the  bay  of  Uraga,  and  ultimately  of  the  bay  of  Yedo 228 — 242 

CHAPTER  Xin. 

Ileply  from  the  court  at  Yedo. — Efforts  of  the  Japanese  to  get  the  squadron  out  of  the  bay  of  Yedo. — Commo- 
dore's firm  refusal  to  leave  Uraga. — Agreement  of  the  Emperor  to  receive,  through  a  commissioner,  the 
President's  letter. — High  breeding  of  the  Japanese  gentlemen;  not  ill-informed. — Survey  of  the  bay  of 
Yedo. — Fogs  of  Japan. — Second  visit  from  the  governor  of  Uraga. — He  brings  a  letter  from  the  Emperor, 
authorizing  a  prince  of  the  empire  to  receive,  in  his  name,  the  President's  letter. — Arrangements  made  for 
the  Commodore's  reception  on  shore  to  deliver  the  letter. — Minute  attention  of  the  Japanese  to  etiquette 
and  ceremonials. — Preparations  in  the  squadron  for  the  visit  on  shore  at  the  reception. — Ships  brought  near 
the  land,  so  as  to  command  the  place  of  meeting. — Landing  and  reception,  and  delivery  of  the  letter  and 
other  documents. — Princes  of  Idsu  and  Iwama. — Contents  of  President's  letter.— Commodore's  letter  of 
credence,  and  his  letters  to  the  Emperor. — Receipt  given  by  the  Japanese  for  the  papers. — ^Retum  to  the 
ships 213—261 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Ck>iicessions  of  the  Japanese. — Relaxation  of  their  restrictive  laws. — Satisfaction  of  both  Japanese  and  Americans 
at  the  result  of  the  visit  on  shore  and  delivery  of  the  President's  letter. — Visit  of  Keyama  Yezaimen  to  the 
ships. — Impudence  of  the  interpreter  Saboroskc. — The  squadron  goes  further  up  the  bay  towards  the 
capital. — Policy  of  this  movement. — Alarm  of  the  Japanese  gradually  quieted. — Beautiful  scenery  up  the 
bay. — Survey  of  the  bay  continued. — Conviviality  on  board. — Surveying  boats  enter  a  small  river. — Cordial 
greeting  of  the  inhabitants. — Crowd  dispersed  by  a  Japanese  official. — Commodore  transfers  his  pennant 
from  the  Susquehanna  to  the  Mississippi.  —The  last-named  vessel  goes  up  in  sight  of  the  shipping  place  of 
Yedo. — Sinagawa. — Yedo  about  ten  miles  distant  from  the  point  where  the  ships  turned  about. — Good 
depth  of  water  in  Yedo  bay,  probably  almost  up  to  the  city. — The  bay  pretty  thoroughly  explored  and 
6  J 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 


sounded  by  tlie  surveying  parties. — Interchimfre  of  presents  with  tlie  Japanese  officers. — Avowed  sorrow  of 
Japanese  otticials  on  bidding  farewell  to  the  Americans. — Commodore's  reasons  for  not  waiting  for  a  reply 
to  the  President's  letter. — Leaves  Yedo  hay  declaring  his  intention  to  return  in  the  ensuing  spring. — The 
Saratoga  sent  to  Shanghai  to  look  after  American  interestsi. — The  Plymouth  ordered  to  Lew  Chew. — 
Oho-Sima. — Ships  encounter  a  storm. — General  results  of  the  fir.st  visit  of  the  squadron  to  the  hay  of  Yedo.     2G2 — 2T3 

CHAPTER  XV 

Amakirima  islands. — State  of  feeling  in -Lew  Chew. — Commodore's  measures  for  permanent  arraDgcmcnts  with 
the  authorities. — Coal  depot. — Protest  against  espionage. — Tra<Ie  in  open  market. — Letter  to  the  regent. — 
Interview  with  the  regent  — Eritertainments  of  the  Commo<lofe. — During  dinner  the  regent's  answer  is 
brought. — Unsatisfactory  to  the  Commodore, — Letter  handcci  back  to  the  regent,  and  the  Commodore 
prepares  to  leave  the  house. — Informs  the  regent  that  be  mui^t  have  a  satisfactory  answer  on  the  next  day, 
otherwise  he  will  laml  and  take  ix).sscssion  of  the  palace  at  Shui  and  retain  it  until  matters  are  adjusted. — 
Probable  effects  of  hunting  up  the  old  sedan  chair  on  shore  — Commodore's  propositions  all  accepted. — 
Coal  'depot  built. — Visit  to  the  castle  of  Tima-Gusko. — Purchases  in  the  bazaar. — Departure  from  Napha  for 
China. — Plymouth  left  behind  with  orders  to  visit  Bonin  islands  and  make  further  surveys. — Captain  Kelly's 
report  of  the  visit  and  surveys. — Form  of  government  and  constitution  of  the  settlers  on  Peel  island. — 
General  effect  of  this  last  visit  to  hew  Chew. — Arrival  of  the  Vandalia  ;  of  the  Powhatan. — Overhaiiling 
of  the  vessels  of  the  snuadrou  at  Hong  Kong 274 — 286 

CHAPTEK  XVI. 

Alarm  of  Americans  in  China. — Request  fo  Cominoilore  that  he  would  send  a  ship  to  Canton. — Supply  sent. — ■ 
The  rest  of  the  squadron  at  Cum-siug-moon. — Hospital  established  and  house  taken  at  Macao. — Sickness 
in  the  squadron. — Work  kept  up  in  all  departments,  notwithstanding. — Healthiness  of  Canton. — Gluttony 
of  the  Chinese. — Chii>ese  servants. — Chinese  English,  or  "{Mgeon." — Male  dressmakers,  chamber  servants, 
etc. — Chinese  female  feet. — Chinese  guilds. — Beggai-s. — Charitable  institutions. — Thieves. — Boatmen. — 
Laboring  classes.— »Domestic  servants. — Polygamy  and  its  moral  results. — Decadence  of  Macao. — Humbled 
condition  of  the  Portuguese. — Harbor  of  Macoa. — Commodore  establishes  his  depot  for  the  squadron  at 
Hong  Kong. — Pleasant  society  of  Macao. — Powhatan  stationed  at  Whampoa  to  relieve  the  Susquehanna. — 
Supply  still  at  Canton. — Chinese  peaceable  towards  foreigners. — Steamer  "Queen"  chartered  to  protect 
American  interests  in  China  while  the  squadron  should  go  to  Yedo. — Suspicious  movements  of  Russians  and 
French  induce  the  Coinmodore  to  hasten  his  return  to  Japan. — Le.xington  arrives. — The  squadron  ordered 
to  rendezvous  at  Napha,  Lew  Chew. — Orders  received,  jast  a-s  the  squadron  leaves  China,  to  detach  a 
steamer  for  the  use  of  Mr.  McLvne,  American  Commissioner  to  Cliina. — EiobaiTassment  of  the  Commodore 
in  consequence. — His  mode  of  proceeding  to  accomplish  both  the  objects  of  the  government. — Coiiespoud- 
ence  with  Sir  George  Bonham  touching  the  Bonin  islands. — Courtesy  of  the  English  Admiral  Pellew. — 
Squadron  assembles  at  Naplia 2S7— 308 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Increased  cordiality  and  friendly  intercourse  on  the  part  of  the  Lew  Chewans. — Second  visit  of  the  Commodore 
to  the  palace  at  Shui. — Entertainment  by  the  regent. — No  metallic  coin  of  Lew  Chew  to  be  obtained. — 
Rev.  Mr.  Jones'  second  exploration  in  search  of  coal. — Finds  it  at  Shah  hay. — The  mineral  not  valued  by 
the  natives. — Additional  geological  observations  in  Lew  Chew. — Remarkable  salubrity  of  the  island. — 
Tenure  of  lands. — Agriculture. — Ric-e,  potatoes,  sugar,  cotton,  wheat,  barley,  millet,  sugo,  bejine,  peas, 
tobacco,  edible  roots,  fruits,  trees,  (lowers,  etc. — Sugar  mills. — Grain  mills  and  granaries. — Population. — 
Ethnology. — Costume. — Politeness  of  inanner. — General  mtelligeuce. — Architecture. — Uude  attempts  in 
painting  and  sculpture. — Amusements. — Government. — Religion. — Funeral  rites. — Japanese  spies  in  Lew 
Chew. — Departure  for  the  bay  of  Yedo 309 — 520 

CHAPTER  XVin. 

Letter  from  Dutch  Governor  General  of  IiwTiii  arjooimcing  the  death  of  the  Japanese  Emperor. — Commodore's 
reply. — Enumeration  of  the  several  objects  in  view. --Prospects  of  their  attainment  by  the  mission. — Officers 
and  men  left  in  Lew  Chew. — Arrival  of  the  Saratogti. — -Run  to  Yedo  Imy. — Oho-Sima. —Cleopatra  Wes. — 
Mijako-Sima. — All  belong  to  I^cw  Chew  group. — Entrance  of  gulf  or  outer  bay  of  Yedo. — Japanese  charts 
of  little  valne :  made  for  mere  coasting. — Wintry  aspect  of  Japan. — Macedonian  aground. — Hjuilcd  off  by 
the  Mississippi.  — Friendly  offers  of  the  Japanese  to  assist  the  Macedonian.  — Squadron  proceeds  np  the  bay 
ftud  anchors  at  the  "American  anchorage."— Japanese  officials  come  alongside. — Received  by  Captaii» 
Adams  on  the  Powhiitan,  jiursuant  to  the  Comnwdore's  orders. — Tlicy  attempt  to  prevail  on  the  Commo- 
dore to  rcuirn  to  Ilraga,  stating  tliat  the  high  Japanese'  functi<jnarics  were  there  awaiting  his  arrival,  hy 
appointment  of  the  Emperor. — Commodore  declirves  on  accounit  of  safety  of  the  ships. — Visit  on  the  next 


CONTEXTS,  Xi 

day  from  the  officials,  who  reiterate  their  reiiuest.  with  an  assurance  that  the  commissioners  were  ordered 
to  receive  the  Commodore  at  UraE;a  witli  distinguislied  consideration. — Commodore  again  declines. — 
Japanese  ask  that  an  officer  may  be  sent  to  Uraga  to  confer  with  the  commissioners  as  to  a  place  of  meeting. — 
Commodore  consents  that  Captain  Adams  may  hold  such  a  conference,  but  that  the  commissionet's  must 
come  there  to  hold  it. — Japanese  become  alarmed  as  to  the  friendly  feelings  of  the  _Anieric<ms. — ^Their  fears 
allayed. — Survey  of  the  bay  resumed  without  interruption  by  the  Japanese. — Our  boats  forbidden  by  the 
Commodore  to  land. — Japanese  persist  for  several  days  in  desiring  the  Commodore  to  go  to  Uraga  with  the 
ships. — Commodore  invariably  refuses. — At  length  the  Japanese  are  informed  that  the  Commodore  will 
allow  Captain  Adams  to  meet  a  commissioner  on  shore  ne.ar  the  ships,  or  that  he  will  proceed  up  the  bay 
to  Yedo. — Note  from  the  commissioners  to  the  Commodore. — His  reply. — Captain  Adams  sent  down  to 
Uraga  to  communicate  to  the  commissioners  the  Commodore's  reasons  for  detaining  to  take  the  ships  to 
Craga. — Some  of  the  Japanese  accompany  him  in  the  Vandalia. — Interview  of  Captain  Adams  with  the 
commissioners  at  Ui-aga. — Visit  to  Captain  Adams  from  Yezaiman  on  board  the  Vandalia. — Assures  Captain 
Adams  of  the  friendly  disposition  of  the  Emperor. — Vandalia  returns,  and  perceives  ahead  the  squadron 
standing  up  the  bay  toward  Yedo. — The  Japanese  no  longer  urge  going  to  Uraga,  but  suddenly  propose 
Yoku-Hama,  where  the  ships  then  were,  about  eight  miles  from  Yedo. — Commodore  immediately  assents. — 
Buildings  constructed  at  Yoku-Hama. — A  Japanese  .seaman  in  the  squadron  sends  a  letter  to  his  family 
ashore,  by  Yezaiman. — Yezaiman  desires  an  interview  with  him. — The  interview. — Ceremonials  settled  as 
to  the  conferences  on  shore  for  negotiation 321 — 312 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Ships  anchored  in  Yoku-Hama  bay  so  as  to  command  the  shore. — Kanagawa  "treaty  house." — Imperial  barge. — 
Landing  of  the  Commodore. — Description  of  the  Jap.mese  commissioners. — Interpreters. — Servility  to 
superiors. — Negotiations  commenced. — Commodore  submits  a  copy  of  the  treaty  of  the  United  States  \rith 
China  for  consideration. — Death  of  one  of  our  men. — Commodore  proposes  to  buy  a  burial  ground  for 
Americans. — Commissioners  propose  to  send  the  body  of  the  deceased  to  Nagasaki  for  interment. — Commo- 
dore refuses,  and  proposes  to  bury  the  dead  on  Webster's  island. — Commissioners  consent  to  the  interment 
at  Yoku-Hama. — ^The  burial  by  Chaplain  Jones. — Interest  of  the  Japanese  in  the  ceremony. — They  after- 
wards perform  their  own  rites  over  the  covered  grave. — The  Japanese  build  an  enclosure  around  the  spot. — ■ 
Japanese  artists  attempt  the  portraits  of  our  officers. — Answer  to  the  President's  letter. — Informal  confer- 
ence between  Captain  Adams  and  Yeuoske. — Landing  and  delivery  of  the  presents. — Japanese  workmen 
assist  the  Americans  in  preparing  for  their  exhibition. — Negotiations  continued. — Surprise  and  delight  of 
the  Japanese  at  the  telegraph  and  railroad. — Curiosity  of  the  Japanese  in  examining  mechanism. — -Passion 
for  buttons. — Note-taking  of  everything  strange  to  them — Love  of  pictures. — Drawings. — Common  people 
disposed  to  social  intercourse  with  the  Americans. ^Excitement  on  Chaplain  Bittinger's  attempt  to  reach 
Yedo  by  land. — Written  reply  of  commissioners,  declining  to  make  a  treaty  like  that  of  the  United  States 
with  China. — Further  negotiations. — Accuracy  of  the  Japanese  in  noting  all  the  discussions. — Ports  of 
Simoda  and  Hakodadi  agreed  to,  but  with  great  difficulty  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese 343 — 366 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Cordiality  between  Japanese  and  Americans. — Presents  from  the  .lapanese. — Coins. — Singular  custom  of  includ- 
ing rice,  charcoal,  and  dogs,  in  a  royal  Japanese  present. — .Japanese  wrestlers. — Their  immense  size  and 
strength. — Exhibition  in  the  ring. — Contrast  in  the  exhibition  of  the  telegraph  and  locomotive. — Parade 
of  the  marines. — Yeuoske  visits  the  flag-ship,  and  seeks  to  draw  the  Commodore  out. — Failure. — Entertain- 
ment of  the  Chinese  commissioners  on  board  the  flag-ship. — Great  cordiality.-  Peformance  on  ship-board  of 
"Ethiopian  minstrels,"  to  the  great  amusement  of  the  Japanese. — Negotiations  continued. — Japanese 
object  to  the  immediate  opening  of  the  ports. — Finally  concede  the  point  to  a  certain  extent. — Absolute 
and  persistent  refusal  to  allow  Americans  permanently  to  abide  in  Japan. — Reluctant  consent,  after  much 
discussion,  to  allow  one  consul  to  reside  at  Simoda. — Treaty  finally  agreed  on  and  signed. — Presents  by 
Commodore  to  the  commissioners,  that  to  the  chief  being  the  American  flag. — Entertaiinnent  of  the  Com- 
modore and  his  officers  by  the  commissioners. — Peculiarities  of  the  mi.ssion  to.Iapan. — Obstacles  to  making 
any  treaty  at  all. — Disposition  of  the  Japanese  shoNvn  in  the  conferences. — Particular  refus:il  to  make  a 
treaty  allo^viug  American  families  or  females  to  live  in  Japan. — Analysis  of  the  treaty. — Commodore  care- 
ful to  secure  for  the  United  States  all  privileges  that  might  thereafter  be  granted  by  treaty  to  other 
nations.— Case  of  the  American  schooner  Foote 367 — 392 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Departure  of  Commander  Adanu  for  the  United  States,  with  the  treaty. — Visits  of  the  Commodore  and  officers 
on  shore. — Imperturbable  composure  of  Yenoske  when  charged  with  falsehood. — Call  upon  the  Maj'or  of 
Yoku-Hama.. — The  ladies  of  his  household. — Disgusting  fashion  of  dyeing  their  teeth. — Use  of  rouge. — En- 


XU  CONTENTS, 


Togo. 


fortainracnt  of  the  Commodore. — -The  Mayor's  baby. — 'ITie  common  people  very  comfortable. — Field  labors 
shared  by  the  women. — Straw  great-coat  for  rainy  weather. — -Paper  umbrellas. — People  not  indisposed  to 
intercourse  with  foreigners. — Respectful  treatment  of  the  female  sex. — Japanese  un-oriental  in  this  re- 
spect.— Polygamy  not  practised. — Japanese  women  naturally  good-looking.  ^-Some  strikingly  handsome. — 
Girls  have  great  vivacity,  yet  dignified  and  modest. — Social  habits. — Visits. — ^Tea  parties. — Squadron,  after* 
notice  to  the  Japanese  authorities,  proceeds  up  the  bay  with  some  of  the  officials  on  board. — Powhatan  and 
Mississippi  go  within  sight  of  the  capital. — Its  immense  size. — Sea  front  protected  by  high  palisades. — 
Change  of  Japanese  policy  on  the  second  visit  to  Tedo. — All  show  of  military  resistance  studiously  avoided. — 
Tlie  Commodore  assures  the  Japanese  officials  that  he  will  not  anchor  the  steamers  near,  the  city,  and,  after 
a  glance,  at  their  request,  returns. — Great  joy  of  the  officials  thereat. — -Preparations  for  departure. — Mace- 
donian ordered  to  Peel  island. — Southampton,  Supply,  Vandalia,  and  Lexington  sent  to  Simoda. — Webster 
island. — Departure  of  the  Commodore  for  Simoda. — Harbor  examined. — Tlie  town  and  adjacent  country. — 
Shops  and  dwellings. — Public  baths. — Food. — Mode  of  cultivation.  — Buddhist  temples. — Grave-yards  and 
tombs. — Statues  of  Buddha. — Offerings  of  flowers  on  the  graves. — Epitaphs  or  inscriptions. — -Charms  for 
keeping  away  fom  the  dead  malignant  demons. — A  temple  appropriated  for  the  occupancy  of  our  officers. — 
A  Sintoo  temple. — Mariner's  temple. — S;ilubrity  of  Simoda. — Made  an  imperial  city  since  the  treaty 393—1 II 

CHAPTER  XXn. 

Survey  and  description  of  the  harbor  of  Simoda. — Discipline  in  the  squadron. — Intercourse  with  the  authorities 
of  Simoda. — Kura-kawa-kahei,  the  prefect. — His  disposition  to  produce  trouble. — Treatment  of  the  Ameri- 
can officers. — Remonstrances  of  the  Commodore. — Equivocation  of  the  prefect. — He  is  frightened  into  pro- 
priety.— Eftbrts  of  two  Japanese  gentlemen  clandestinely  to  leave  their  country  in  the  squadron. — Commo- 
dore's conduct. — Buddhist  temples  at  Simoda. — Prefect  .again  shows  his  petty  hostility. — His  prevarications 
and  falsehoods. — Funeral  of  an  American  on  shore. — Insult  offered  to  American  officers  on  shore. — Pre- 
fect's further  falsehoods. — Compelled  to  apologize,  and  informed  that  his  insolence  would  not  be  borne  in 
future. — Friendly  intercourse  with  the  people. — Departure  for  Hakodadi. — Volcano  of  Oho-Sima. — ^Tho 
Kuro-siwo,  or  Japanese  "gulf  stream." — Straits  of  Sangar. — Fogs. — Harbor  of  Hakodadi. — Directions  for 
entering 415 — 432 

CHAPTER  XXni. 

Visit  from  the  authorities  at  Hakodadi. — Their  ignorance  that  a  treaty  had  been  made. — Visit  to  authorities 
and  explanation  of  affairs  to  the  Japanese. — Answer  of  the  officials  at  Hakodadi. — Their  friendliness  and 
courtesy. — Visits  and  rambles  of  the  Americans  on  .shore. — Houses  allotted  for  their  temporary  accommo- 
dation.— Description  of  Hakodadi. — Resemblance  to  Gibi-altar. — Cleanliness  of  streets. — Pavements  and 
Bewers. — Division  into  districts  under  Ottonas. — Pack-horses  used;  no  wheel-carriages. — Town  very  thriv- 
ing.— Buildings  described. — Preparations  against  fires  in  the  city. — Skill  of  carpenters  and  house-joiners. — 
Shops,  their  construction  and  goods. -^Carvings  in  wood. — Furniture. — Chairs  and  tables. — Fashion  in  eat- 
ing.— Tea,  how  prep.ared  ;  fire  for  boiling  the  kettle. — ^Kitchens,  stables,  and  gardens. — Fire-proof  ware- 
houses.— Traffic  at  the  shops. — .Buddhist  temples. — ^Grave-yards. — Praying  by  machinery. — Inscriptions  on 
tombs.— Sintoo  temples. — Shrines  by  the  way-side. — Gateways  on  the  roads. — Prospects  for  Christianity  in 
Jap.an. — Weak  military  defences  of  Hakokadi. — Surrounding  country. — Look-out  for  ships  approaching. — 
Japanese  telescope. — Geology  of  the  country. — Mineral  spring. — Natural  cave. — Culinary  vegetables. — 
Commerce  and  fisheries. — Japanese  junks. — Ship-yards. — Few  birds. — Fish  abund.mt. — Wild  quadrupeds. — 
Fox  considered  as  the  devil. — Horses  much  used. — Kagos. — Climate  of  Hakodadi. — Population  and  physical 
characteristics  of  the  people. — iVinos  or  hairy  kuriles. — Mechanical  skill  of  the  .lapanese. — Carpentry  and 
masonry. — Coopers. — Iron  ore  workers. — Blacksmiths,  their  bellows. — Copper  much  u.sed  in  junk  building. 
— Spinning  and  weaving. — Dyed  cottons. — Silk  fabrics. — Lacquered  ware. — Printing,  drawing,  and  paint- 
ing.— Sculpture. — Architecture. — General  intelligence. — Information,  derived  through  the  Dutch  at  Na- 
gasaki, from  European  publications. — Japanese  game  of  chess. — Cards. — Loto. — Ball  and  jackstraws  among 
the  children _ 433—468 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Interview  between  the  Commodore  and  the  representative  of  the  prince  of  Matsmai. — Southampton  sent  to  ex- 
plore Volcano  bay,  including  Endermo  harbor. — Report  of  the  survey. — Poverty  of  the  region  around  the 
bay. — Eruption  of  a  volcano  at  midnight. — Ainos. — Boundaries  of  Americans  at  Hakodadi  left  to  be  settled 
with  the  imperial  commissioners. — Good  understanding  between  the  Americans  and  people  of  Hakodadi. — 
Japanese  delighted  with  the  exhibition  of  the  "Ethiopian  minstrels"  on  board  ship. — -Squadron  theatricals. 
— Interest  of  Japanese  in  the  machinery  and  fire-arms  of  the  ships. — Answer  of  Hakodadi  authorities  to 
Commodore's  inquiries  as  to  European  or  American  vessels  wrecked  in  .Japan  during  the  last  ten  years.^ 
Answer  of  the  imperial  commissioners  to  similar  inquiries. — Macedonian  sails  for  Simoda. — Vandalia  des- 


CONTENTS.  XUl 

Pngc. 
pntchod  for  China  l\v  tlie  wostoin  ptissago. — Japanese  ofiScers  desire  a  conference  witli  the  Commodore. — 

Fh\g-Iieutenant  sent  ashore  to  briiis;  tliem  on  board. — Disrespectful  conduct  of  the  officers. — Flag-lieuten- 
ant returns  without  them. — Japanese  officers  finally  come  off  in  their  own  boat. — Not  allowed  to  see  the 
Commodore  until  ther  apologize  for  their  behavior. — Apology  accepted. — Conference  results  in  nothing 
but  a  further  illustration  of  Japanese  finesse. — Burials  of  Americans  at  Hakodadi. — Respect  shown  for  the 
ceremonies  by  the  Japanese. — Buddhist  priest  performs  his  funeral  ceremonies  after  the  Americans  retire. — 
Services  in  a  Buddhist  temple. — Japanese  erect  a  fence  around  the  American  graves. — Sailor's  epitaph  com- 
posed by  his  shipmates. — Block  of  granite  presented  by  the  Japanese  at  Hakodadi  for  the  Washington 
monument. — Volcano  of  Oho-Sima. — Arrival  at  Simoda. — Meetiug  with  the  comrais-sioners. — Boundaries  at 
Hakodadi  settled. — Appointment  of  pilots  and  harbor-master  agreed  on. — Value  of  Japanese  and  Ameri- 
can money  respectively  fixed. — Additional  regulations  between  the  commissioners  and  Commodore  agreed 
to  and  signed. — Coal  supplied  at  Simoda. — Its  comparative  quality  and  value. — Cost  of  various  articles 
furnished  to  the  ships. — Another  block  of  stone  for  the  Washington  monument  presented  by  the  imperial 
commissioners  at  Simoda. — Japanese  present  of  dogs  to  the  President. — Sam  Patch  has  an  interview  with 
the  officials  of  his  country. — Refuses  to  go  on  shore  or  leave  the  ship. — Praiseworthy  conduct  of  a  marine 
towards  Siim. — "Dan  Ketch." — Japanese  punishment  of  crucifixion. — Practice  of  the  "Hari-kari"  or  "Hap- 
py-despatch."— Departure  from  Sunoda. — Macedonian  and  supply  sent  to  Formosa  and  Philippines. — Red- 
field  rocks. — Party  sent  on  shore  for  observation  of  Oho-Sima. — Arrival  at  Lew  Chew. — Southampton  or- 
dered to  Hong  Kong. — Powhatan  and  Mississippi  come  to  anchor  at  Xapha 467 — 190 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Preparations  for  final  departure  from  the  Japanese  waters. — Macedonian  and  Supply  ordered  to  Formosa. — In- 
structions to  Captain  Abbot,  of  the  Macedonian,  to  touch  at  the  Philippines  on  his  way  from  Formosa  to 
China. — Mississippi,  Powhatan,  and  Southampton  proceed  to  Lew  Chew. — State  of  affairs  in  Lew  Chew.^ 
Supposed  murder  of  an  American  by  Lew  Chewans. — Trial  of  Lew  Chewans  for  murder  by  their  own  au- 
thorities on  the  Commodore's  demand. — Description  of  a  Lew  Chew  court  of  justice. — Accused  made  to 
plead  by  punches  in  the  ribs. — Accused  convicted  and  brought  to  the  Commodore  for  punishment. — He 
hands  them  over  to  their  ovra  authorities. — They  are  banished. — New  Tear's  customs. — Coal  removed  from 
the  depot  to  the  ships. — Compact  or  treaty  made  with  Lew  Chew. — Present  from  the  Lew  Chewans  to  the 
Commodore. — A  stone  for  the  Washington  monranent. — Effort  of  a  Japanese  to  come  oft'  in  the  squadron 
to  the  United  States. — Parting  entertainment  to  Lew  Chew  authorities. — Departure  of  the  squadron  for 
China. — Macedonian's  visit  to  Formosa. — Unavailing  search  for  Americans  supposed  to  have  been  wrecked 
on  the  island. — Explorations  by  Chaplain  Jones  for  coal. — Found  in  abundance  and  of  good  quality. — 
Survey  of  the  harbor  of  Kelung. — Lying  and  cunning  of  the  Formosans. — Run  to  Manilla. — Very  stormy 
passage. — Marine  volcanoes  in  the  neighborhood  of  Formosa. — Inquiries  at  Manilla  into  the  murder  of 
certain  Americans. — Satisfactory  conduct  of  the  Spanish  authorities  in  the  matter. — Delivery  by  Captain 
Abbot  to  the  Governor  of  six  Sillibaboos  that  had  been  picked  up  at  sea  by  Lieutenant  Commanding  Boyle, 
of  the  Southampton,  floating  in  an  open  boat. — Remarkable  distance  that  they  had  drifted. — Physical  appear- 
ance of  the  Sillibaboos. — Voyage  of  Macedonian  to  Hong  Kong. — Captain  Kelly's  handling  of  the  Chinese 
pirates  and  imperial  troops;  forces  them  to  make  repjiration. — Chastisement  of  the  Chinese  by  the  joint 
action  of  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Plymouth  and  of  those  of  her  Britannic  Majesty's  ships  Encounter 
and  Grecian. — ^The  Commodore,  by  leave  fiom  the  Navy  Department,  turns  over  the  command  to  Captain 
Abbot,  and  returns  home  by  the  overland  route. — On  the  arrival  gf  the  Mississippi  in  New  York,  on  the 
23d  of  April,  the  Commodore  repairs  on  board,  and  formally  hauling  down  his  flag,  terminates  the  expedi- 
tion      491—508 

SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTER. 

Commander  Adams  arrives  in  the  United  States  with  the  treaty. — Submitted  by  the  President  and  ratified  by 
the  Senate. — Commander  Adams  sent  back  with  authority  to  exchange  ratifications. — Arrives  at  Simoda 
after  an  absence  of  little  more  than  nine  months. — Altered  aspect  of  the  place  from  the  effects  of  an  earth- 
quake.— Japanese  account  of  the  calamity. — Loss  of  Russian  ship-of-war  Diana.  -Russians  make  a  treaty 
exactly  like  ours,  with  a  substitution  merely  of  Nagasaki  for  Napha  as  one  of  the  three  ports, — French 
ship  brings  in  two  shipwrecked  Japanese. — Authorities  refuse  to  receive  them  except  from  under  our  flag, 
having  no  treaty  with  France. — Men  taken  on  board  the  Powhatan,  and  then  received  by  their  country- 
men.— Energy  of  Japanese  in  rebuilding  Simoda. — Freedom  of  intercouree  with  the  people. — No  more 
espionage. — Brisk  traffic  at  the  shops. — Delivery  to  Captain  Adams  of  some  religious  tracts  left  at  Simoda 
by  Mr.  Bittinger. — Japanese  had  learned  to  manage  the  locomotive,  but  not  the  telegraph. — Moryama 
Yenoske  promoted.  -Message  from  the  commissioners  to  Commodore  Perry. — Ratifications  exchanged 509 — 512 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTEATIOjXS. 


LITHOGRAPHS. 

Tngn. 

"Mississippi"   passing  Point  Atristow Heixe  &  Bnoirs 81 

Loo  Rock  and  Pontinlia,  Miidcira HErxE  &  Brown 82 

Fiiuclial,  Madeira,  from  the  Curral Heixe  &  Bnowx 84 

Jamestomi,  St.  Helena Heixe  &  Browx 90 

Valley  of  the  Tomb,  near  Longwood Heixe  &  Bnowx 02 

Lonjrwood,  from  the  gate Heixe  &  Browx _ 94 

Cape  Tomi  and  Table  mountain - -Heine  &  Buowx 98 

Mauiitius,  from  the  "Ponce" - Heine  &  Brown 105 

Hindoo  ablntions,  Mauritius Heine  &  Browx 112 

Light-house,  Point  de  Galle,  Ceylon - --Heine  &  Brown  - , 114 

Buddhist  temple,  Ceylon - Heine  &  Brown 120 

Rajah  of  .Tahore,  Singapore — from  life Brown 129 

River  Jurong,  Singapore. Heine  &  Browx  - - 130 

A'iew  of  Hong  Kong  from  East  Point Heixe  &  Browx - 133 

Chinese  temple,  Hong  Kong Heixe  &  Browx  - 134 

Whampoa  Pagoda  and  anchorage - Heine  &  Brown 135 

Fish  market.  Canton _ Heixe 138 

Chinese  temple,  Macao _.. - Heixe  - 144 

Chief  magistrate,  Xapha — from  a  daguerreotype Browx -- -  155 

Street  in  Xapha,  Lew  Chew Heine - 156 

Napha,  from  Bamboo  village - Heixe 164 

Ancient  castle,  Nagagusko,  Lew  Chew Heine  &  Brown 170 

Tillage  near  Napha,  Lew  Chew Heixe  &  Brown 173 

Ancient  castle,  Nagagusko,  Lew  Chew- Heixe  &  Brown 174 

Lew  Cliew  exploring  party - Heine  &  Brown 176 

Tsh.indicoosah,  Lew  Chew Heine  &  Brown - 182 

Bridge  and  causeway,  Machinatoo,  Lew  Chew- Heixe  &  Brown 184 

Commodore  Perry's  visit  to  Shui,  Lew  Chew - Heine 189 

Reception  at  the  castle,  Shui,  Lew  Chew Heine 190 

Dinner  at  the  Regent's,  Lew  Chew Heine  - 191 

Court  interpreter,  Shin,  Lew  Chew — from  a  daguerreotype -Brown - 192 

Temple  at  Tumai,  Lew  Chew Heixe  &  Brown 194 

Kanaka  village,  Bonin  Islands Heixe  &  Browx 204 

Regent  of  Lew  Chew — from  a  daguerreotype Browx 215 

Afternoon  gossip,  Lew  Chew — from  a  daguerreotype -.Brown 219 

Ix!w  Chew  costumes,  middle  class — from  a  daguerreotype Brown 226 

View  of  fraga,  Yedo  bay Heine 233 

First  landing  at  Gorahama Heine 256 

Deliver}'  of  the  President's  letter Heixe 261 

Toriga.saki,  Yedo  bay Heixe 268 

Inner  harbor  and  ruins,  Timagusko Heixe  &  Brown 281 

China  girl,  sycee  head-dress — from  a  daguerreotype Brown 296 

Macao,  from  Penha  Hill Heine - 298 

Jesuit  convent,  Macao Heine 300 

Napha,  from  the  sea Heine 309 

Market-place  in  Napha Hei.ni; 317 

Bay  of  Wodowara Heine  &  Waike 325 

Commodore  meeting  commissioners  at  Yokuhama -Pcters 346 

Yenoske  and  Takojuro,  interpreters Brown 348 

View  from  Webster  island Heine 353 

Temple  at  Yokohama. Heine 355 


XVI  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page. 

Delivery  of  presents Peters 357 

Japanese  soldiers,  Yokuhaina - Helne 359 

Wrestlers  at  Yokuhama - Peters  . 37 1 

Dinner  on  board  the  Powhatan - ..Heixe 375 

Simoda,  from  Vandalia  Bluff Heine 401 

Bridge  of  cut-stone,  &c. ,  Simoda Helne 403 

Japanese  woman,  Simoda -- Brown 404 

Mother  and  child,  Simoda — daguerreotype Brown 405 

Temple  of  Hat-chi-man-ya-chu-ro - .Heine 406 

Devotions  in  great  temple,  Simoda - - Heine 407 

Buddhist  priest,  Simoda,  in  costume Brown 40S 

Buddhist  priest,  Simoda — likeness Brown 409 

Bell-house,  Simoda — daguerreotype - Brown 410 

JIarincr's  temple,  Simoda - Heine 411 

Japanese  rice-mill,   Simoda Keliogg 414 

Kura-Kawa-Kakei,  prefect  of  Simoda — daguerreotype Brown 417 

Japanese  women — daguerreotype -. Brown 418 

Simoda,  from  the  American  grave  yard Heine  — 425 

Japanese  funeral,  Simoda Heine 426 

Hakodadi,  from  Snow  Peak - Heine ., 430 

Prefect  of  Hakodadi — daguerreotype -Brown 433 

Chief  temple,  Hakodadi Heine 442 

Street  in  Hakodadi - - Heine 443 

Entrance  to  a  temple,  Hakodadi - Brown 445 

Hakodadi,  from  Telegraph  Hill - - Heine 447 

Japanese  junk,  section - Kellogg 448 

Japanese  junk,  cross-section .- Kellogg - 449 

Japanese  boat - Kellogg „ 450 

Japanese  junk,  view  complete - - Mepfert 451 

Fire  company's  house  and  engine Heine 459 

Fac  simile,  Japanese  painting - - - - - 462 

Japanese  painting — crossing  the  Oho-e-ga-wa -. 462 

Deputy  of  Prince  of  Matsmai — daguerreotj'pe - Brown —  468 

Conference-room,  Hakodadi - Heixe 470 

Governor  of  Simoda — daguerreotype Brown 477 

Tatsnoske,  second  interpreter — daguerreotype Brown 485 

Farewell  visit  at  Simoda - Heine 486 

Japanese  fac  simile,  crucifixion - - -- - 487 

TVOOD-CUTS. 

View  of  Funchal,  Madeira Heine  &  Brown 82 

Funchal  Cathedral,  Madeira - Helne  &  Brown 83 

Ox  sledge,  Madeira - Heine 84 

Old  house,  Ixmgwood,  St.  Helena. - Heine  &  Brown 93 

Travellers  in  South  Africa _ Heine 100 

Kaffir  chief  and  Fingo  woman C.  Town,  artist 102 

Kaffir  chief  "  Seyolo"  and  wife — from  life E.  Brown 102 

Port  Louis,  Mauritius Heine  &  Brown 108 

Costumes  of  Mauritius Heine 110 

Public  square,  Port  1/Ouis Heine Ill 

Pointdc  galle,  Ceylon Heine 115 

Buddhist  temple  near  Point  de  galle,  Ceylon Heine 121 

Mississippi  saluted  by  an  English  frigate,  straits  of  Malacca E.  Brown .  123 

Malay  Proa E.  Brown 126 

Mosque  in  Singapore - Portman  - 127 

Malay  tombs  near  Singapore Heine 131 

Barber  hoy,  Hong  Kong Heine 134 

View  of  Old  China  street,  Canton Heine 137 

Tanka  boat,  Macao E.  Brown 141 

Tankaboat  girl E.  Brown 141 

Chinese  woman  and  child E.  Brown 141 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  XVll 

Page. 

Camocn's  cave,  Macao,  (front) -  .Heine 142 

Do.             do.       (rear)- - Hei.ne - 143 

American  consulate  and  Port  of  Shanghai - Heine -- 145 

Lew  Cliew  pea.sant — dajruerreotypc K.  Rrown 157 

Low  Chew  merchant — daguerreotype - E.  Brown _.-•. 161 

Night  camp  of  exploring  party,  Iicw  Chew .Heine 166 

Banner  Rock,  Lew  Chew .Heine 168 

Tombs  in  Lew  Chew Heine 169 

Ground  plan  of  Ni^agusko,  Lew  Chew Heine 170 

N!^^agusko  interior Heine 171 

Ruins  of  Nagagusko  north Heixe 172 

Rice-houses  in  the  valley  of  On-na,  Lew  Chew. .B.4.y.\rd  Tatloh 178 

Kimg-Kwa  of  On-na Heine  &  Brown 180 

Caveat  Port  Uoyd,  Bonin Heine 201 

Valley  near  Southeast  bay.  Peel  island.. Batakd  Tatiok 207 

Southeast  bay,  Peel  Lsland Heine 208 

Stapleton  island Heine 210 

Dinner  to  the  Regent  of  Lew  Chew  on  board  U.  S.  S.  Susquehanna Heine 216 

Sugar  mill,  Lew  Chew Heine 227 

China  girl  showing  liead-dress — daguerreotype  _ Brown 291 

Chinese  beggar,  Macao — daguerreotype Brown ■  293 

Chinese  fruit-seller — daguerreotype .Brown 295 

Dress  of  Chinese  lady  of  rank — daguerreotype Brown 296 

Chinese  barber,  Macao — daguerreotype Brown 297 

Protestant  grave  yard,  Macao Heine 300 

Salt  flats,  Napha Heine 317 

Americans  landing  at  Uraga Heine : 334 

Imperial  barge,  Tokuhama.. Heine 345 

Buddhist  priest,  full  dress Brown 354 

Namoura,  third  interpreter Brown 374 

Farm  yard,  Tokuhama _ Heine 384 

Japanese  women — daguerreotype Bkown 397 

Mia  at  Yokuhama Heine 400 

Simoda,  from  the  creek Heine 400 

Landing  place,  Simoda Heine 402 

Street  and  entrance  to  great  temple,  Simoda Heine 403 

Grave  yard  of  chief  temple,  Simoda Helve 407 

Valley  above  Simoda .Hedje 412 

Japanese  women  Simoda Brown 418 

Hakodadi,  from  the  bay Heine 431 

Kitchen  at  Hakodadi Heine 441 

Fishing  at  Hakodadi Heine 451 

Japanese  Kago .Brown 452 

Sub-prefect,  Hakodadi .Brown 453 

Water  boats  and  junks,  Hakodadi Heine 454 

Japanese  cooper Brown 455 

Blacksmiths'  shop Heine 456 

Ship  yard Heine 457 

Spinning  and  weaving Heine 458 

Fac  similes  of  horses,  Japanese  drawing 459,  460,  461 

Japanese  women Brown 474 

Boat  with  Sillibaboos Brown 602 

Chinese  rice-hulling  machine Heine 507 

Cotton  whipping.  Hong  Kong Heine - 508 

Temple  of  Ben-Ting,  Simoda Heine 510 

[AU  the  initial  letters  and  tail-pieces  of  the  several  chapters  are  from  the  pencil  of  Mr.  Heinb.] 
C  J 


ERRATA 


Page  261,  4th  paragraph  :   "while"  for  "with." 
308,  1st  line  :   "HongKong"  for   "Canton." 

325,  2d  paragraph,  4th  line  :  "  infer  that  these  "  for  "  infer  that  this." 
357,  (List  of  presents  :)  "ship's  breakers"  for  "beakers." 

415,  1st  paragraph,  9th  line  :  omit  "lower"   or  "gulf  of,"  and  read   "  of  the  bay  of  Tedo." 
4C1,  1st  line  :  illustration  referred  to  not  published. 


LETTER 

OF 

THE   SECRETARY   OF  THE   NAVY, 


TRAN'SHITTING 


THE   REPORT    OF    C0M3I0D0RE    M.    C.    PERRY, 

(COMMAKDIXG    THE    EXPEDITION    SENT    TO    TREAT    WITH    THE    EMPEROR    OF    JAPAN,) 

Of  the  Result  of  tJie  said  Expedition;  together  icith  a  Description  of  the  Country,  its  Commerce 
and  Arts,  and  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  People. 


Februart  14,  1855. — Resolved,  That  10,000  extra  copies  of  the  report,  together  with  the  maps,  charts,  and  drawing,  be 
printed  and  bound  in  the  style  of  Lieutenant  Gilhs's  report,  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  present  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, and  500  additional  copies  for  the  use  of  Commodore  M.  C.  Ferry. 


Navy  Departmext,  August  28,  1855. 
Sir  :  In  compliance  with  the  resolutions  of  the  Senate,  passed  on  the  22d  January,  1855,  and 
of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  of  the  United  States,  of  the  14th  February,  1855,  I  have 
the  honor  to  deliver,  herewith,  a  cojjy  of  the  report  of  Commodore  M.  C.  Perry,  on  the  subject 
of  the  late  Expedition  to  Japan,  with  the  maps,  charts,  and  drawings  accompanying,  to  be 
printed  by  direction  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  together  with  the  letters  of  Commodore 
Perry,  complying  with  the  resolutions  alluded  to  above,  and  which  letters  have  been  prepared 
by  him  for  publication  at  the  commencement  of  the  report  of  the  Expedition  to  Japan. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 
J.  W.  Forney,  Esq.,  J.  C.  DOBBIN. 

Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 


New  York,  Augiust  27,  1855. 
Sir  :  In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  United  States  House  of  Eepresentatives,  bearing 
date  the  14th  February,  1855,  calling  upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  "  to  communicate  to  this 
(that)  House  a  copy  of  the  report  of  Commodore  M.  C.  Perry  on  the  subject  of  the  late  Expe- 
dition to  Japan,"  I  have  now  the  honor  of  transmitting  the  manuscript  of  said  report,  together 
with  drawings,  maps,  charts,  &c.,  illustrative  of  the  same. 

With  great  respect,  I  am,  sir, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 
Hon.  J.  C.  Dobbin,  M.  C.  PERRY. 

Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Washington,  D.  C. 


INTRODUCTION. 


lEWED  in  any  of  its  aspects,  the  Empire  of  Japan  has  long 
presented  to  the  thoughtful  mind  an  object  of  uncommon 
interest.  And  this  interest  has  been  greatly  increased  by 
the  mystery  with  which,  for  the  last  two  centuries,  an 
exclusive  policy  has  sought  to  surround  the  institutions  of 
this  remarkable  country.  The  curiosity  of  Christendom 
has  been  on  the  alert ;  and  the  several  votaries  of  various 
pursuits  have  naturally  longed  to  add  more  to  the  little 
that  is  known  of  this  self-isolated  Kingdom. 

The  political  inquirer,  for  instance,  has  wished  to  study 
in  detail  the  form  of  government,  the  administration  of 
|a-  laws,  and  the  domestic  institutions,  under  which  a  nation 
systematically  prohibiting  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the 
world  has  attained  to  a  state  of  civilization,  refinement,  and  intelligence,  the  mere  glimpses  of 
which  so  strongly  invite  further  investigation. 

The  student  of  physical  geography,  aware  how  much  national  characteristics  are  formed  or 
modified  by  peculiarities  of  physical  structure  in  every  country,  would  fain  know  more  of  the 
lands  and  the  seas,  the  mountains  and  the  rivers,  the  forests  and  the  fields,  which  fall  within 
the  limits  of  this  almost  terra  incognita. 

The  naturalist  asks,  what  is  its  geology,  what  are  its  flora  and  fauna  ? 

The  navigator  seeks  to  find  out  its  rocks  and  shoals,  its  winds  and  currents,  its  coasts  and 
harbors. 

The  man  of  commerce  asks  to  be  told  of  its  products  and  its  trade,  its  skill  in  manufac- 
tures, the  commodities  it  needs,  and  the  returns  it  can  supply. 

The  ethnologist  is  curious  to  pry  into  the  physical  appearance  of  its  inhabitants  ;  to  di"- 
if  possible,  from  its  language  the  fossil  remains  of  long  buried  history  ;  and  in  the  afliliation 
of  its  people  to  supply,   perchance,  a  gap  in  the  story  of  man's  early  wanderings  over  the 
globe. 

The  scholar  asks  to  be  introduced  to  its  literature  that  he  may  contcnii)latc  in  historians 
poets,  and  dramatists,  (for  Japan  has  them  all,)  a  picture  of  the  national  mind. 

The  Christian  desires  to  know  the  varied  phases  of  their  superstition  and  idolatry  ;  and 
longs  for  the  dawn  of  that  day  when  a  purer  faith  and  more  enlightened  worship  shall  bring 
them  within  the  circle  of  C-hristendom. 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

Amid  sucli  a  diversity  of  pursuits  as  we  have  enumerated,  a  common  interest  unites  all  in 
a  common  sympathy ;  and  hence,  the  divine  and  the  jAilosopher,  the  navigator  and  the  natu- 
ralist, the  man  of  business  and  the  man  of  letters,  have  alike  joined  in  a  desire  for  the  thorough 
exploration  of  a  field  at  once  so  extensive  and  so  inviting. 

With  so  much  to  allure,  it  is  not  at  all  wonderful  that  the  attempt  to  explore  should  have 
been  repeatedly  made.  Scarce  a  maritime  nation  in  the  civilized  world  has  been  wanting  in 
efi"ort.  The  Portuguese,  Spaniards,  Dutch,  English,  French,  and  Kussians  have,  each  in  turn, 
sought  to  establish  commercial  relations  with  Japan.  The  Portuguese  and  English  have  both 
so  far  succeeded,  that,  but  for  themselves,  they  might  permanently  have  retained  their  posi- 
tions. The  first  were  expelled  ;  the  latter  voluntarily  abandoned  the  field.  The  Dutch  alone, 
of  all  Christian  nations,  were  allowed  to  remain  for  purposes  of  traffic,  and  they  purchased  the 
privilege  at  the  price  of  national  humiliation  and  personal  imprisonment,  for  which  all  the 
profits  of  gainful  barter  ofier  but  an  inadequate  compensation. 

Limited^  however,  as  have  been  their  sources  of  information,  it  is  to  the  Dutch  chiefly  that 
the  world,  until  within  a  very  recent  period,  has  been  indebted  for  the  knowledge  it  has  had  of 
the  Japanese.  Nor  is  that  knowledge  quite  as  circumscribed  as  has  sometimes  been  supposed. 
Kffimpfer,  Thimberg,  Titsiugh,  Doefl",  Fischer^  Meylan,  Siebold,  and  others,  have  certainly 
told  us  something  about  Japan.  But  they  could  not  tell  us  all  it  is  desirable  to  know.  All 
were  connected  with  the  factory  at  Dezima,  and  were  watched,  of  course,  with  suspicious  jeal- 
ousy. Their  only  opportunities  for  seeing  anything  beyond  the  town  of  Nagasaki  were  afi'orded 
at  their  periodical  visits  to  the  court ;  and  Kajmpfer,  the  first  in  the  list,  has  so  fully  related 
all  that  an  European  could  learn  from  this  source,  that  very  little  has  been  added  to  our  stock 
of  knowledge  by  his  successors,  with  th  ■  single  exception  of  Siebold.  He  has  collected  new 
facts  and  materials,  and  the  result  of  his  observations  and  researches  has  been  given  to  the 
world  in  his  "  Nippox,  Arcliiv  sur  Beschreibung  von  Japan,"  (Nippon,  an  Archive  toward  the 
Description  of  Japan.)  While,  therefore,  it  is  not  quite  correct  to  say  that  the  civilized  world 
knows  nothing  of  Japan,  it  may  truly  be  asserted  that  what  is  known  is  very  much  less  than 
what  is  unknown. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  national  efibrts  at  exploration  to  which  we  have  alluded,  it 
was  reserved  for  our  own,  the  youngest  of  the  nations,  to  break  down  at  last  the  barriers  with 
which  this  singular  people  had  surrounded  themselves  ;  and  to  be  the  first,  in  modern  times, 
to  establish  with  them  a  treaty  of  friendship  and  trade  wliich  (already  copied  as  far  as  was 
possible  by  other  governments)  is  to  form,  as  we  hope,  the  initiatory  step  in  the  introduc- 
tion of  Japan  into  the  circle  of  commercial  nations. 

May  we  not  be  permitted  here  to  add  that  it  seems  not  altogether  inappropriate  that  the 
United  States  should  be  the  instrument  of  breaking  down  these  barriers,  and  of  opening  Jajjan 
to  tlie  rest  of  the  world. 

When,  in  1295,  Marco  Polo  returned  to  Venice  from  his  long  sojourn  in  Asia,  he  spake  to  Euro- 
peans, among  other  marvels  which  shocked  their  credulity,  but  which  have  since  been  fully  verified, 
of  the  existence  of  a  large  island  ofi'  the  coast  of  Cathay,  (China,)  which  he  called  Zipangu.  Tiiat 
island  is  tlic  modern  Nippon  of  the  Japanese  Kingdom.  He  told,  also,  the  story  of  the  indomit- 
able courage  of  the  people  of  Zipangu,  and  related  how  they  had  successfully  resisted  the  armies 
of  the  i)owerful  Kublai  Khan,  the  contjuerors,  at  that  day,  of  all  Asia,  and  the  terror  of  Europe. 
He  laid  before  them  the  uia^.o  which  he  had  made  and  brought  home,  with  an  insci'iption  written 


INTRODUCTION.  O 

upon  the  sTiore-line  of  the  Yellow  sea  :  "  There  is  a  great  island  to  tJie  east."  Years  rolled  on  ; 
Marco  Polo's  written  story  and  maps  had  found  their  way  to  Genoa,  and  prohahly  had  been 
forgotten.  At  length,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  man  who  did  not 
cast  them  idly  by ;  that  man  was  Christdjiher  Columbus,  whose  strong  mind  was  then  travelling 
to  the  overruling  conviction  of  his  lite  tliat  there  must  be,  to  the  westward  of  Europe,  great 
bodies  of  land  at  that  time  utterly  unknown.  It  was  Marco  Polo's  map,  and  his  statements 
concerning  Zipangu  particularly,  which  confirmed  his  conjectures ;  and  when  he  sailed,  it  was 
Zijiaugu,  or,  as  the  Italian  manuscript  of  Mai'co  Polo  had  it,  Cipango,  on  which  he  hoped  and 
expected  to  find  the  termination  of  his  voyage.  Accordingly,  (as  we  know,)  when  he  landed 
on  Cuba  he  believed  that  he  had  reached  the  goal  of  his  long  cherished  hopes.  He  knew  not 
that  a  continent  barred  his  way  between  Europe  and  Zipangu ;  nor  that,  still  ftirther  westward, 
beyond  that  continent  a  mighty  ocean  rolled  its  waters^  which  must  be  traversed  before  Zipangu 
could  be  reached. 

But  though  not  destined  himself  to  find  and  open  Japan  to  Christendom,  it  has  so  happened, 
in  the  order  of  Providence,  that  on  the  continent  which  he  discovered,  and  which  barred  his 
way  to  the  land  he  sought,  has  grown  up  a  nation  which  has  performed  a  part  of  his  contem- 
plated work,  and  fulfilled  a  portion,  at  least,  of  the  plan  which  lured  him  westward  ;  a  nation 
which,  if  it  did  not  discover  Zipangu,  has,  we  trust,  been  the  instrument  of  bringing  it  into  full 
and  free  communication  with  the  rest  of  the  world  ;  a  nation  which  has,  as  it  were,  taken  the 
end  of  the  thread  which,  on  the  shores  of  America,  broke  in  the  hands  of  Columbus,  and  fastening 
it  again  to  the  ball  of  destiny,  has  rolled  it  onward  until,  as  it  has  unwound  itself,  it  has  led 
the  native  and  civilized  inhabitants  of  the  land  di.scovered  by  the  great  Genoese  to  plant  their 
feet  on  the  far  distant  region  of  his  search,  and  thus  fulfil  his  wish  to  bring  Zipangu  within 
the  influence  of  Eiu-opean  civilization. 

It  is  the  story  of  the  American  entrance  into  Japan  that  we  propose  to  relate ;  and  it  is 
hoped  it  will  aid  in  the  better  understanding  of  the  narrative,  as  well  as  show  what  additions,  if 
any,  have  been  made  to  our  previous  knowledge,  briefly  to  present,  in  a  rapid  sketch,  the  out- 
lines of  such  information  as  the  world  possessed  before  the  American  expedition  left  our  shores. 
On  this  work  we  now  enter. 


SECTION    I. 

NAME,    EXTENT,    AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Japan  was  unknown  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  that  it 
wa.s  first  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Euro])ean  world  by  the  celebrated  traveller,  Jfarco 
Polo.  His  family  was  Venetian,  and  devoted  to  commercial  pursuits.  In  the  year  1275,  at 
the  age  of  eighteen,  he  accompanied  his  father  and  uncle  into  Asia  on  mercantile  business  ;  and 
there,  mastering  the  languages  of  Tartary,  on  the  return  of  liis  relatives  to  Europe,  he  remained, 
and  entered  into  the  service  of  Kublai  Khan,  the  then  reigning  monarch.  In  this  situation  he 
continued  for  seventeen  years.  Possessed  of  a  good  mind,  he  was  a  cluse  oliserver  of  what  he 
saw  around  him,  and  i-endered  the  most  important  services,  both  military  and  diplomatic,  to  the 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

monarch,  with  whom  he  became  not  merely  a  favorite,  but  in  some  degree  a  necessity.  At 
length,  in  1295,  after  an  absence  of  some  twenty  years,  he  returned  to  Venice,  and  was  the  first 
European  traveller  who  made  known  the  existence  of  Japan  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  west.  He 
had  not  visited  it  in  person,  (as  he  is  careful  to  state,)  but  he  had  traversed  the  greater  part  of 
China,  and  had  there  heard  what  he  related  concerning  Japan.  We  may  remark,  in  passing, 
that  his  statements  of  what  he  had  seen  and  heard  so  far  surpassed  the  experience  and  knowledge 
of  his  countrymen  that  he  shared  the  iate  of  some  modern  travellers,  and  was  not  believed. 
Nothing,  however,  is  more  sure  than  that  modern  research  has  impressed  with  the  character  of 
truth  all  that  he  related  on  his  personal  observation,  and  much  of  that  which  he  gathered  from 
the  statements  of  others.  He^  as  we  have  already  said,  called  Japan  Zipangu ;  it  was  the  name 
which  he  had  heard  in  China.  The  Japanese  themselves  call  their  country  Dai  Nippon,  which 
means  "  Great  Nippon."  As  to  the  origin  of  the  latter  word,  it  is  a  compound  of  two  others ;  nitsu, 
"  the  sun,"  and  pon  or  fon,  "  origin  ;"  these,  accordmg  to  the  Japanese  rule  of  combination, 
become  Nippon  or  Nifon,  signifying  "origin  of  the  sun;"  in  other  words,  the  East.  In  the 
Chinese  language,  Nippon,  by  the  usual  change  of  pronunciation,  becomes  Jih-pun,  to  which 
-S'oMe  is  added,  meaning  "country"  or  "Kingdom."  The  whole  Chinese  word,  J/A-joMJi-ioKC, 
therefore,  is,  in  English,  "  Kingdom  of  the  origin  of  the  sun,"  or  "  Eastern  Kingdom."  The 
reader  will  readily  perceive  how,  on  the  lips  of  an  European,  the  name  would  become  Zi-pan-gu. 
We  thus  have  the  derivation,  Nippon,  Jih-pun,  Japan. 

As  to  the  extent  of  the  Kingdom :  it  consists  of  a  great  number  of  islands,  said  to  be  3,850, 
Ij'ing  off  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia,  and  spread  over  that  part  of  the  ocean  which  extends  from 
the  129th  to  the  14Gth  degree  of  east  longitude  from  Greenwich,  and  is  between  the  31st  and 
46th  degrees  of  north  latitude.  The  chain  to  which  they  belong  may  be  traced  on  the  map  from 
the  Loo-Choo  islands  to  the  southern  extremity  of  Kamtschatka,  and  from  this  latter  peninsula, 
through  the  Kurile  islands,  to  the  promontory  of  Alaska,  on  our  own  continent.  They  are  in 
the  line  of  that  immense  circle  of  volcanic  development  which  surrounels  the  shores  of  the  Pacific 
from  Tierra  del  Fuego  around  to  the  Moluccas. 

The  Kingdom  is  divided  into  Japan  proper  and  the  dependent  islands.  The  first  named 
division  consists  of  the  three  large  islands,  Kiu-siu,  Sitkokf,  and  Nippon,  and  the  whole  Empire 
contains  about  100,000  square  miles.  Of  many  of  the  islands  we  know  nothing.  Their  coasts 
are  so  difficult  of  access,  and  shallow  seas  and  channels,  with  sunken  rocks  and  dangerous  whirl- 
pools, added  to  winds  as  variable  as  they  are  violent,  have  interposed  most  serious  obstacles  to 
nautical  exploration,  so  that  we  have  yet  much  to  learn  of  the  navigation  of  the  waters  around 
the  islands  of  Japan. 

Those  of  which  we  have  as  yet  most  information  are  Kiu-siu,  Nippon,  and  Yesso,  or  Jesso. 
On  the  first  of  these  is  the  town  of  Nagasaki,  and  this  is  the  port  to  which  the  Dutch  have  been 
most  rigorously  confined,  in  all  their  commercial  transactions,  for  two  hundred  years.  Indeed, 
they  have  not  been  permitted  to  live  within  the  town  itself,  but  have  been  literally  imj)risoned 
on  a  ve.'y  small  island  in  the  harbor,  called  Dezima,  where  they  have  been  most  closely  watched, 
and  many  rigid  restrictions  have  been  imjiosed  on  their  intercourse  with  the  people.  Under 
certain  circumstances,  they  have  been  at  times  permitted  to  go  into  the  town,  but  not  to  remain 
for  any  1  )ng  period,  nor  have  they  ever  been  allowed  to  explore  the  island.  Their  oi)portuni- 
ties,  therefore,  excejjt  in  the  case  of  Siebold,  have  been  very  limited  for  ae(juiring,  from  personal 
observation,  a  knowledge  of  anything  on  the  island  of  Kiu-siu  beyond  what  they  could  see  from 
their  prison. 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

As  to  Nippon,  on  which  is  Teddo,  the  capital  of  the  Kingdom,  they  have  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  more.  This  has  resulted  from  the  fact  that  periodical  visits,  with  presents, 
have  been  made  to  the  Emperor  at  the  capital  by  the  chief  Dutch  commissioner  at  the  factory  on 
Dezima  ;  and  on  these  visits  he  has  been  accompanied  by  his  physician  and  a  small  number  of 
his  subordinate  officers.  It  is,  therefore,  to  the  chief  commissioners  and  their  medical  attendants 
that  we  have  been  indebted  for  all  we  have  been  told  since  the  establishment  of  commercial  rela- 
tions with  the  Dutch.  Titsingh,  Doeff,  Fischer,  Meylan,  were  all  chiefs  of  the  factory,  while 
Ktempfer,  Thunberg,  and  Siebold  have  all  been  the  physicians.  These  visits  were  formerly 
annual,  latterly  they  have  been  less  frequent,  and  a  more  jealous  surveillance  has  been  exercised 
over  the  European  travellers.  Still  they  have  evaded  restrictions  as  far  as  was  possible,  have  seen 
all  they  could,  and  told  all  they  saw.  But  they  were,  of  necessity,  obliged  to  gather  much  of 
what  they  relate  from  the  information  of  the  Japanese  ;  how  far  it  is  to  be  considered  as  in  all 
respects  accurate  neither  they  nor  we  are  able  to  say.  Yet  the  Dutch  residents  undoubtedly 
knew  for  themselves  more  about  the  island  of  Nippon  than  they  did  concerning  Kiu-siu,  in  one 
of  the  harbors  of  which  was  their  prison. 

As  to  Yesso,  or  Jesso,  it  is  confessedly  very  imperfectly  known.  One  of  its  ports  is  Matsmai, 
and  here  Captain  Golownin,  of  the  Kussian  navy,  was  kept  as  a  prisoner  for  two  years.  In  an 
eifort  which  he  made  to  escape  he  wandered  over  a  part  of  the  island  ;  but  as  he  was  not  seeking 
on  this  excursion  materials  for  description,  nor  studying  at  his  leisure  the  habits  of  the  people, 
his  statements  are,  as  might  be  expected,  altogether  unsatisfactory,  and  yet  we  have  none  better 
from  an  European  eye-witness.  Krempfer,  Thunberg,  and  Siebold  are  our  most  valuable  sources 
of  information  since  the  days  of  the  Dutch  commerce. 

At  an  earlier  period,  and  before  Japanese  jealousy  of  foreign  influence  had  prompted  them 
to  adopt  their  system  of  exclusion,  the  opportunity  was  far  more  favorable  for  the  acquisition  of 
information  by  the  per.sonal  observation  of  strangers.  The  Portuguese  missionaries  and  some 
early  English  navigators,  therefore,  afford  us  on  some  points  a  knowledge  such  as  no  European 
during  the  last  two  hundred  years  could  possibly  have  procured. 

Of  the  physical  aspect  of  theee  principal  islands  former  writers  give  different  accounts. 
Thunberg  represents  them  as  composed  of  a  succession  of  mountains,  hills,  and  valleys,  while 
Ksempfer  says  that  he  travelled  over  several  plains  of  considerable  extent.  The  countrv  is  un- 
doubtedly very  hilly,  and  in  general  the  hills  come  down  near  to  the  seashore,  leavino-  but 
narrow  strips  of  land  between  the  water  and  their  bases ;  it  is,  however,  not  improbable  that  level 
plains  of  some  extent  may  be  found  in  the  interior.  The  hills,  however,  are  not  sterile  ■  and 
covered,  as  most  of  them  seem  to  be,  with  the  fruits  of  cultivation  up  to  their  summits,  bear 
witness  alike  to  the  numbers  and  industry  of  the  population.  Mountains,  however  are  to  be 
found  as  well  as  hills,  nor  is  it  surprising  that  some  of  them  should  be  volcanic. 

^Westward  of  the  bay  of  Yeddo  rises  to  the  height  of  some  twelve  thousand  feet  the  Fudsi 
Jamma,  with  its  summit  whitened  by  perpetual  snow  ;  it  was  once  an  active  volcano.  The 
northern  part  of  Nippon  also  is  known  to  be  traversed  by  a  chain  of  mountains,  from  which  rise 
several  isolated  peaks,  the  craters,  in  sonde  instances,  of  extinct  volcanoes,  while  others,  still 
burning,  are  to  be  seen  on  the  islands  scattered  in  the  gulfs  of  Corea  and  Yeddo. 

In  such  a  country  the  rivers  cannot  probably  be  long  ;  while  the  rapidity  of  their  currents 
indicates  that  their  sources  must  be  considerably  elevated.  It  is  said  that  over  some  of  them  no 
bridges  can  be  built,  as  none  would  resist  the  force  of  the  stream  fed  by  the  waters  of  the 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

mountain  torrents.  Some  of  the  rivers,  however,  are  navigable  by  small  boats  for  several  miles 
from  the  sea  into  the  interior.  The  Japanese,  from  the  nature  and  position  of  their  cotuitry, 
ought  to  be  a  maritime  people  ;  they  can  have  but  few  natural  lacilitics  for  inland  trade.  Their 
ingenuity  and  industry  have,  however,  been  taxed  to  open  modes  of  communication  with  the 
interior  ;  roads  and  bridges  have  been  constructed,  and  in  some  instances  canals  have  been  made 
to  unite  their  rivers  and  lakes. 

Of  the  climate  of  Japan  it  is  not  possible  to  speak  with  much  certainty.  In  the  southern 
part  of  the  Kingdom  it  is  said  to  be  not  unlike  that  of  England.  Some  winters  are  remarkably 
mild,  without  any  frost  or  snow,  though  generally  such  is  not  the  case ;  when  however  these 
occur,  they  last  but  for  a  few  days.  The  heat  in  summer  is  said  to  average  98°  of  Fahrenheit 
at  Nagasaki.  This,  which  would  otherwise  be  excessive,  is  much  moderated  by  the  breeze 
which,  in  the  day  time,  blows  from  the  south,  and  at  night  from  the  east.  There  is  what  the 
Japanese  call  satkasi,  or  the  rainy  season,  in  June  and  July  ;  by  this,  however,  it  is  only  meant 
that  the  rains  are  then  most  abundant ;  for,  in  point  of  fact,  they  are  frequent  all  the  year  round, 
and  the  weather  appears  to  be  variable.  No  part  of  the  ocean  is  subject  to  heavier  gales  than 
the  sea  aroimd  Jajian,  and  the  hurricanes  are  terrific  ;  fogs  also  are,  as  might  be  expected,  very 
prevalent,  thunder  storms  are  common,  and  earthquakes  have  more  than  once  destroyed  a  great 
part  of  the  most  populous  towns.  Kaempfer  remarked,  also,  that  water-spouts  were  of  very 
frequent  occurrence  in  the  seas  around  Japan.  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  things,  the 
country  cannot,  we  think,  be  deemed  insalubrious  ;  for  the  Japanese  are  in  general  a  healthful 
people,  and  the  country  is  very  thickly  inhabited. 


SECTION   IT. 

ORIGIN   OF   THE   JAPANESE   PEOPLE. 

An  opinion  has  been  expressed  by  several  writers  that  Japan  was  colonized  by  the  Cliinese. 
Such  an  opinion,  founded  on  very  superficial  observation,  was  advanced  long  before  comparative 
philology  had  been  resorted  to  by  the  learned,  as  one  of  the  safest  and  best  tests  of  trutli  in 
tracing  the  relationship  of  nations.  But  since  the  application  of  this  test,  no  one,  competent  to 
speak  instructively  on  the  subject,  has  ventured  to  deduce  the  Japanese  from  a  Chinese  origin. 
The  structure  of  the  languages  of  the  two  people  is  essentially  different.  It  is  true  that  certain 
Chinese  words,  the  names  of  objects,  introduced  by  the  Chinese,  may  be  heard  from  the  lips  of  a 
Japanese,  modified  however  in  the  pronunciation  ;  it  is  also  true  that  the  Chinese  dialect  of  the 
Mandarins  forms  a  species  of  universal  language  among  the  learned,  a  sort  of  latin  in  the 
extreme  east  that  is  understood  by  the  highly  educated,  not  only  in  China,  bvit  in  Corea,  at 
Tonquin,  and  other  parts,  and  also  in  Japan  ;  but  so  little  is  the  afl^nity  between  the  jiriniitive 
language  of  Japan  and  that  of  China,  that  the  common  peojjle  of  the  two  countries,  neighbors 
as  they  are,  cannot  understand  each  other  without  the  aid  of  an  interpreter. 

Probably  those  Europeans  who  too  hastily  adopted  in  former  times  the  conclusion  of  a 
Cliinese  origin  for  the  Japanese,  may,  in  their  ignorance  of  the  languages,  liave  been  misled  by 
observing  among  the  Japanese  the  occasional  use  of  the  idiographic  cyplier  of  the  Chinese  in 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

some  of  the  Japanese  n'nVjwgrs.  It  was  introduced  into  Japan  A.  D.  290,  but  the  Japanese  have 
an  alpliabet,  or  rather  a  syllaharium  of  their  own,  constnicted  on  a  ])rinciple  entirely  difturent 
from  the  Chinese  idiograjdi.  Each  of  tliese  Cliincse  characters  is  in  Japan  jiroiionnced  in  two 
distinct  manners.  The  one,  as  among  the  Chinese,  with  a  sliglit  variatimi  in  the  Japanese 
pronunciation.  This  idiom  is  calh'd  A'<*//(;,  which  means  simply  '^  a  Chinese  sound  or  toord  ;" 
the  other  mode  of  pronouncing  is  Japanese,  and  is  called  Yunii,  which  signifies  ^'interpretation;" 
the  meaning  of  the  Koye  icord.  An  exam2)le  will  illustrate.  The  words  (according  to  Japanese 
pronunciation)  tin,  chi,  nin,  all  Chinese,  are  Koye,  and  mean  respectively  heaven,  earth,  man  : 
the  words  ame,  tsoutsi,  fito,  are  the  Tomi  (pure  Japanese)  of  those  Koye  words,  and  have,  in  the 
proper  language  of  Japan,  the  same  meaning  as  the  three  Chinese  words  above  named. 

Hence,  among  the  Jajjanese,  there  are  three  dialects  ;  the  first  is  pure  Tomi,  without  any 
admixture  of  the  Koye.  This  is  the  primitive  language  of  the  country,  and  is  at  this  day  used 
in  poetry  and  works  of  light  literature.  The  second  is  inire  Koye,  and  is  employed  by  the 
bonzes  in  their  religious  books. 

The  third  is  a  mixture  of  the  two,  and  constitutes  the  common  language  of  the  Empire. 

But  the  construction  of  sentences  in  the  Chinese  and  Japanese,  as  to  the  collocation  of  words, 
is  entirely  different,  as  is  also  the  pronunciation  by  a  Chinaman  and  a  native  of  Japan.  Tliat 
of  the  last  is  neat,  articulate,  distinct,  and  rarely  is  there  heard  a  syllable  composed  of  more  than 
two  or  three  letters  of  our  alphabet ;  while  the  speech  of  the  former  is  little  better  than  a  con- 
fused sing-song  monotone,  impleasant  to  the  ear,  in  which  constantly  occurs  a  disagreeable 
crowding  together  of  consonants.  If  an  analysis  of  the  soimds  of  our  letters  be  made,  a  Chi- 
nese pronounces  our  aspirate  H  very  plainly,  while  a  Japanese  never  sounds  it,  but  invariably 
substitutes  for  it  F  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  our  R  and  D,  which  are  sounded  by  a  Japanese 
with  a  distinctness  equal  to  our  own,  always  become  L  in  the  mouth  of  a  Chinese.  But  without 
dwelling  longer  on  this  point,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  an  examination  of  grammatical  struc- 
ture conclusively  settles,  on  the  testimony  of  language,  that  the  original  inhabitants  of  Japan 
were  not  Chinese. 

But  the  question  still  remains  to  be  answered,  "whence  came  the  primitive  occupants  of 
Japan  ?"  On  this  subject  a  diversity  of  opinion  is  to  be  found.  Ka?mpfer  brings  them  from  the 
plains  of  Shinar,  at  the  dispersion.  He  supposes  them  to  have  passed  from  Mesopotamia  to  the 
shores  of  the  Caspian,  thence  through  the  valleys  of  the  Yenisi,  Silinga,  and  parallel  rivers  to 
the  lake  of  Argueen  ;  then  following  the  river  of  that  name,  which  arises  from  the  lake,  he 
thinks  they  reached  the  Amoor,  following  the  valley  of  which  they  would  find  themselves  in 
the  then  uninhabited  ])euinsula  of  Corea,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Asia.  The  passage  thence  to 
Japan,  especially  in  tlie  summer  season,  would  not  be  difficult.  He  supposes  that  this  migration 
occupied  a  long  time  ;  that  they  stoi^jied  when  they  found  a  pleasant  region,  and  tlien  resumed 
their  march  when  they  were  pressed  on  their  rear,  or  annoyed  by  other  nomadic  tribes.  It  was 
easy  for  them  to  make  a  home  wherever  they  could  find  water  and  pasture  for  their  flocks  and 
herds.  From  the  purity  of  the  primitive  language  of  Japan,  (the  intermixture  of  Chinese 
words  is  within  the  historic  period  and  easily  accounted  for,)  he  supposes  that  the  original  stock 
could  not,  in  its  migration,  have  remained  very  long  in  any  one  inhabited  place,  or  mingled 
much  with  any  people  then  existing,  of  wliose  language  we  at  this  day  have  any  knowledge  ; 
otherwise  words  from  such  language  would  have  been  found  incorporated  in  the  jtrimitive 
Japanese  tongue. 
2  J 


]0  INTRODUCTION. 

This,  if  not  satisfactory,  is  at  least  ingenious.  Modern  etlinologists,  however,  turn  to 
language  as  the  best  evidence  of  origin.  Dr.  Pickering,  of  the  United  States  exploring  expe- 
dition, seems  disposed,  from  an  observation  of  some  Japanese  whom  he  encountered  at  the 
Hawaiian  islands,  to  assign  to  them  a  Malay  origin.  Others,  judging  from  language,  consider 
them  of  the  Mongol  stock.  Very  close  affinities  cannot  probably  be  found  between  the  Japanese 
and  any  other  Asiatic  language ;  but  in  its  grammatical  structure  the  Yomi  of  Japan  is  by 
some  thought  to  be  most  analogous  to  the  languages  of  the  Tartar  family.  Siebold  found,  as 
he  supposed,  analogies  between  it  and  the  idioms  of  the  Coreans,  and  the  Kurilians,  who  occupy 
the  islands  of  Jesso  and  Tarakai  or  Karafto.  He  has  described  the  coast  of  Tartary  opposite  to 
this  last  island,-  (called  improperly  by  Europeans  Sakhalian,)  and  thinks  he  finds  a  resemblance 
in  customs  ;  but  Klaproth  has  shown  that  the  language  of  the  Tartary  coast  (Sandan)  is  a 
Tungusian  dialect,  and  says  that  the  language  of  Japan  bears  no  decided  marks  of  affinity  either 
with  it  or  with  any  other  of  the  idioms  named  by  Siebold.  It  is  clearly  not  Tungusian.  Kla- 
proth's  vocabularies  of  some  of  the  idioms  of  Asia,  particularly  of  the  Mongolian,  the  Finnish, 
and  some  Indian  dialects,  show  a  very  considerable  number  of  simple  and  original  words  which 
belong  also  to  the  Japanese.  In  the  present  state  of  our  information,  the  more  commonly 
received  opinion  seems  to  be  that  the  Japanese  are  of  the  Tartar  family.  But  they  certainly  do 
not  all  have  the  Tartar  complexion  or  physiognomy.  The  common  people,  pccording  to  Thun- 
berg,  ai'e  of  a  yellowish  color  all  over,  sometimes  bordering  on  brown  and  sometimes  on  white. 
The  laboring  classes,  who  in  summer  expose  the  upper  parts  of  their  bodies,  are  always  brown. 
Their  eyes  are  not  round,  but  oblong,  small  and  sunk  deep  in  the  head.  In  color  they  are 
generally  dark  brown  or  rather  black,  and  the  eyelids  form  in  the  great  angle  of  the  eye  a  deep 
furrow,  which  gives  them  the  appearance  of  being  sharp  or  keen  sighted.  Their  heads  are 
large  and  their  necks  short,  their  hair  black,  thick,  and  from  their  use  of  oil,  glossy.  Their 
noses,  although  not  flat,  are  yet  rather  thick  and  short. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  coast  of  Kiu-siu,  according  to  Siebold,  differ  in  physical  aspect,  as 
well  as  in  other  respects,  from  those  in  the  interior  of  the  island.  Their  hair  is  most  frequently 
black,  in  some  cases  crisped,  the  facial  angle  is  strongly  marked,  the  lips  puffed,  the  nose 
small,  slightly  af|uiline  and  dej^ressed  at  the  root.  In  the  interior  the  people,  mostly  agricul- 
turists, are  a  larger  race,  with  broad  and  flattened  countenances,  prominent  cheek  bones,  large 
space  between  the  inner  angles  of  the  eyes,  broad  and  very  flat  noses,  with  large  mouths  and  a 
reddish  brown  skin. 

But  beside  these,  Thunberg  also  tells  us  that  the  descendants  of  the  eldest  aud  noblest 
families,  of  the  princes  and  lords  of  the  Empire,  are  somewhat  majestic  in  their  shape  and 
countenance,  being  more  like  Europeans,  and  that  ladies  of  distinction,  who  seldom  go  out  into 
the  open  air  without  being  covered,  are  perfectly  white.  Siebold  also,  speaking  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Kiu-siu,  informs  us  that  "the  women  who  protect  themselves  from  the  influences  of 
the  atmosphere  have  generally  a  fine  and  white  skin,  and  the  cheeks  of  the  young  girls  display 
a  blooming  carnation." 

These  facts,  as  Dr.  Latham  has  said,  do  not  necessarily  involve  tlie  assumption  of  a  double 
source  of  population,  while,  at  the  same  time,  such  a.  second  source  is  not  an  ethnological 
improbability.     The  darker  race,  he  intimates,  may  have  come  from  Formosa. 


INTRODUCTION.  11 


SECTION    III. 

GOVERNMENT. 

Japan  presents  the  singular  feature  of  liaving  two  Emperors  at  the  same  time,  the  one 
secular,  tlie  other  ecclesiastical ;  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  this  duplicate  sovereignty 
was  established  from  the  beginning,  as  one  of  the  original  elements  of  her  civil  polity  ;  it  has 
resulted  from  historical  events  that  occurred  long  after  Japan  had  a  system  of  government. 
The  Japanese,  like  many  other  people,  claim  for  their  nation  an  immense  antiquity  ;  but  tlio 
authentic  history  of  the  Kingdom  commences  with  Zin-mu-ten-woo,  (whose  name  signities  "the 
divine  conqueror,")  about  the  year  6(50  B.  C.  Klaproth  thinks  he  was  a  Chinese  warrior  and 
invader  ;  be  this  however  as  it  may,  he  conquered  Nippon,  and  built  a  temple  palace,  dedicated 
to  the  sun-goddess,  and  properly  called  a  dairi ;  his  own  appropriate  title  was  Mikado,  though 
the  two  terms  are  frequently  confounded  by  European  writers.  He  was  tlio  founder  of  tlie 
sovereignty  of  the  Mikados,  and  from  him,  even  to  this  day,  the  Mihados  descend. 

He  was  sole  sovereign,  both  secular  and  spiritual,  and  claimed  to  rule  by  divine  right.  His 
successors,  asserting  the  same  right,  added  to  it  that  of  inheritance  also,  and  their  government 
was  a  despotism.  By  degrees  these  monarchs  ceased  to  lead  their  own  armies,  and  entrusted 
the  military  command  to  sons  and  kinsmen,  though  the  supreme  power  still  was  theirs.  This 
power,  however,  appears  gradually  to  have  been  weakened  by  a  custom  which  prevailed,  of 
abdication  by  the  Mikados,  at  so  early  an  age,  that  the  sovereignty  descended  u}3on  their  sons 
while  they  were  yet  children,  the  abdicating  monarch  frequently  governing  for  the  young  king. 
The  cause  of  these  abdications  was  the  desire  to  escape  from  the  grievous  burden  of  monotonous 
ceremonies,  and  complete  isolation  from  intercourse  without,  wluch  made  tlie  occupant  of  the 
throne  little  better  than  a  royal  prisoner. 

At  length  it  happened  that  the  reigning  Mikado,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  a 
powerful  prince,  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son,  a  child  three  years  old,  while  the  regency  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  grandfather  of  the  infant  monarch.  The  regent  placed  the  abdicated 
monarch  in  confinement,  and  tliis  produced  a  civil  war.  Yoritomo,  one  of  the  most  distinguislied 
characters  in  Japanese  history,  esiJoused  the  cause  of  the  imprisoned  king,  and  after  a  war  of 
several  years  was  triumphant,  when  lie  released  the  captive  and  made  him  regent.  But  liis 
regency  conferred  a  nominal  authority  only  ;  the  real  power  resided  in  the  hands  of  Yoritomo, 
who  was  created  Sio  i  dai  Ziogoon,  or  "  generalissimo  fighting  against  the  barbarians."  Uj)on 
the  death  of  the  cx-Mikado,  Yoritomo,  as  lieutenant  of  tlie  sovereign,  virtually  ruled  lor  twenty 
years  ;  and  when  he  died,  his  title  and  authority  devolved  upon  his  son.  This  was  the  com- 
mencement of  the  power  of  the  Ziogoons,  or  temporal  sovereigns. 

Time  contributed  to  strengthen  it  under  the  successive  reigns  of  infant  Mikados,  imtil  it 
became  recognized  as  hereditary.  But,  though  a  very  important,  and  indeed  dangerous  power, 
was  thus  vested  in  the  Ziogoons,  yet  the  Mikado  was  looked  on  as  possessing  the  royal  authority, 
and  to  him  it  belonged  to  appoint  the  Ziogoon,  who  was,  in  Irutb,  vice  regent,  but  did  not  openly 
aspire  to  coequal  rights  of  sovereignty. 

This  condition  of  things  remained  until  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
Emperor  (Mikado)  was  an  autocrat  who  had  a  sovereign  deput\',  (Ziogoon,)  the  efficient  and 
active  ruler.     During  this  long  period,  however,  the  power  of  the  Ziogoons  was  silently  and 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

imperceptibly  increasing  ;  until,  at  last,  that  happened  which  it  requires  but  little  sagacity  to 
perceive  could  not  but  be,  in  the  end,  tlic  unavoidable  result.  Men  invested  with  power  are 
more  ajjt  to  eucoui-age  its  growth  than  to  keep  it  stationary  or  diminish  it ;  more  especially  wlien 
those  whose  interest  it  is  to  clieck  tlieir  ambition  are  known  to  be  imbecile. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  two  brothers,  descendants  from  Yori- 
tomo,  became  rivals  for  the  office  of  Ziogoon.  The  princes  of  the  Empire  took  part  with  the  one  or 
the  other,  domestic  strife  raged,  and  the  end  of  the  contest  was  the  death  of  both  the  rival  lirothers. 
The  mightiest  prince  of  that  day  was  the  prince  of  Owari,  who,  on  the  death  of  the  brothers, 
immediately  set  up  for  himself  as  Ziogoon.  One  of  the  most  sagacious  as  well  as  bravest  of  his 
adherents  was  an  obscure  man  named  Hide-yosi  or  Fide-yosi.  His  station  was  so  lowly  that, 
even  in  his  own  times,  his  parentage  was  matter  of  doubt ;  but  his  zeal  and  talents  commended 
him  to  tlie  notice  of  his  master,  and  he  became  the  trusted  friend  and  confidential  adviser  of  the 
prince  of  Owari,  who,  by  his  aid,  succeeded  in  being  a}ipoiuted  Ziogoon.  Men's  minds  liadbeen 
wrought  to  such  excitement  by  the  civil  sti-ife,  that  when  the  ])rince  triumphed  over  his  oppo- 
nents, the  reigning  Milcado  did  not  dare  to  breast  j)opidar  opinion,  and  therefore  conferred  on 
him  the  office.  The  new  Ziogoon,  of  course,  rewarded  his  faithful  ally,  and  conferred  on  Fide- 
yosi  a  high  military  appointment.  Presently,  the  prince  of  Owari  was  murdered  by  one  who 
usurped  his  office  ;  he,  in  his  turn,  shared  a  like  fate  ;  and  now  the  hour  had  come  for  Fide-yosi. 
When  all  was  in  confusion,  he  seized  upon  the  office  for  himself;  and  so  well  known  were  his 
talents  and  power,  that  the  frightened  Milcado,  at  once,  without  hesitation,  approved  and  con- 
firmed him  in  the  office,  and  he  took  the  name  of  Tayko-sama,  (the  Lord  Tayko.)  With  his 
title  thus  legitimated,  in  the  confidence  of  his  abilities,  he  trusted  to  himself  for  the  rest,  and 
has  left  behind  him  a  name  among  the  most  celebrated  in  the  history  of  Japan. 

He  was  a  statesman  and  a  soldier,  and  displayed  on  the  throne  all  the  energy  and  ability 
which  had  contributed  to  place  him  there.  He  put  an  end  at  once  to  the  civil  commotions,  by 
giving  to  the  opposing  princes  of  the  Empire  work  to  do  in  the  invasion  and  conquest  of  Corea. 
He  was  about  marching  to  subdue  China,  when  death  arrested  him,  in  the  year  1598,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-three.  The  Japanese,  to  this  day,  consider  him  as  one  of  the  ablest  men  their  country  has 
produced.  During  his  reign  he  made  large  progress  in  tlie  work  of  reducing  tlie  sovereignty  of 
the  Milcado  almost  to  a  shadow  ;  and  inthralling  him  by  more  and  more  burdensome  ceremonials, 
and  a  most  rigorous  seclusion,  all  rmder  the  seemingly  loyal  pretext  of  profound  deference  and 
respect  for  liis  heaven-born  authority,  he  quietly  lell  him  to  "  wield  a  l)arreu  sceptre." 

Tayko-sama  left  an  only  scni,  six  years  ohl.  To  secure  him  in  the  succession,  his  father,  on 
his  deatli  bed,  caused  him  to  marry  the  granddaugliter  of  one  of  his  own  most  particular  friends 
and  counsellors,  lyeyas,  prince  of  Micava,  from  wliom  he  obtained  a  most  soUmuu  j]romise  tliat 
when  the  boy  should  have  attained  his  fifteenth  year  he  would  have  liim  recognized  as  Ziogoon. 

lyeyas  ])roved  unfaithful,  became  Ziogoon  himself,  and  liis  descendants  to  tliis  day  hold  the 
office,  while  a  veil  of  mystery  covers  up  the  fate  of  the  wronged  son  of  Tayko.  As  to  the  Mikado, 
lyeyas  pursued  the  policy  of  his  predecessor,  and  depriving  him  even  of  the  little  power  which 
Tayko  had  left  to  him  in  temporals,  he  reduced  the  once  absolute  autocrasy  Avhicli  he  represented 
to  a  mere  ecclesiastical  Mqircmai-y,  and  brought  biiii  down  to  tin'  ultci'  lirliilessness  ami  ilojicMd- 
ence  which  at  this  day  mark  his  condition.  And  tliis  is,  in  brief,  the  Jiistory  of  events  by  whicii 
Japan  has  come  to  present  that  singular  and  unique  i'eature  in  government  of  one  empire  simul- 
taneously under  tiuo  sovereigns. 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

The  residence  of  the  Mil-ado  is  at  Miako ;  that  of  the  Ziogoon  is  at  Yedclo ;  each  is  sur- 
romuled  with  imperial  s]iloiidor  ;  the  one  is  monarch  (hjtire,  the  otlier  is  Emperor  dc/acfo.  But 
however  absolute  may  have  been  the  iisurped  aiithoritj'  of  the  Ziogoon  in  the  beginnin<;,  it  has 
been  subsequently  very  much  modified ;  and  certain  it  is  that  at  this  day  the  rule  of  the  Ziogoon 
is  b)'  no  means  arbitrary.  He  cannot  do  just  what  he  pleases.  The  laws  of  the  Empire  reach 
him  as  much  as  they  do  the  meanest  subject.  These  laws  are  unalterable,  and  are  exceedingly 
minute  in  detail,  controlling  almost  every  action  of  life.  The  Emperors,  both  spiritual  and 
secular,  are  just  as  much  enthralled  by  them  as  the  humblest  man  in  the  Kingdom.  In  times  of 
usurpation  or  political  trouble  they  may,  in  some  few  instances,  have  been  set  at  naught,  but 
these  are  exceptional  cases. 

There  are  two  prominent  features  in  the  Japanese  .system  of  government:  the  one  elemental, 
the  other  practical ;  and  the  two  serving  as  the  bases  of  almost  everything  else  in  their  iiolity. 
The  first  is  feudalism,  or  something  very  similar  to  it ;  and  the  second,  exhibited  in  the  practical 
administration  of  the  government,  is  a  system  of  checks  and  balances,  founded  on  an  all-pervad- 
ing secret  espionage,  ramifying  throiigh  all  classes  of  society,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest. 

To  exjilain  this  we  must  briefly  advert  to  the  several  grades  of  society.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  the  two  Emperors.  The  3Iikado  is  supreme  in  rank  and  nominally  recognized  as  such ; 
but  he  has  not  a  particle  of  political  power  ;  is  not  allowed  to  have  troops,  and  is  literally,  from 
birth  to  death,  shut  up  at  Miako,  in  his  little  principality  of  Kioto,  with  the  revenues  of  which, 
and  the  rich  presents  sent  him  by  the  Ziogoon,  he  must  be  content.  Even  in  his  own  principality 
he  is  governed  for,  as  an  indejjendent  2^i"ince,  by  some  grandee  of  his  court,  so  that  never  lived 
there  sovereign  with  less  of  sovereign  attributes  allowed  him.  But  for  the  tenacity  with  which  the 
Ja])anese  cling  to  their  ancient  usages  and  laws,  the  3Iikados  would,  doubtless,  have  long  since 
ceased  to  form  a  part  of  the  cumbrous  and  complicated  machinery  of  government.  Formerly  it 
belonged  to  them  to  name  or  appoint  the  Ziogoon;  they  may,  indeed,  still  nominally  have  this 
power  ;  but  it  is  without  any  real  value,  as  the  office  of  Ziogoon  has  for  a  long  time  been  heredi- 
tary. 

But  politically  insignificant  as  the  Mikado  is,  he  is  venerated  with  a  respect  little,  if  at  all, 
inferior  to  that  rendered  to  the  gods  themselves.  Living  in  mysterious,  though,  for  the  most 
part,  indolent  seclusion,  he  is  venerated  because  he  is  inaccessible  ;  and  is,  in  truth,  a  prisoner 
who  umst  find,  if  he  find  at  all,  solace  for  his  confinement  in  the  golden  chains  and  ornamental 
prison-house  of  his  captivity.  No  wonder  that  the  abdication  of  a  Mikado  is  common  in  Japanese 
history.  As  to  the  Ziogoon,  he  commands  the  revenues  of  the  country,  has  at  his  disposal  an 
army,  and  is  anything  but  a  prisoner.  Once  in  seven  years  he  makes  a  visit,  surrounded  witli 
royal  pomp,  to  the  court  of  his  brother  sovereign,  whom  he  takes  care  to  keeji,  at  all  times, 
under  the  surveillance  of  unsuspected  secret  spies.  He  sends,  too,  in  the  intervals  between  his 
visits,  embassies  with  rich  presents  to  the  shadow  king  of  the  holy  court,  anil  receives  in  turn 
what  he  probably  deems  a  valueless  bundle  of  blessings  and  prayers. 

Tlie  hereditary  classes  in  society  are  said  to  be  eight  in  number  ;  and,  except  under  very 
peculiar  circumstances,  no  one  can  leave,  through  life,  the  class  in  which  he  was  born  without  a 
forfeiture  of  respectability. 

C'liifs  I.  These  are  tlie  hereditary  vassal  princes  of  tlie  Empire. 

Class  II.  These  are  hereditary  nobility,  bulow  the  rank  of  princes.  They  iiold  their  lands  as 
fiefs,  subject  to  knight  service  or  the  rendition  of  military  service  to  some  cue  of  the  hereditary 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

princes.  If  they  belong  to  one  of  the  imperial  cities,  their  military  service  is  due  directly  to 
the  Ziocfoon  himself.  Tlie  number  of  armed  vassals  required  of  them  is  regulated  by  the  extent 
of  their  respective  domains.  These  hereditary  nobles  have  generally  sub-vassals  on  their  lands, 
who  are  bound  to  furnish  their  several  quotas  of  fighting  men.  Out  of  this  class,  governors  of 
provinces,  generals,  and  officers  of  State  are  selected. 

Class  III.  This  includes  all  the  priests  of  the  Kingdom — seemingly,  those  of  the  ancient 
religion  of  Japan,  Sinfoo,  as  well  as  of  Buddhism. 

Class  IV.  This  is  composed  of  the  vassal  soldiers,  furnished  by  the  nobility  of  Class  II. 

These  four  classes  are  the  higher  orders  of  Japanese  society,  and  enjoy  certain  privileges  of 
dress.  They  carry  two  swords,  and  wear  a  species  of  loose  petticoat  trowsers,  which  none  of 
lower  rank  dare  to  put  on. 

Class  V.  These  constitute  the  higher  portion  of  the  middle  classes,  such  as  medical  men, 
government  clerks,  and  other  professional  mea  and  employes. 

Cla^s  VI.  Merchants  and  shopkeepers,  who  rank  low  in  Japan,  no  matter  what  may  be 
their  wealth.  Any  one  of  the  classes  above  this  would  be  disgraced  forever  should  he  engage 
in  any  trade  or  traffic.  The  richest  men  in  the  Empire  belong  to  this  class  ;  and  yet  they  are 
not  permitted  to  expend  their  money  in  a  luxurious  or  ostentatious  style  of  living.  Sumptuary 
laws  impose  restraints  which  they  dare  not  violate.  They  are  not  allowed  to  wear  even  the 
single  sword,  unless  they  j^urchase  the  j^rivilege,  by  becoming  the  menial  followers  of  some  great 
lord,  at  the  price  of  a  considerable  sum  of  money. 

Class  VII.  This  is  composed  of  retail  dealers,  little  shoiikeepers,  jjedlars,  mechanics,  and 
artisans  of  all  descriptions,  save  one,  to  be  mentioned  presently.  Painters  and  other  artists 
belong  to  this  class. 

Class  VIII.  This  consists  of  sailors,  fishermen,  peasants,  and  agricultural  and  day  laborers 
of  all  kinds.  The  peasants  seem  to  be  a  species  of  serfs,  attached  to  the  soil,  like  the  ancient 
villein  of  feudal  times,  and  belong  to  the  land-owner.  Sometimes  the  land  is  hired,  and  worked 
"on  shares,"  the  agriculturist  paying  the  proprietor  a  certain  proportion  of  the  crops. 

The  exception  alluded  to  among  mechanics,  in  Class  VII,  is  one  which  is  supposed  to  have 
originated  in  one  of  the  superstitions  of  the  Sintno  religion,  which  tabooed  all  wlio  liad  defiled 
tliemselves  by  coming  in  contact  with  a  dead  body.  Wliether  this  be  the  origin  of  the  excep- 
tion, we  know  not ;  but  the  tact  is  well  establislied,  that  the  tanners,  cumers,  leather  dressers, 
and,  in  short,  every  one  in  any  way  connected  with  the  making  or  vending  of  leather  is  placed 
under  ban  or  interdict.  Those  of  this  proscribed  class  cannot  dwell  in  the  towns  or  villages 
that  are  occupied  by  the  other  classes  ;  they  are  not  even  numbered  in  tlie  census  of  the  popula- 
tion. They  dare  not  enter  an  inn,  tea-house,  or  any  public  place  of  entertainment.  If  they 
are  travelling,  and  want  food  or  drink,  tlicy  must  wait  outside  of  the  wall  of  tlie  house,  and 
there  be  served  in  their  own  bowl  or  platter  ;  for  no  Japanese,  not  of  their  own  cla.ss,  would 
ever  touch  or  use  the  vessel  out  of  which  they  had  taken  food.  Out  of  this  class  come  the 
irablic  executioners  and  gaolers  throughout  tlie  Empire.  In  sliort,  they  are  shunned  like  the 
leper  of  old. 

Before  we  proceed  to  speak  of  the  singular  system  by  which  these  various  classes  are  governed, 
it  is  ])ro])or  to  ]ireniise  tliat  originally  the  Kingdom  was  sub-divided  into  sixty-six  or  sixty-eight 
principalities.  Tliese  bad  been  ])reviously  independent  kingdoms,  and  were  continued,  as  prin- 
cipalities, under  the  rule  of  their  resijoctive  princes,  subject,  however,  to  a  forfeiture  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

rights  of  the  governing  family,  in  case  of  rebellion  or  treason.  This  penalty  of  forfeiture  was 
incurred  by  many  of  the  reigning  princes,  and  advantage  was  taken  of  the  circumstance,  as 
often  as  it  occurred,  to  split  the  forteited  princijjalities  into  fragments  ;  so  that,  instead  of  the 
original  nnmher,  there  are  now  no  less  than  six  hundred  and  four  distinct  administrations,  in- 
cluding therein  principalities,  lordships,  imperial  provinces,  and  iiiii>erial  towns,  of  whidi  last 
the  Zioijoon  himself  is  the  ruling  head. 

1.  There  is  under  the  Emperor,  (Ziojoon,)  a  grand  council  of  state,  consisting  of  thirteen, 
which  governs  in  the  Emperor's  name.  Of  these  thirteen,  five  councillors  are  taken  from  the 
first  class  we  have  named,  the  hereditary  princes  and  vassals  of  the  Empire ;  the  remainino- 
eight  are  taken  from  the  second  class,  the  old  nohility,  below  the  rank  of  princes.  There  seems 
to  be  among  these  a  head  councillor  of  state^  whose  powers  and  functions  are  not  unlike  those  of 
a  grand  vizier  in  Turkey.  He  is  called  "  Governor  of  the  Empire,"  and  all  the  other  council- 
lors are  subordinate  to  him.  He  decides  upon  all  affairs  of  moment ;  has  the  universal  appoint- 
ing power  ;  receives  returns  from  all  the  authorities  of  the  Empire  ;  may,  on  appeal,  sanction 
or  reverse  every  sentence  of  death  passed  ;  and,  in  short,  acts  for  the  lay  Emperor  in  all  these 
and  some  other  exercises  of  sovereignty.  To  this  grand  council,  too,  belongs  the  very  imj)ortant 
power  of  dethroning  the  Ziogoon.  Important  resolutions  of  the  council  are  always  laid  before 
the  Emperor,  who  generally  assents  without  delay  or  investigation.  Should  he,  however,  dis- 
sent, a  mode  of  proceeding  is  pursued,  which  we  will  describe  presently.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
all  these  high  offices  are  not  hereditary  ;  and  under  these  are — 

2.  Inferior  state  functionaries,  in  regular  and  interminable  gradation,  consisting  of  lords, 
guardians  of  the  temples,  commissioners  of  foreign  affairs,  governors,  ministers  of  police, 
superintendents  of  agriculture,  &c.  Ko  relative  of  the  spiritual  sovereign,  however,  is  ever  put 
into  any  of  these  offices. 

3.  The  vassal  princes  still  govern  the  principalities  or  such  fragments  of  them  as  may  be 
left  to  them,  with  an  outward  show  of  their  former  sovereignty ;  but  it  is  show  only.  The 
princes  themselves  can  do  nothing  without  the  consent  of  the  Ziogoon  and  council.  And  here 
we  find  in  full  development  that  system  of  espionage  of  which  we  have  spoken.  The  prince 
himself,  beside  being  surrounded  with  a  multitude  of  private  spies,  unknown  to  him,  who 
watch  his  domestic  as  well  as  public  business  and  doingS;,  has  also  two  official  spies  api^ointed 
by  the  chief  of  the  grand  council,  and  these,  in  truth,  conduct  the  administration  of  the  prin- 
cipality. These  are  known  as  secretaries,  and  both  are  never  permitted  to  reside  in  the  pro- 
vince at  the  same  time.  They  alternate  yearly.  The  families  of  both  secretaries  reside  con- 
stantly in  Yeddo.  The  secretary  who  is  in  the  principality  therefore  leaves  his  family  behind 
him  in  the  capital  as  a  hostage  for  his  fidelity.  When  his  year  expires  he  may  rejoin  them, 
and  his  colleague  then,  bidding  adieu  to  his  household  for  a  year,  takes  his  place.  Each  sec- 
retary, therefore,  is  a  check  upon  the  doings  of  the  other  ;  it  is  the  interest  of  each  to  report 
any  misfeasance  in  the  official  conduct  of  the  other  ;  in  short,  they  are  spies  on  each  other.  But 
the  jealous  suspicion  of  the  government  is  not  satisfied  with  even  these  i)recautions.  Tiio 
family  of  the  prince  himself  is  made  to  reside  at  Yeddo,  and  he  must  spend  each  alternate  year 
there  near  the  Ziogoon. 

And  this  feature  of  making  officials  serve  in  pairs,  as  spies  upon  each  other,  we  may  hero 
remark,  once  for  all^  pervades  the  entire  polity  of  Japan.  Every  body  is  watclied.  No  man 
knows  who  are  the  secret  spies  around  him,  even  though  he  may  be,  and  is,  acquainted  with 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

those  thiit  are  official.  The  Emperors  themselves  are  not  exempt ;  vizier,  grand  councillors, 
vassal  princes,  provincial  secretaries,  all  are  nnder  the  eye  of  an  everlasting  unknown  police. 
Tiie  wretched  system  is  even  extended  to  the  humblest  of  the  citizens.  Every  city  or  town  is 
divided  into  collections  of  five  families,  aud  every  member  of  such  a  division  is  personally 
responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the  otliers  ;  everything,  therefore,  which  occurs  in  one  of  these 
families,  out  of  the  usual  course,  is  instantly  reported  to  the  authorities  by  the  other  iour  to 
save  themselves  from  censure.  It  has  well  been  said  that  tlie  government  of  Japan  is  a 
"government  of  spies." 

We  have  said  that  the  Emperors  are  not  exempt.  The  Ziogoon  has  his  minions  about  the 
3Iikado,  and  the  grand  council  have  theirs  about  the  Ziogoon.  And  the  cowardice  engendered 
by  such  ceaseless  distrust  necessarily  leads  to  cruelty  in  penalties.  Take  as  an  illustration  the 
case  of  a  measure  submitted  by  the  grand  council  to  the  Ziogoon;  to  which,  contrary  to  his 
usual  custom,  he  does  not  at  once  assent  without  examination.  Sujjpose  he  should  disapprove, 
the  measure  is  referred  immediately  to  the  arbitration  of  the  three  princes  of  the  blood  who 
are  the  nearest  kinsmen  of  the  Ziogoon,  and  their  decision  is  final.  If  they  do  not  agree  in 
opinion  with  the  monarch,  he  must  instantly  relinciuish  the  throne  to  his  son  or  to  some  other 
heir.  He  is  not  allowed  even  the  poor  privilege  of  revising  or  retracting  an  opinion.  Should 
the  three  princes  concur  in  the  Ziogoon's  opinion,  then  the  member  of  the  council  who  proposed 
the  obnoxious  measure  thus  rejected  must  die;  and  those  who  voted  with  him  are  often  required 
to  die  also.  Sometimes  the  whole  council,  with  the  "  Governor  of  the  Empire"  at  their  head, 
have  in  this  way  been  obliged  to  atone  for  a  mere  mistake  in  national  policy  by  putting  them- 
selves to  death. 

4.  As  to  the  government  of  lordships,  which  are  only  smaller  principalities,  the  rule  is  the 
same  ;  a  duality  of  governors,  an  alternation  in  the  discharge  of  official  duties,  and  a  separation 
every  other  year  from  all  domestic  enjoyment. 

5.  In  the  imperial  provinces  and  imperial  cities  the  Ziogoon,  or  rather  the  vizier  and  grand 
councilfor  him,  select  two  governors  from  the  nobility,  and  surround  them  with  the  usual  a])pa- 
ratus  of  secretaries  and  under  secretaries,  police  officers,  spies,  and  all  other  officials. 

As  to  the  spies  themselves,  they  are  of  every  rank  in  life  below  that  of  the  hereditary  princes. 
The  highest  nobility  dare  not  shrink  from  the  occupation,  and  even  stoop  to  disguise  themselves, 
the  more  effectually  to  perform  the  degrading  office.  The  fact  is,  if  directed  to  act  as  spies,  tliey 
must  either  do  it  or  adopt  as  the  alternative,  death !  Doubtless  many  of  those  who  perform  tiiis 
dishonorable  work  would  gladly,  were  it  possible,  escape  from  the  degradation  ;  while  tliere  are 
some,  ambitious  of  succeeding  to  those  whom  they  denounce,  to  whom  the  occujiation  is  congenial 
enough. 

A  story  is  told  by  the  writers  on  Japan  which  illustrates  this.  Complaints  were  sent  to  the 
grand  council  of  the  governor  of  the  town  of  Matsmai ;  the  council  resorted  to  its  usual  jdan  of 
employing  a  spy.  In  a  little  while  the  offending  governor  was  removed.  To  the  amazement  of 
the  people,  they  recognized  in  his  successor  a  man  whom  they  had  known  as  a  journeyman 
tobacco-cutter  in  the  tov/n,  who,  a  short  time  liefiire  the  displacement  of  tlie  old  goverudi-,  had 
suddenly  disappeared  from  his  master's  shoj).  The  journeyman  was  a  disguised  nobleman,  who 
had  acted  the  jjart  of  a  spy  by  order  of  the  court. 

A  very  singular  custom  of  self-punishment,  even  unto  deatli,  jirevails  among  ail  tlie  officials  of 
Japan.     When  one  has  offended,  or  even  when  in  his  department  there  has  been  any  violation 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

of  law,  although  beyond  his  power  of  prevention,  so  sure  is  he  of  the  punishment  of  death  that 
he  anticipates  it  by  ripping  up  bis  own  body,  disembowelling  himself,  rather  than  to  be  delivered 
over  to  the  executioner.  In  fact,  he  is  encouraged  to  do  so,  inasmuch  as  by  his  self-destruction 
he  saves  his  property  from  forfeiture  and  his  family  from  death  with  him.  With  many  of  the 
high  officials  it  is  a  point  of  honor  thus  to  kill  themselves  on  any  failure  in  their  departments  ; 
it  is  construed  into  an  acknowledgment  that  they  deserve  to  be  put  to  death  by  the  Emperor,  and 
their  sons  are  often  promoted  to  high  positions,  as  a  sort  of  reward  for  the  father's  ingenuous 
acknowledgment  of  guilt. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  from  what  has  been  said,  why  the  laws  and  customs  of  Japan  are  so  obsti- 
nately unalterable.  Every  man  is  afraid  of  proposing  an  innovation,  however  wise  or  necessary, 
because  the  penalty  is  so  fearful  should  it  not  be  approved.  He  who  in  the  grand  council  offers 
a  measure  which  is  disapproved  by  the  tribunal  of  final  resort  pays  for  his  act  with  his  life.  A 
governor,  or  lord,  or  prince,  knows  that  if  he  attempt  any  alteration,  no  matter  how  salutary,  he 
will  be  instantly  denounced  by  his  colleague,  or  secretary,  a  spy  upon  his  conduct,  as  a  violator 
of  the  established  usages  of  the  Empire,  and  the  certain  consequence  is  death.  So,  too,  with  the 
common  people  ;  broken  up  into  their  little  sections  of  five  families,  they  dare  not  depart  in  the 
slightest  degree  from  what  is  prescribed,  for  they  are  quite  sure  that  the  authorities  will  be 
informed  of  it,  and  the  penalty  inevitably  follows.  There  cannot,  under  such  a  system,  be 
anything  like  judicious  legislation,  founded  on  inquiry,  and  adapted  to  the  ever  varying  circum- 
stances of  life.  All  must  proceed  exactly  as  it  has  done  for  centuries ;  progress  is  rendered 
impossible,  and  hence,  in  some  degree,  the  difficulty,  so  long  experienced  in  all  Christendom,  of 
bringing  the  Japanese  into  communication  with  other  nations.  As  a  remedy  for  an  existing 
evil,  they  saw  fit,  centuries  ago,  to  interdict  entirely  all  such  commimication ;  and  though  the 
fact  admits  of  proof  that  many  of  their  wisest  men  would  gladly  have  seen  the  interdict  removed 
or  modified,  as  being  no  longer  necessary  in  their  altered  circumstances,  yet  no  man  dared  to 
propose  any  alteration. 

"We  may  venture  to  hope  that,  even  in  the  partial  communication  with  strangers  allowed  to 
the  Japanese  by  the  late  treaty  with  our  country,  the  first  step  has  been  taken  in  breaking  down 
their  long  prevalent  system  of  unalterable  laws  and  unchangeable  customs.  But  among  a  people 
80  sensitive  and  suspicious  considerable  time  must  elapse  before  much  progress  is  made  in  a  better 
direction.  And  in  the  first  exercise  of  our  rights  under  the  treaty,  it  is  to  be  hoped  the  greatest 
care  will  be  taken  by  our  countrymen  to  avoid  everything  which  can  alarm  the  sleepless  Japanese 
jealousy  of  strangers  ;  if  there  be  not,  there  is  danger  lest  in  their  apprehensions,  or  jjerchance 
in  mere  caprice,  they  may  seek  to  undo  all  that  they  have  thus  far  done.  It  is  obvious  that  a 
great  deal  depends  now  on  the  fairness,  good  sense,  and  good  temper  of  our  consular  representa- 
tives.    One  rash  man  may  overturn  all  that  has  been  accomplished. 

The  system  of  espionage  to  which  we  have  alluded  explains  also  what  all  the  writers  on 
Japan,  and  all  the  officers  of  our  late  expedition,  represent  as  a  prominent  characteristic.  Wd" 
allude  to  the  systematic  falsehood  and  duplicity  exhibited,  and  often  without  shame,  by  the  high 
Japanese  officials  and  public  functionaries  in  their  negotiations  and  intercourse  with  strangers. 
We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  these  bad  traits  belong  to  tlie  people,  generally.  On  the  contrary, 
almost  every  writer  describes  them  as  naturally  frank  in  manner,  communicative  and  open  in 
speech  on  ordinary  topics,  and  possessed  of  a  very  high  sense  of  honor.  They  are  a  people  of 
very  ingenious  and  lively  minds,  possessed  of  shrewdness,  of  great  personal  bravery,  as  their 
3  J 


18  INTKODUCTION. 

history  shows,  and  far  superior  (at  least  in  ouh  opinion)  to  any  other  civilized  eastern  nation; 
But  the  officials  are  placed  in  a  false  position  by  the  wretclied  system  of  spies,  and  dare  not  act 
openly  and  frankly.  As  government  functionaries  they  lie  and  practice  artifice  to  save  themselves 
from  condemnation  by  the  higher  powers ;  it  is  their  vocation ;  as  private  gentlemen,  they  are 
frank,  truthful,  and  hospitable.  MacFarlane,  who  speaks  of  this  official  deception,  says  he  Has 
observed  precisely  the  same  thing  among  the  Turks.  Nearly  every  Turk,  unconnected  with 
government,  may  be  described  as  being  in  his  private  intercourse  a  frank,  truth-loving,  honorable 
man  ;  while  nearly  every  one  holding  a  government  office  may  be  considered  as  exactly  the 
reverse.  These  facts  present  a  seeming  anomaly,  and  yet  we  are  not  sure  that  something  very 
like  it,  and  differing  in  degree  only,  may  not  be  found  nearer  to  homo  than  Japan. 

The  severity  of  the  Japanese  laws  is  excessive.  The  code  is  probably  the  bloodiest  in  the 
world.  Death  is  the  prescribed  punishment  for  most  offences.  The  Japanese  seem  to  proceed 
on  the  principle  that  he  who  will  violate  one  law  will  violate  any  other,  and  that  the  wilful 
violator  is  unworthy  to  live ;  he  cannot  be  trusted  in  society.  Their  laws  are  very  short  and 
intelligible,  and  are  duly  made  public  in  more  modes  than  one,  so  that  no  man  can  truly  plead 
ignorance ;  and  the  proceedings  under  them  are  as  simple  as  the  laws  themselves.  There  are 
no  professional  lawyers  in  the  kingdom ;  every  man  is  deemed  competent  to  be  his  own  pleader. 
If  a  party  is  aggrieved,  he  immediately  appeals  to  the  magistrate,  before  whom  the  other  party  is 
soon  made  to  appear.  The  case  is  stated  by  the  complainant  in  his  own  way,  and  the  accused  is 
heard  in  reply.  The  magistrate  examines  the  witnesses,  and  it  is  said  that  this  officer  generally 
displays  great  acuteness  in  detecting  falsehood.  He  passes  sentence,  and  it  is  carried  into 
execution  instanter  ;  and  so  ends  an  ordinary  lawsuit.  If  the  matter  in  controversy  be  of  great 
importance,  the  magistrate  may  refer  it  to  the  Emperor  in  council ;  but  if  he  sees  fit  to  decide  it 
himself  there  is  no  appeal.  Sometimes,  in  trifling  cases,  he  orders  the  parties  to  go  and  settle 
the  matter  privately  with  the  aid  of  friends,  and  it  is  well  understood  that  it  rrnist  be  thus  settled, 
or  unpleasant  consequences  will  result.  Sometimes,  when  both  plaintiff  and  defendant  are  in 
fault,  he  awards  censure  to  both,  as  they  may  deserve  it,  and  sends  them  about  their  business. 
We  have  said  their  code  is  bloody  in  principle,  and  very  often  it  is  sanguinary  in  practice.  Still 
the  relentings  of  humanity  have  forced  the  administrators  of  justice  to  some  modification  of  the 
theory  which  prescribes  indiscriminate  severity. 

The  magistrate  may  sentence  to  death,  but  he  is  not  obliged  to  do  so,  except  in  cases  of  murder. 
He  may,  therefore,  exercise  a  large  discretion.  He  may  imprison  in  a  raya  or  cage.  In  this 
case,  the  prisoner  is  allowed  a  fair  iiroportion  of  wholesome  food,  and  provision  is  made  for 
cleanliness  and  ventilation.  But  there  is  another  prison,  commonly  a  dungeon  in  the  governor's 
house,  known  by  the  significant  name  of  gokuya,  hell.  Into  this  more  are  thrust  than  it  will 
conveniently  hold;  the  door  is  never  opened  except  to  admit  or  release  a  prisoner;  the  food  is 
passed  within  through  a  hole  in  the  wall,  and  there  is  neither  light  or  ventilation  excejjt  through 
a  small  grated  hole  or  window  at  the  top.  Books,  pipes,  and  every  species  of  recreation  are 
prohibited  ;  no  beds  are  allowed,  and  the  prisoner  is  subjected  to  what  he  considers  the  deep 
degradation  of  being  made  to  wear  a  rope  of  straw  art)und  liis  waist  instead  of  the  usual  silk  or 
linen  girdle.  The  diet  is  limited  and  very  poor  ;  but  if  a  rich  man  is  confined,  he  may  buy 
better  food,  on  condition  that  he  will  share  it  equally  with  all  his  fellow  prisoners.  The  Japanese 
doctrine  is  that,  if  a  man  of  wealth  or  influence  is  a  criminal,  he  has  no  right  to  fare  any  better 
than  the  poorest  man  in  the  Kingdom  who  commits  a  crime,  therefore  all  shall  be  treated  alike. 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  well  known,  yet  remarkable  feature  of  Jiipanesc  polity,  which 
has  for  so  long  a  time  induced  the  government  rigorouslj'  to  interdict  all  communication  between 
its  subjects  and  foreigners,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  Dutch  and  Chinese.  Tliis  exclusive 
system  did  not  always  prevail.  We  shall  have  occasion,  presently,  to  give  the  history  of  its 
origin,  and  to  place  before  the  reader  a  statement  of  the  means  whereby  the  Dutch  succeeded  in 
the  establishment  of  their  commercial  ftxctory  at  Dezima,  in  the  port  of  Nagas.iki.  It  is  only 
necessarj'  now  to  remark  that,  prior  to  the  visit  of  the  United  States'  expedition,  no  otlier  port 
but  Nagasaki  was  open  to  a  European  shiji,  and,  except  at  that  spot,  no  Japanese  was  permitted 
to  buy  from  or  sell  to  a  western  stranger.  The  Chinese  had  some  few  privileges  of  trade,  but 
these  were  hedged  around  with  jealous  restrictions  that  hampered  their  commercial  relations  and 
intercourse  quite  as  much  as  those  of  the  Euroi^eans.  With  this  general,  and  neces.sarily  brief 
view  of  the  leading  features  of  the  Japanese  government  and  policy,  we  pass  on  to  another  topic. 


SECTION  IV. 


RELIGION. 

Such  are  the  contradictions  among  the  several  writers  on  Japan  upon  the  subject  of  the  religion 
of  the  country  that  it  is  not  easy  to  discover  what  is  the  precise  truth.  Nor  is  this  discrepancy 
much  to  be  wondered  at,  for,  since  the  extirpation  of  Christianity  from  the  Kingdom,  there  is, 
probably,  no  topic  on  which  a  Christian  would  find  it  more  difficult  to  obtain  from  a  Japanese 
accurate  information  than  on  the  subject  of  religion.  There  are,  however,  certain  j^articulars  in 
which  all  agree,  and  which  are  doubtless  correct. 

The  original  national  religion  of  Japan  is  called  Sin-syu,  (from  sin,  the  gods,  and  syu,  faith,) 
and  its  followers  are  called  Sinfoos.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  statement  made  by  some  writers  ;  but 
Siebold  says  the  proper  Japanese  name  is  Kami-no-mifsi,  which  means  "  the  way  of  the  Kami," 
or  gods  ;  this  the  Chinese  have  translated  into  Shin-tao ;  and  the  Japanese  have  modified  the 
Chinese  into  Sintoo. 

It  is  said  that  the  only  object  oiioorsMp  among  the  Sintoos  is  the  sun-goddess,  Ten-sio-dai-zin, 
who  is  deemed  the  patron  divinity  of  Japan.  But  there  are  thousands  of  inferior  deities,  called 
Kami,  of  whom  the  greater  number  are  canonized  or  deified  men.  It  is  through  these  and  the 
Mikado,  as  mediators,  that  prayers  are  made  to  the  sun-goddess,  who  is  too  great  and  holy  to 
allow  of  an  independent  approach  to  her  in  jirayer.  The  Mikado  is  supposed  to  be  her  lineal 
descendant.  But  with  all  these  divinities  the  Sintoos  are  not  idolaters.  They  have  no  idols  in 
their  temples  ;  there  are  images  indeed  of  their  Kami,  but,  as  it  is  alleged,  not  for  purposes  of 
worship.  This  statement,  however,  js  very  questionable.  The  only  decorations  of  the  old  temples 
were  a  mirror,  the  emblem  of  purity  of  soul,  and  many  strips  of  white  paper  formed  into  what 
is  called  a  rjohei,  also  an  emblem  of  purity.  Siebold  thinks  the  image  of  the  Kami,  introduced 
into  the  temples,  is  a  foreign  innovation,  and  never  existed  before  tlic  introduction  of  Biiddliism. 
The  numerous  Kami  he  considers  as  analogous  to  the  saints  of  the  Romanist.  MacFarlanc 
looks  on  the  Sintoo  worship  at  this  day  as  thoroughly  jiermeated  with  Buddhism.     Meylan 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

would  make  the  original  religion  of  Japan  a  pure  theism.  It  is  not  easy  to  say  what  it  was  or 
is.  As  to  the  Sintoo  creed,  its  leading  features,  according  to  Siebold,  are  some  vague  notion 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  of  a  future  state  of  existence,  of  rewards  and  punishments,  a 
paradise  and  a  hell.  Its  five  great  duties  are :  1st.  Preservation  of  pure  fire  as  an  emhlem  of 
purity  and  instrument  of  purification.  2d.  Purity  of  soul,  heart,  and  body  to  be  cherished, 
the  first  by  obeying  the  dictates  of  reason  and  the  laws,  the  last  by  abstaining  from  whatever 
defiles.  3d.  Observance  of  festival  days,  which  are  numerous.  4th.  Pilgrimages,  which  at 
certain  times  in  the  year  are  imposing  and  costly  ;  and  5th.  The  worship  of  the  Kami,  both  in 
the  temples  and  in  private  habitations.  Impurity  may  be  contracted  in  various  ways  :  By 
associating  with  the  impure,  by  hearing  obscene  or  wicked  language,  by  eating  certain  meats, 
and  by  coming  in  contact  with  blood,  or  with  a  dead  body.  For  all  these  there  are  the  prescribed 
modes  of  purification. 

The  festivals  all  begin  with  a  visit  to  the  temple.  There  the  votary  performs  his  ablutions  at 
a  reservoir  provided  for  the  purpose ;  he  then  kneels  in  the  verandah,  opposite  to  a  grated 
window,  through  which  he  gazes  at  the  mirror,  and  then  offers  up  his  prayers,  with  his  sacrifice 
of  rice,  fruit,  tea,  or  the  like.  This  done,  he  drops  his  coin  in  the  money-box,  and  retires. 
This  is  the  usual  form  of  Kami  worship  at  the  temiiles.  The  moneys  contributed  are  applied 
to  the  support  of  the  Kaminusi,  as  they  are  called.  These  are  the  priests  of  the  temple,  and 
their  name  or  title  means,  literally,  the  landlords  of  the  gods.  These  priests  live  in  houses 
within  the  grounds  of  their  respective  temples,  and  are  hospitable  to  strangers.  Siebold  says 
that  they  marry,  and  that  their  wives  are  priestesses,  who  have  prescribed  religious  duties ; 
though  we  have  been  told  by  an  intelligent  Japanese,  in  reply  to  our  inquiries,  that  the  Sintoo 
priests  do  not  marry. 

Pilgrimage,  however,  is  the  great  religious  duty  of  the  Sintooites.  There  are  two-and-twcnty 
shrines  in  the  Kingdom  commanding  such  homage  ;  but  the  great  and  most  sacred  one  is  that 
of  the  sun-goddess,  Ten-sio-dai-sin,  at  Isye.  To  make  at  least  one  pilgrimage  to  this  shrine  is 
incumbent  upon  everybody  of  the  Sintoo  faith.  The  very  pious  go  annually.  Even  the 
Buddhists  (with  the  exception  of  the  Bonzes  or  priests)  perform  this  pilgrimage.  Tlie  Ziogoon 
is  permitted  to  perform  this  religious  duty  vicariously,  and  annually  sends  an  embassy  of 
pilgrims  to  Isye. 

The  Kaminusi  are  the  regular  clergy  of  the  Sintoo  religion  in  Japan  ;  but  the  European 
writers  on  the  subject  mention  two  institutions  or  religious  orders,  if  they  may  be  so  called, 
composed  entirely  of  the  blind,  and  constituting  a  quasi  clergy.  The  Japanese  tell  romantic 
stories  about  their  origin.  One  of  the  fraternities  they  say  was  founded  many  centuries  ago  by 
Senmimar,  a  prince  of  the  Empire,  and  the  younger  son  of  the  then  reigning  Mikado.  The 
prince  was  one  of  the  handsomest  men  in  the  Kingdom,  and  loved  a  princess  whose  beauty  was 
a  match  for  his  own.  She  died,  and  such  was  his  grief,  that  he  wept  himself  blind.  He  then 
founded  tliis  order.  The  otlier  association  had  a  different,  but  not  less  remarkable  origin.  In 
the  times  of  Yoritomo,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  in  the  last  section,  there  was  a  general  named 
Kakekigo,  who  commanded  a  part  of  the  troops  of  Prince  Fcki.  In  battle  with  Yoritomo, 
Prince  Fcki  was  slain,  and  Kakekigo  was  taken  prisoner.  So  great  was  the  romiwn  of  tlie 
prisoner,  throughout  Japan,  that  Yoritomo  strove  most  earnestly  to  gain  liis  friendship  ;  ho 
loaded  him  with  kindnesses  and  finally  offered  him  his  liberty.  Kakekigo  replied  :  "  I  can  love 
none  but  my  shiiu  ma.ster.     1  owe  you  gratitude  ;  but  you  cau.scd  Prince  Feki's  dcatli.  and  inver 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

can  I  look  upon  you  without  wishing  to  kill  you.  My  heat  way  to  avoid  such  ingratitude,  and  to 
reconcile  my  conflicting  duties,  is  never  to  see  you  more;  and  thus  do  I  insure  it."  With  tlieso 
■words,  he  tore  out  his  eyes,  and  presented  tliem  to  Yoritomo  on  a  salver.  The  prince,  struck 
with  admiration,  released  him,  when  Kakekigo  withdrew  into  retirement  and  founded  this 
second  order  of  the  hlind,  which  is  called,  after  Prince  Fcki,  the  Fekisado. 

There  are  two  sects  among  the  Sin-syu :  the  Yaitz  and  the  liwhoo-Sinfoo.  The  first  are  the 
rigidly  orthodox,  who  will  allow  of  no  innovation.  They  are  few  in  number,  and  consist  mostly 
of  the  Kaininusi  or  priests.  The  other  sect,  which  comprises  the  great  body  of  the  Sintoos,  is 
eclectic,  and  has  introduced  a  great  deal  of  Buddhism  into  the  system. 

Buddhism  is  the  most  widely  diffused  of  all  false  creeds.  Its  followers  amount  to  three  hundred 
and  twenty  millions,  wljile  those  of  Mohammed  flill  short  of  this  number  by  fifty  millions.  The 
founder  of  this  religion  was  a  man  call^  Saki/a-SinJia,  (Syaka  in  Japan.)  who,  by  his  virtues 
and  austerity,  attained  to  divine  honors,  a'nd  after  death  was  deified  under  the  name  of  Buddha, 
or  "the  Sage."  It  is  impossible  to  say  when  he  was  born.  The  earliest  period  named  is  2,420 
years  before  the  Christian  era  ;  the  latest  is  but  543  years  prior  to  that  event.  Neither  can  it 
be  said  with  certainty  when  Buddhism  was  introduced  into  Japan.  Klaproth  and  Siebold,  both 
of  whom  profess  to  follow  Japanese  writers,  differ  as  to  dates.  The  probability  is  that  it  was 
brought  in  from  India  or  Corea  near  the  close  of  the  sixth  century  of  our  era. 

The  leading  features  of  this  system  of  religion  are  the  metempsychosis,  whence  arises  the 
dogma  that  prohibits  the  taking  of  animal  life  ;  the  worship  of  a  countless  host  of  idols  ;  that 
the  grand  Lama,  or  high-priest  King,  never  dies  ;  that  their  priests  constitute  a  distinct  order  in 
the  State,  and  that  they  are  bound  to  celibacy.  The  chief  commandments  of  Buddhism  are  five 
in  number,  and  constitute  a  code  which  is  called  the  GoJca'i,  or  five  laws.  They  are  these :  not 
to  kill,  not  to  steal,  to  live  chastely,  not  to  lie,  and  to  abstain  from  strong  drink.  The  Sil-a'i, 
or  ten  counsels,  contain  the  division  and  application  of  these  laws  to  particular  cases.  Buddhism 
made  its  way  in  Japan  by  degrees,  although  the  government  tolerated  it  from  the  beginning. 
Indeed,  no  feature  is  more  striking  among  the  institutions  of  the  Empire  than  its  enlarged  spirit 
of  religious  toleration.  It  was  extended  to  Christianity  on  its  first  promulgation  by  the  Portu- 
guese ;  and  was  not  withdrawn  until  the  Japanese  supposed  that  intolerance  and  treason  lurked 
under  the  new  religion.  Christianity  was  driven  from  Japan  on  political,  not  on  religious 
grounds.  Such  is  the  liberality  of  the  government  on  the  subject  of  religion  that,  at  this 
moment,  may  be  found  in  Japan  no  less  than  thirty-four  sects,  all  quite  distinct  from  Buddliism, 
(which  is  the  faith  of  a  majority  of  the  Kingdom,)  perfectly  unmolested.  Tlie  truth  is,  that  the 
Japanese  government  exhibits  now,  as  it  always  has  done,  a  very  remarkable  indifference  to 
mere  doctrinal  points,  so  long  as  they  interfere  not  with  the  public  tranquility.  When  the 
priests  of  the  Japanese  sects  joined,  centuries  ago,  in  a  petition  to  the  Emperor  that  he  would 
banish  the  Jesuits  and  the  Eomish  monks,  annoyed  by  their  importunities,  he  asked  them  how 
many  different  religions  there  were  then  in  Japan?  Tliey  answered  "tliirty-five."  "Well," 
said  the  Emperor,  "when  thirty-five  religions  can  be  tolerated  we  can  easily  bear  with  tliirty- 
six  ;  leave  the  strangers  in  peace." 

The  Buddhism  of  Japan,  at  this  day,  has  probably  much  of  the  old  Sintoo  mixed  u])  Avitli  it ; 
but  there  is  reason  to  think  that  no  creed  in  the  Kingdom  has  a  very  strong  hold  on  the  popular 
mind.  Christianity,  however,  is  viewed  with  suspicion  by  all,  and  at  present  is  not,  in  any 
degree,  tolerated. 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

The  idolatry  of  tlio  common  peoi^le,  who  are  Buddhists,  is  exceedingly  gross,  while  among  the 
learned  the  religion  assumes  the  character  of  a  high  mystic  creed,  not  wanting  in  some  features 
that  are  pure  enough. 

There  is  a  third  sect,  called  hy  some  writers  religious,  though  Kaempfor  more  properly  speaks 
of  it  as  a  school  of  philosophers.  It  is  known  by  the  name  of  Siutoo,  which  means  "the  way 
of  philosophers."  It  inculcates  no  particular  faith,  and  can  accommodate  itself  to  any,  whether 
true  or  false.  In  some  of  its  features  it  borders  closely  on  Pantheism.  It  is  supjjosed,  and  we 
presume  correctly,  to  be  an  importation  from  China,  compounded  of  most  of  the  moral  precei)ts  of 
Confucius,  and  some  high,  mystic  Buddhist  notions.  It  has  no  religious  rites  or  ceremonies  of 
its  own.  There  are  five  great  points  which  characterize  it.  They  call  them  Bsin,  Gi,  Be,  Tsi, 
Sin.  Dsiii  teaches  them  to  live  virtuously  ;  Gi  to  do  right  and  act  justly  with  everybody ;  Be 
to  be  civil  and  polite ;  Tsi  sets  forth  the  rules  for  a  good  and  prudent  government ;  and  Sin 
treats  of  a  free  conscience  and  upright  heart.  Nearly  all  the  early  European  writers  say  that 
by  far  the  larger  number  of  the  learned  men  of  Japan  belong  to  this  school,  which  is  remarkable 
for  its  scorn  of  the  Buddhist  idolatry.  When  Christianity  Avas  driven  from  Japan,  the  Siufooisfs 
were  suspected  of  a  tendency  toward  that  faith,  and  thenceforth  every  Japanese  was  rcr[uired 
to  have  in  his  house  an  idol  of  some  kind. 

Meylan,  the  Dutch  official  at  Dezima,  speaks  of  a  fourth  religion,  which  co-existed  with 
these  three  prior  to  the  introduction  of  Christianity.  His  story  is,  that  about  A.  D.  50,  a  Brah- 
minical  sect  was  introduced  into  Japan,  wliich  taught  as  doctrines  the  redemption  of  the  world 
by  the  son  of  a  virgin,  who  died  to  expiate  human  sin,  thus  insuring  to  man  a  joyful  resur- 
rection. It  also  taught  a  trinity  of  immaterial  persona  constituting  one  eternal,  omnipotent 
God,  the  maker  of  all  things,  who  was  to  be  adored  as  the  source  of  all  good. 

Some  have  hence  in  'mated  what  certainly  is  not  impossible,  that  Christianity  may  have  thus 
early  reached  Japan  thro  -gh  India.  But  there  is  jirobably  some  mistake  in  this  statement  of 
the  doctrines  held.  No  wri'er  but  Meylan  has  mentioned  the  story,  and  both  the  Buddhist  and 
Brahminical  systems  afford  materials  which  an  over  zealous  and  uninformed  spirit  of  Christianity 
may  easily  convert  into  seemingly  Christian  doctrines.  Thus,  the  old  Spanish  ecclesiastics  who 
first  came  to  America  were  quite  convinced  that  the  gospel  liad  been  brought  to  our  continent 
by  St.  Thomas,  long  before  their  arrival. 


SECTION  V. 

GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  PAST  RELATIONS  OF  THE  EMPIRE  WITH  THE  WESTERN  CIVILIZED  NATIONS. 

THE  PORTUGUESE. 

Ferdinand  Mendez  Pinto  has  been  immortalized  by  Cervantes,  but  unfortunately  for  his 
reputation  it  is,  to  use  the  phrase  of  Shakspcare,  as  a  "measureless  liar."  Like  Marco  Polo, 
when  he  told  strange  things  that  had  befallen  him  in  his  wanderings,  the  men  of  his  generation 
refused  to  believe  liini.  But  like  Polo,  he  related  a  great  deal  that  has  since  been  found  to  bo 
true  ;  and  we  are  inclined  to  think  that,  when  telling  what  he  professed  to  have  seen  himself, 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

he  interspersed  liis  narrative  with  as  few  lies  as  some  of  his  more  accredited  successors  of  modern 
times. 

Pinto  was  a  good  representative  of  the  Portuguese  discoverer  of  tlie  sixteenth  century.  In 
his  day  Portugal  was  a  power.  In  less  than  two  centuries  she  had  traversed  the  Atlantic, 
conquered  Madeira,  the  Cape  de  Verds,  the  coast  of  Guinea  and  Congo  ;  had  planted  herself  on 
the  shores  of  India,  and  obtained  a  foothokl  in  China.  She  had  founded  in  her  wealthy 
metropolis  of  Goa  what  has  been  called  '"the  Kome  of  India."  She  possessed  ilacao,  and  was 
among  the  first  of  European  maritime  powers  in  the  east.  Albuquerque  had  laid  for  her  the 
foundations  of  a  magnificent  oriental  empire,  which  it  needed  a  man  like  Albuquerque  to 
consolidate  and  retain.  The  man  was  wanting,  and  the  empire  never  grew  to  maturity.  But 
this  her  prosperous  day  produced  for  her  many  a  hardy  sailor,  half  hero,  half  adventurer ;  now 
exhibiting  a  touch  of  chivalry  and  now  a  touch  of  traffic ;  a  soldier  on  land  to-day  and  a  corsair 
of  the  seas  to-morrow;  exceedingly  devout  or  surpassingly  profane,  according  to  circumstances; 
hut  always  ready  to  encounter  fatigue,  privation  or  peril,  to  promote  the  gain  of  himself  and 
the  grandeur  of  his  country,  which  on  most  occasions  he  felicitously  contrived  to  reconcile  and 
blend  into  one  common  end.     Of  this  class  Pinto  was  a  type. 

He  visited  Japan,  and  has  told  us  the  story  of  his  adventures ;  and  the  better  authorities  of 
this  day  believe  that  he  was  an  eye-witness  and  actor  in  such  scenes  as  he  relates  of  personal 
incidents. 

There  is,  however,  some  room  for  discussion  on  the  subject  of  dates  ;  for  if  we  may  credit  the 
Japanese  annals,  it  would  seem  that  about  the  same  time  there  must  have  been  two  visits  of 
Europeans  to  Japan  ;  but  if  there  were,  both  were  made  by  natives  of  Portugal,  so  that  to  them 
unquestionably  belongs  the  honor  of  having  first  landed  on  the  Japanese  soil,  and  of  having 
brought  that  country  into  communication  with  Europe.  The  discovery,  indeed,  was  acci- 
dental in  both  cases,  if  two  there  were,  but  that  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  it  was  made  by  the 
Portuguese. 

We  incline  to  think,  however,  that  there  was  but  one  visit.  The  annals  of  Japan  record  the 
arrival  of  the  first  Europeans,  and  substantially  they  agree  with  Pinto's  stor3\  So  remarkable 
was  the  event,  and  so  strange  the  appearance  of  the  new  comers,  that  the  Japanese  preserved 
portraits  of  them.  The  date  assigned  in  the  annals  would  correspond  with  our  October,  in  the  year 
1543.  Pinto  makes  the  date  of  his  arrival  in  1545.  Still  the  details  given  by  Pinto,  and  confirmed 
by  the  annals,  force  us  to  believe  that  both  are  telling  the  story  of  the  same  event.  Whether  it 
were  in  the  one  year  or  the  other  of  those  named  above,  the  story  is,  that  a  Portuguese  ship  or 
Chinese  corsair,  (we  know  not  which,)  on  board  of  which  was  Pinto,  after  great  stress  of  weather, 
was  driven  to  the  shores  of  Japan,  and  anchored  at  last  in  the  harbor  of  Bungo,  on  the  island 
of  Kiu-siu.  The  Japanese  at  that  time,  though  vigilant,  yet  manifested  no  reluctance  to  admit 
the  strangers  and  hold  communication  with  them.  They  extended  courtesy  and  kindness  to 
tliem,  and  no  obstacle  was  interposed  to  a  free  trade  with  the  inhabitants.  The  names  of  those 
who  first  landed  are  said  by  various  writers,  from  Maffeius  up  to  Thunberg,  to  have  been 
Antonio  Mota,  Francisco  Zeimoto,  and  Antonio  Peixoto.  Fraissinet,  however,  tliinks  that  the 
names  have  been  disfij^urcd  or  altered,  and  that  the  individuals  meant  were  Fernan  Mendez  Pinto, 
Diego  Zeimoto,  and  Christuval  Borallo.  The  Japanese  annals  speak  of  two  under  the  names  of 
Moura  Siouksia  and  Krista  Mota,  and  Fraissinet  suggests  that  Siouksia  may  be  the  Japanese 
pronunciation  of  Zeimoto,  and  Krista  their  nearest  approach  to  Christoval.     The  natives  and 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

strangers  -were  eo  well  pleased  with  each  other  that,  by  an  arrangement  with  the  viceroy  or 
prince  of  Bungo,  (the  rulers  of  the  principalities  were  then  probably  more  independent  of  the 
Emperor  than  they  are  now,)  a  Portuguese  ship  was  to  be  sent  annually  to  the  island  of  Kiu-siu 
laden  with  woollen  cloths,  furs,  manufactured  silks,  taffetas,  and  other  commodities  needed  by 
the  Japanese.  This  ship  was  to  be  dispatched  probably  from  Macao,  or,  it  may  be,  from  Goa. 
The  rettirns  were  to  be  made  in  gold,  silver,  and  copper,  of  the  last  of  which  there  is  undoubted 
abundance  in  Japan,  and  probably  no  small  quantity  of  the  first. 

But  with  this  introduction  of  commercial  relations,,  the  Portuguese  soon  introduced  also  priests 
of  the  religion  they  professed.  In  1549,  seven  years  only  after  the  discovery,  Hansiro,  a  young 
Japanese  of  some  rank,  had  found  it  necessary  to  fly  from  his  country,  on  account  of  a  homicide, 
and  had  gone  to  the  Portuguese  settlement  of  Goa,  on  the  Malabar  coast.  Here  he  encountered 
ecclesiastics  of  the  church  of  Kome,  by  whom  he  was  converted  to  the  Christian  faith  and  baptized. 
He  was  enterprising  and  shrewd,  and  soon  convinced  tlie  Portuguese  merchants  of  Goa  that 
they  might  establish  a  profitable  trade  with  Japan,  and  assured  the  Jesuits  that  they  also  might 
find  a  rich  harvest  of  souls  in  the  Empire. 

The  Portuguese  hastened  to  act  on  both  his  suggestions  ;  a  ship  was  loaded  with  goods  and 
presents  and  sent  to  establish  a  permanent  trade  with  Japan ;  while,  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
second  object,  some  of  the  Jesuit  priests  were  ready  enough  to  embark.  Among  them  was  that 
remarkable  man,  Francis  Xavier,  who  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  many  of  the  most 
important  qualifications  of  the  Christian  missionary.  To  talents  of  a  very  high  order  he  added  a 
zeal  and  enthusiasm  rarely  equalled,  and  a  courage  never  surpassed.  The  thought  of  the  perils 
attending  the  mission,  so  far  from  disheartening  him,  served  only  to  strengthen  his  resolve  to 
undertake  it.  On  board  the  ship  returned  the  young  Japane.se  convert  who  had  suggested  the 
undertaking.  On  arriving  at  the  province  of  Bungo  all  were  received  with  open  arms,  and  not 
the  slightest  opposition  was  made  to  the  introduction  of  either  trade  or  religion.  No  system  of 
exclusion  then  existed,  and  such  was  the  spirit  of  toleration  that  the  government  made  no 
objection  to  the  preaching  of  Christianity.  Indeed  the  Portuguese  were  freely  permitted  to  go 
where  they  pleased  in  the  Emjjire,  and  to  travel,  by  land  or  sea,  from  one  end  of  it  to  the  other. 
The  people  bought  the  goods  of  the  merchants  and  listened  to  the  teachings  of  the  missionaries. 
The  labors  of  the  last  were  very  successful,  for  it  is  but  justice  to  Xavier  and  the  first  missionaries 
to  say  that  they  were  most  exemplary  men — humble,  virtuous,  disinterested,  and  very  benevolent. 
Possessed  of  some  medical  skill,  they  used  it  kindly  and  gratuitously  among  the  sick,  and 
were  deservedly  viewed  by  the  people  as  friendly  and  superior  men,  whose  lives  were  devoted  to 
doing  good.  They  meddled  with  no  public  affairs ;  unmolested  by  the  government,  they  troubled 
not  themselves  about  its  administration  ;  and  imitating  the  example  of  the  devoted  Xavier,  they 
modestly  and  unceasingly  pursued  the  appropriate  duties  of  their  holy  calling  only.  In  fact, 
they  loved  the  Japanese.  With  one  voice  the  early  missionaries  speak  in  terms  of  strong 
affection  when  they  describe  the  docile  and  good  disposition  of  the  Japanese.  Xavier  says  :  "I 
know  not  when  to  cease  in  speaking  of  the  Japanese.     They  are  truly  the  delight  of  my  heart." 

This  eminent  man  went  from  Japan  to  China  in  1551,  and  in  1552  died  at  Shan  Shan,  on  the 
Canton  river,  not  far  from  Macao.  He  left  behind  him,  however,  among  his  beloved  islanders, 
some  very  able  and  excellent  men,  and  churches  were  built  and  converts  made  by  thousands. 

Nor  were  the  commercial  relations  of  the  new  comers  less  prosiierous.  Tlicy  could  readily 
obtain  the  commodities  they  wished  for  the  Japanese  market  from  their  establishments  at  Macao 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

and  Goa.  The  prnfits  they  made  on  their  European  merchandise  were  commonly  one  himdred 
per  cent.  ;  so  that,  as  K;empfer  has  said,  if  their  commercial  prosperity  had  continued  l)ut 
twenty  years  longer,  JIacao  would  have  heen  so  enriched  tVom  Jajjan  tliat  it  would  liave  surpassed 
all  that  was  accvimulated  in  Jerusalem  during  the  reign  of  Solomon.  As  one  of  the  old  writers 
expresses  it,  the  Portuguese  obtained  "  the  golden  marrow"  of  Ja])an.  In  fact  they  had  but  to 
proceed  prudently  and  they  would  ere  long  have  been  the  dominant  race  in  Ja])an.  Many  of 
them  liad  married  the  daughters  of  the  wealthiest  Christian  Japanese,  and  no  other  nation  of 
Europe  could  have  driven  them  from  their  strong  position. 

It  was  about  the  year  1566  that  the  Portuguese  first  called  the  attention  of  the  reigning  priucc 
of  Onnira  to  the  superiority  of  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki  over  the  ports  they  were  accustomed  to 
frequent ;  and  it  was  at  their  suggestion  tliat  a  settlement  was  formed  there.  Bungo,  Firando  , 
(Firato,)  and  Nagasaki  were  the  principal  places  of  commercial  business. 

But  all  this  prosperity  was  destined  to  have  an  end,  and  we  are  sorry  to  say  it  was  occasioned 
by  the  ecclesiastics  themselves.  Had  the  work  begun  by  Xavier  and  his  companions  been  left 
in  the  bands  of  men  like  themselves,  we  very  much  doubt  whetlier  the  severe  Japanese  laws 
prohibiting  Christianity  in  the  Empire  would  ever  have  existed.  But  these  prudent,  inoilensive, 
and  laborious  men  were  soon  outnumbered  by  swarms  of  Dominican,  Augustinian,  and  Fran- 
ciscan friars  from  Goa  and  Macao,  who  were  attracted  by  the  flattering  accounts  of  the  remarkable 
success  of  the  Jesuits.  They  had  not  labored  in  making  the  harvest,  tliey  were  ready  enough 
to  go  and  reap  it.  The  Franciscans  and  Dominicans  quarrelled  with  each  other,  and  all  the 
orders  quarrelled  with  the  Jesuits.  In  vain  did  the  latter  implore  them  to  profit  by  their 
experience,  to  be  discreet  and  suppress  their  strife,  to  respect  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  country  . 
In  vain  did  they  represent  that  their  conduct  would  prove  fatal,  not  merely  to  their  own  lioi)es 
and  purposes,  but  even  to  the  progress,  possibly  to  the  continuance  in  Japan  of  Christianity 
itself.  All  was  of  no  avail.  To  the  Japanese  convert  was  presented  the  strange  spectacle  of 
one  ecclesiastic  quarrelling  with  another,  of  one  body  of  priests  intriguing  with  heathens 
to  defeat  another  ;  while  even  the  poor  native  Christian  labored  to  reconcile  the  feuds  and 
rivalries  of  these  consecrated  belligerents. 

The  quarrels  of  these  Roman  monastic  orders  may,  therefore,  be  accounted  as  one  cause  of  the 
expulsion  of  Christianity  from  Japan. 

But  this  was  not  all.  The  pride,  avarice,  and  extortions  of  tlie  Portuguese  laity  had  become 
excessive  about  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  disgusted  the  Japanese.  Very  many  of 
the  clergy,  forgetful  of  the  spirit  of  their  office,  instead  of  rebuking  these  sins,  rather  gave  their 
countenance  to  their  wealthy  countrymen,  and  often  sustained  their  acts  without  inquiring  into 
their  propriety.  Indeed,  their  own  juide  quite  equalled  that  of  the  laity  ;  and  even  the  native 
Christians  are  said  to  have  been  botk  shocked  and  disgusted  when  they  saw  that  tlieir  sjjiritual 
instructors  were  quite  as  diligent  in  the  efibrt  to  acquire  their  property  as  in  tlie  endeavcn-  to 
save  their  souls.  The  Japanese  traditions,  to  this  day,  represent  the  downfall  of  Cliristianity 
in  the  Empire  as  having  been,  in  part  at  least,  produced  by  the  avarice,  sensuality,  an<l  jiride  of 
the  ecclesiastics.  They  treated  witli  open  contempt  the  institutiiuis  and  iiistonis  nftlic  country, 
and  insulted  the  highest  officials  of  the  government  by  studied  indignities.  A  circumstance  is 
related  as  having  occurred  in  lo'Jfi,  whicii  is  said  to  liave  been  tiie  innnediate  cause  of  the  great 
persecution.  A  Portuguese  bishop  was  met  on  the  high  road  by  one  of  the  highest  officers  of 
the  State  on  his  way  to  court.  Each  was  in  his  sedan.  The  u.sage  of  the  country  re(iuired  that, 
4  J 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

in  such  case,  the  conTcyance  of  the  bishop  should  be  stopped,  and  that  he  should  alight  and  pav 
his  respects  to  the  nobleman.  Instead  of  conforming  to  this  established  act  of  conrtosy,  the 
bishop  took  not  the  least  notice  of  the  Japanese  dignitary,  but,  turning  his  head  away  from  him, 
ordered  his  bearers  to  carry  him  on.  The  insult,  evidently  intended,  was  so  gross  that  the 
grandee  took  mortal  offence,  and  confounding  the  Portuguese  generally  with  their  liaughty 
clergy,  he  conceived  toward  all  an  implacable  resentment.  He  forthwith  presented  his  grievance 
to  the  Emperor,  and  touched  his  sense  of  dignity  and  national  pride  by  a  strong  picture  of  the 
vanity  and  insolence  of  the  Portuguese.  Taiko,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken,  was  at  that 
time  Emperor,  and  he  was  the  last  man  to  permit  the  laws  and  customs  of  his  Empire  to  be 
treated  with  contempt  by  a  set  of  presumptuous  foreigners,  who  had  neither  good  feeling  nor 
good  sense  enough  to  repay  the  kindness  they  had  received  with  the  decency  of  common  civility. 
With  the  Emperor's  kind  sentiments  thus  alienated  the  end  was  certain  ;  it  involved  a  question 
of  time  only ;  and  such  was  the  infatuation  of  these  inflated  ecclesiastics  that  this  stupid  act  of 
episcopal  insolence  was  perpetrated  at  a  time  when  the  Portuguese,  by  their  pride  and  avarice, 
had  already  lost  the  best  part  of  the  favor  they  had  once  possessed. 

At  length  a  Portuguese  ship,  on  its  way  from  the  East  to  Lisbon,  was  captured  by  the  Dutch, 
and  among  other  matters  found  on  board  were  certain  treasonable  letters,  written  by  Moro,  a 
native  Japanese,  to  the  King  of  Portugal.  Moro  was  a  zealous  Eomanist,  a  warm  friend  of  the 
Jesuits,  and  one  of  the  chief  agents  and  friends  of  the  Portuguese  in  Japan.  From  these  letters 
it  appeared  that  the  Japanese  Christians,  in  conjunction  with  the  Portuguese,  were  plotting  the 
overthrow  of  the  throne  ;  and  all  they  wanted  was  a  supply  of  ships  and  soldiers  from  Portugal. 
It  may  be  difficult  to  ascertain,  with  certainty,  all  the  details  of  the  conspiracy ;  but  of  the 
consp  iracy  itself  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

The  Dutch,  who  were  the  sworn  foes  of  the  Portuguese,  lust  no  time  in  communicating  the 
intercepted  letters  to  the  authorities  of  Japan,  and  the  result  was  that  in  1637  an  imperial 
proclamation  decreed  that  "  the  whole  race  of  the  Portuguese,  with  their  mothers,  nurses,  and 
whatever  belongs  to  them,  shall  be  banished  forever."  The  same  proclamation  forbade,  under 
penalty  of  death  to  those  concerned,  any  Japanese  ship,  or  native  of  Japan,  to  depart  from  the 
country.  It  directed  that  any  Japanese  returning  home  from  a  foreign  country  should  be  put 
to  death  ;  that  any  person  presuming  to  bring  a  letter  from  abroad  should  die ;  that  no 
nobleman  or  soldier  should  purchase  anything  from  a  foreigner  ;  that  any  person  propagating 
Christian  doctrines,  or  even  bearing  the  title  of  Christian,  should  suffer;  and  a  reward  was 
offered  lor  the  discovery  of  every  priest,  as  well  as  of  every  native  Christian.  Under  these 
severe  edicts  some  of  the  Portuguese  were  at  once  frightened  out  of  the  country.  Others, 
however,  lingered,  cooped  up  in  their  factory  at  Dezima,  hoping  that  the  tempest  Avould 
presently  pass  over,  and  that  they  might  resume  their  traffic.  But  the  Emperor  was  firmly 
resolved  to  root  them  out  forever,  and  forbade  them  ever  to  import  even  the  goods  of  their  own 
country ;  and  so  ended  the  trade  of  the  Portuguese  witli  Japan,  and  the  toleration  of  tlie 
Christian  religion  in  the  Empire. 

The  writers  of  the  church  of  Eome  assert  that  it  was  owing  to  the  malice  and  misrepresenta- 
tions of  the  heretical  Dutch  that  the  missionaries  and  early  Japanese  converts  were  exposed  to 
the  persecutions,  which  afterward  resulted  in  the  expulsion  of  Christianity.  An  examination 
of  dates,  however,  will  show  that  this  statement  is  entirely  erroneous.  The  Portuguese,  clerical 
and  lay,  must  blame  themselves  only  for  their  final  expulsion.     Doubtless,  the  Dutch,  as  we  shall 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

see  presently,  were  ready  enough  to  give  increased  impetus,  whenever  they  could,  to  the  tide 
of  calamity  which  ultimately  overwhelmed  their  rivals,  hut  that  tide  had  conamenced  its  flow,  in 
the  form  of  persecution  of  Christianity,  fully  three  years  before  a  Dutchman  set  foot  in  Japan. 
It  began,  as  we  have  said,  in  the  quarrels  of  the  monastic  orders  themselves. 

It  would  be  wrong  to  leave  this  brief  sketch  of  the  Portuguese  relations  with  Japan  without 
bearing  witness  to  the  noble  constancy  of  the  thousands  of  native  Christians  who  were  put  to  death 
lor  their  religion.  The  history  of  Christianity's  persecutions  contains  no  more  touching  chapter 
than  that  which  records  the  cruel  torments  and  heroic  Christian  courage  of  men,  women,  and 
even  children,  as  they  bore  testimony  to  the  sincerity  of  their  Christian  convictions. 

THE   DUTCH. 

It  is  to  an  Englishman  that  the  Hollanders  are  indebted  for  an  introduction  to  Japan,  and 
for  the  establishment  of  their  earliest  commercial  relations.  After  the  grant  by  the  Pope  of  aU 
the  western  and  about  half  the  eastern  hemisphere  to  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  these 
people,  who  were  then  not  without  naval  strength,  were  unwilling  to  allow  any  share  of  trade 
to  the  other  powers  of  Europe  ;  and,  whenever  they  could,  they  seized  their  unarmed  vessels  as 
contraband,  if  they  found  them  within  the  imaginary  limits  of  their  Papal  grant,  confiscated 
their  cargoes,  and  treated  their  crews  as  sea-thieves  and  smugglers. 

The  Dutch  and  English,  who  had  no  respect  for  the  Pope's  geography,  and  as  little  faith  in 
his  religion,  denied  his  title  to  the  ownership  of  the  whole  earth,  and  profanely  likened  him 
to  Satan  when  he  offered  to  our  Lord  whole  kingdoms,  in  which  he  had  not  title  in  fee  to  a 
single  square  foot.  But  as  Spain  and  Portugal  were,  in  the  assertion  of  their  title,  as  much 
in  the  habit  of  relying  on  powder  and  ball  as  on  men's  conscientious  submission  to  the  decrees 
of  the  holy  father,  the  Dutch  and  English  rarely  sent  out  their  ships,  and  especially  to  the 
"south  seas,"  without  taking  care  to  arm  them  ;  and  commonly  they  dispatched  them  in  squad- 
rons. Thus,  cruising  in  company,  they  went  wherever  they  thought  they  could  find  a  profit- 
able trade  ;  and  deemed  it  a  religious  duty  (which  they  scrupulously  performed)  to  seize  and 
plunder,  whenever  they  could,  any  Spanish  or  Portuguese  ship,  and  to  make  a  descent  on 
their  coasts,  and  bui-n  their  colonial  towns  and  villages.  Whoever  would  read  the  story  of  their 
wild,  exciting,  and  often  romantic  adventures,  may  find  them  in  Esquemeling's  or  Burnet's 
histories  of  the  buccaneers.  The  hati-ed  between  Spain  and  Portugal  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
Dutch  and  English  on  the  other,  was  intense.  Differing  in  religion,  the  first  named  had  no 
gentler  epithets  to  aj^jjly  to  their  enemies  than  "vile  Lutherans,"  "schismatics,"  "accursed 
heretics  ; "  while  the  latter  repaid  them,  by  api^lying  the  equally  mild  terms  of  "lying  Papists," 
"foul  idolators,"  "  wor.shippers  of  wood  and  rotten  bones."  This  state  of  embittered  feeling 
prevailed  all  through  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth,  James  I.,  and  Charles  I.  of  England,  and  ceased 
only  in  the  time  of  William  III.,  when  the  peace  of  Ryswick  allowed,  on  the  part  of  Spain  and 
Portugal,  a  little  freedom  of  commerce  to  other  nations,  who,  by  the  way,  were  becoming  more 
powerful  than  the  Sj^aniards  and  Portuguese  on  the  Pacific  and  the  eastern  waters. 

It  was  during  this  jicriod  of  national  animosity,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
that  the  Dutch  made  their  way  to  Japan.  A  fleet  of  five  sail  of  Dutch  ships,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Jaques  Mahu,  left  the  Texel  on  the  24th  of  June,  1598.  It  was  sent  out  by  the  Indian 
( lompany  of  Holland  ;  and  on  board  of  the  admiral's  shij)  was  William  Adams,  as  pilot.     Adams 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

has  told  his  own  story  with  captivating  simplicity ;  and  it  has  been  preserved  in  the  pages  oi 
that  worthy  compiler,  honest  old  Purchas.  He  tells  ns  as  follows:  "Your  worshijis  will 
understand  that  I  am  a  Kentish  man,  horn  in  a  town  called  Gillingham,  two  English  miles  from 
Kochester,  and  one  mile  from  Chatham,  where  the  queen's  ships  do  lie."  After  stating  that  he 
was  regularly  apprenticed  and  bred  a  seaman,  he  thus  proceeds :  "I  have  served  in  the  place  of 
master  and  pilot  in  her  Majesty's  ships,  and  about  eleven  or  twelve  years  served  the  worshipful 
comi)any  of  the  Barbary  merchants,  until  the  Indian  traffic  from  Holland  began ;  in  which 
Indian  traffic  I  was  desirous  to  make  a  little  experience  of  tlie  small  knowledge  which  God 
has  given  me.  So,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God  1598,  1  liired  myself  for  chief  pilot  of  a  fleet  of 
five  sail  of  Hollanders,"  &c. 

But  the  "  little  experience"  of  our  English  pilot  proved  both  long  and  sad.  Sickness  broke 
out  in  the  ships,  the  admiral  and  a  great  many  of  the  men  died  ;  after  divers  calamities  they 
reached  the  Straits  of  Magellan  in  April,  1599  ;  they  were  forced,  not  by  any  fault  of  Adams 
but  by  the  folly  of  the  commander,  to  winter  in  the  Straits,  remaining  in  them  nearly  six 
months,  until  provisions  were  exhausted  and  some  of  the  men  actually  died  of  hunger.  At 
length,  after  getting  into  the  Pacific,  storms  disjier.sed  the  fleet ;  some  were  lost,  some  captured  ; 
the  savages  on  the  islands  where  they  landed  in  search  of  food  and  water,  in  more  than  one 
instance,  lay  in  ambush  and  murdered  the  men  ;  and  finally,  after  great  suffering,  it  was 
resolved,  on  Adams'  advice,  to  make  for  Jaium.  Of  the  five  ships  that  had  left  Holland 
together  there  remained  but  the  one  of  wliicli  Adams  Avas  pilot.  But  he  kept  a  stout  heart, 
and  at  last,  on  the  11th  of  April,  IGOO,  he  saw  the  higli  lands  of  Japan  in  tlie  province  of 
Bungo,  and  on  the  12th  came  to  anchor,  when  there  were  actually  but  five  men  of  the  whole 
ship's  company  able  to  go  about  and  do  duty.  They  were  hospitably  received,  soldiers  were 
placed  on  board  to  prevent  a  robbery  of  their  good^  a  house  was  provided  for  the  sick,  and 
their  bodily  wants  were  all  supplied  by  the  prince  of  Bungo,  who  sent  word  to  the  Emperor  of 
their  arrival. 

The  Portuguese,  it  will  be  remembered,  were  already  established  in  Japan,  and  one  of  their 
commercial  dejjots  was  at  Nagasaki.  Five  or  six  days  after  the  arrival  of  the  Dutch,  there 
came  from  that  place  a  Portuguese  Jesuit,  with  some  of  his  countrymen  and  some  Japanese 
Christians.  The  former  of  these  immediately  denounced  the  Hollanders  as  pirates,  denying 
that  they  had  come  for  any  purposes  of  trade,  as  they  alleged,  though  their  ship  had  a  full 
cargo  of  merchandize  on  board.  This  created  a  prejixdice  against  them  in  the  minds  of  the 
Japanese,  and  the  poor  Hollanders  lived  in  daily  expectation  of  being  put  to  death.  This  was 
precisely  what  the  Portuguese  would  have  been  glad  to  see,  influenced  by  the  double  motive  of 
hatred  of  heretics  and  the  wish  to  monopolize  trade.  But  the  case  having  been  submitted  to 
the  Emperor,  who  was  then  at  Osaca,  he  ordered  that  Adams  and  one  of  the  Dutch  sailors 
should  be  sent  to  him.  He  was  sent  accordingly,  and  furnishes  a  long  and  interesting  account 
of  his  interview  with  the  monarch,  (conducted  through  the  medium  of  a  Portuguese  interpreter,) 
in  the  course  of  which  Adams  had  an  opportunity  of  showing  the  Emperor  samples  of  the 
merchandize  he  had  brought  with  him,  and  of  begging  that  he  and  his  companions  might  have 
liberty  to  trade,  as  the  I'ortuguese  had.  An  answer  was  returned  in  Japanese,  but  Adams  did 
not  understand  it,  and  he  was  carried  to  prison,  but  his  comforts  seem  to  have  been  duly 
regarded.  He  remained  in  prison  forty-one  days,  during  all  which  time,  as  he  subsequently 
discovered,  the  Jesuits  and  Portuguese  residents  spared  no  efforts  to  induce  the  Emperor  tn  put 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

all  the  Dutcli  ship's  company  to  death  as  pirates.  At  last  the  Emperor  answered  their  appli- 
cation with  equal  justice  and  good  sense,  by  telling  them  tliat,  as  yet,  the  Dutch  had  done  no 
hurt  to  him  or  any  of  his  people,  and  that  therefore  he  had  no  just  cause  to  take  their  lives ;  nor 
could  he  find  anj'  sufficient  reason  for  such  severity  as  they  desired  in  the  fact  that  wars  existed 
between  Portugal  and  Holland,  with  which  he  bad  nothing  to  do. 

At  length  he  summoned  Adams  before  him  again,  and  asked  of  hmi  a  great  many  questions. 
Finally,  he  encjuired  of  him  whether  he  would  like  to  go  to  his  ship  again  to  see  bis  com])anions? 
Upon  bis  answering  affirmatively  be  bade  him  go,  and  this  was  the  first  intimation  Adams  bad 
that  the  ship  had  been  brought  by  the  Emperor's  order  to  Osaca,  and  that  his  companions  were 
alive.  Everything  was  now  taken  out  of  the  vessel,  which  was  ordered  to  a  spot  nearer  to  Jeddo, 
whither  the  Emperor  bad  gone.  The  whole  ship's  com])any  were  liberally  provided  for  at  the 
expense  of  the  government.  Presently,  they  petitioned  that  they  might  be  permitted  to  take 
their  vessel  and  depart,  but  the  Emperor  would  not  consent.  Finally,  at  the  expiration  of  two 
years,  during  which  time  they  had  been  at  liberty  and  mingled  freely  with  the  Japanese,  they 
were  informed  that  they  could  not  have  their  ship  any  more,  and  that  they  must  make  up  their 
minds  to  live,  for  the  rest  of  their  days,  happily  and  peacefully  in  Japan.  Hereuj)on  the 
Dutchmen  dispersed  themselves,  going  where  they  jdeased,  and  living  comfortably  enough  upon 
the  daily  allowance  made  them  by  the  Emperor.  Adams,  however,  remained  about  the  court, 
and,  by  his  ingenuity  and  good  qualities,  soon  made  friends,  and  gradually  rose  in  the  esteem  of 
the  Emperor  until  he  attained  to  a  high  position  of  honor  in  the  country.  He  taught  his 
majesty  some  of  the  principles  of  mathematics,  and  built  for  him  two  vessels.  These  things 
gave  to  him  such  commanding  influence,  that  even  the  Jesuits  and  Portuguese,  who,  for  the 
reasons  already  mentioned,  were  gradually  losing  favor,  were  glad  to  secui-e  his  friendly  inter- 
position with  the  Emperor  for  their  benefit. 

At  length,  in  1609,  two  armed  Dutch  ships  came  to  Japan.  Their  object  was  to  intercept 
and  make  prize  of  the  large  Portuguese  carrack  which  made  the  yearly  voyage  from  Macao  to 
Japan  with  merchandize  for  the  established  trade.  They  were,  however,  a  few  days  too  late  for 
her  capture,  and  so  they  put  in  at  Firaudo,  and  the  commanders  went  thence  to  the  court  of  the 
Emperor.  Here  William  Adams,  hting  the  chief  neyotiator  for  them,  they  were  kindly  received, 
and  obtained  the  Emperor's  free  pass,  and  permission  for  their  nation  to  send  annually  a  ship  or 
two  for  purposes  of  trade  ;  and  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  Dutch  commerce  with  Japan. 

Adams,  as  we  have  said,  rose  to  high  distinction.  He  thus  describes  his  situation:  "Now 
for  my  service  which  I  have  done  and  daily  do,  being  employed  in  the  Emperor's  service,  he 
bath  given  me  a  living  like  unto  a  lordship  in  England,  with  eighty  or  ninety  busbiuidmen, 
who  are  as  my  .servants  and  slaves.  The  i)recedent  was  never  done  before.  Thus,  God  hath 
provided  for  me  after  my  great  misery  ;  to  his  name  be  the  praise  forever.     Amen." 

But,  with  all  this  external  ])r()s])erity,  poor  Adams  had  a  beartsorc  that  could  not  be  healed 
in  Japan.  He  bad  left  a  young  wife  and  two  children  in  England,  whom  he  tenderly  loved. 
Some  of  the  most  affecting  passages  he  has  written  are  those  in  which  he  alludes  to  bis  family, 
and  expresses  the  dreadful  apjjrehension  that  he  should  never  see  them  again.  There  are  such 
honest,  natural  outpourings  of  a  true  and  faithful  heart  in  these  passages,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  read  them  without  the  dee])est  sympathy.  The  Emperor  was  not  willing  ho  shotild  go  at  all. 
HjuI  he  been  willing,  Adams  could  not  have  gone  in  the  Portuguese  ships,  which  were,  at  first, 
the  only  vessels  that  came  annually  for  trade  ;  but  when   lie  had  successfully  negotiated  for  tlie 


30  INTKODUCTION. 

Dutch,  liis  hopes  of  once  more  seeing  his  family  hegan  to  revive.  He  thought  that  in  some  of 
their  vessels  God  might  at  last  provide  a  way  for  his  return  to  England.  But,  though  thus 
saddened  at  heart,  he  never  lost  his  self-possession  and  prudence.  He  thought  that,  should  he 
never  he  able  to  go  himself,  he  might  at  least  let  his  beloved  family  know  where  he  was,  and 
assure  them  of  his  unabated  affection.  From  the  Dutch  ship  which  came  in  1611,  he  for  the 
first  time  learned  that  his  countrymen,  the  English,  were  carrying  on  considerable  trade  in  the 
East  Indies,  and  had  made  a  humble  beginning,  in  the  way  of  factories,  on  tlie  Malabar  coast. 
He,  of  com'se,  knew  not  who  of  his  countrymen  might  be  there,  or  elsewhere  in  the  east,  but 
whoever  or  wherever  they  might  be,  they  were  English,  and  through  them  he  might  tell  the 
sad  story  of  his  thirteen  long  years  of  separation  from  home  and  wife  and  children.  He  accord- 
ingly wrote  two  long  letters,  the  one  addressed  to  his  wife,  the  other  endorsed  as  follows  T  "  To 
my  unknown  friends  and  countrymen,  desiring  this  letter,  by  your  good  means  or  the  news  or 
copy  of  this  letter,  may  come  to  the  hands  of  one  or  many  of  my  acquaintance  in  Limehouse  or 
elsewhere,  or  in  Kent,  in  Gillingham  by  Eochester."  The  last  sentence  in  this  is  in  these 
words : 

"Thus,  in  short,  I  am  constrained  to  write,  hoping  that  by  one  means  or  other,  in  process 
of  time,  I  shall  hear  of  my  wife  and  children ;  and  so  with  i)atience  I  wait  the  good  will  and 
pleasure  of.  God  Almighty,  desiring  all  those  to  whom  this  my  letter  shall  come  to  use  the 
means  to  acquaint  my  good  friends  with  it,  that  so  my  wife  and  children  may  hear  of  me  ;  by 
which  means  there  may  be  hope  that  I  may  hear  of  my  wife  and  children  before  my  death  ;  the 
which  the  Lord  grant  to  his  glory  and  my  comfort.     Amen. 

"Done  in  Japan,  the  two  and  twentieth  of  October,  1611,  by  your  unworthy  friend  and 

servant  to  command  in  what  I  can, 

"WILLIAM  ADAMS." 

In  both  these  letters  Adams  related  the  2)rincipal  occurrences  that  had  befallen  him  since  he 
left  the  Texel,  and  from  these  we  have  drawn  the  facts  previously  related.  The  letters  did 
reach  England,  but  whether  they  found  his  wife  and  children  living,  or  whether  he  ever  heard 
from  them  we  cannot  tell.    As  to  himself,  he  might  have  sadly  appropriated  the  words  of  the  poet : 

"  Nor  wife  nor  children  more  shall  he  behold, 
Nor  friends  nor  sacred  home." 

He  died  at  Firando,  in  Japan,  in  1619  or  1620,  after  having  resided  there  from  the  year  1000; 
and  we  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  his  personal  history,  not  merely  on  account  of  its  melancholy 
interest,  but  because  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  doings  of  his  own  countrymen  in  Japan, 
these  letters  will  be  necessary  to  elucidate  our  narrative. 

Leaving  now  these  letters,  we  proceed  with  the  history  of  the  Dutch  commerce.  The  first 
factory  of  the  Hollanders  was  at  Firando,  and  was  on  an  humble  scale.  That  of  the  Portuguese 
was  at  Nagasaki,  on  the  island  Dezima,  which  is  now  occujiied  by  the  Dutch.  The  rivalry 
between  the  two  establishments  was,  of  course,  very  great,  and  each  sought  to  injure  the  other 
as  much  as  possible  with  the  Japanese  authorities.  At  length,  before  the  close  of  1639,  the 
Portuguese  were  totally  exi)elled  the  country ;  and  then  occurred  an  act  on  tlie  i)art  of  the  Dutch 
in  Japan  too  clearly  ])roved  to  admit  of  denial,  and  too  wicked  and  infamous  to  allow  of 
palliation.  It  was  no  better  than  cold  blooded  murder,  promj)ted  by  no  higlier  motive  than  the 
base  h)ve  of  commercial  gain.  The  facts  were  these  :  Tliongh  no  Portuguese  Christian  remained 
in  Japan,  yet  tlie  native  Christifins  witc  nut  all   extirpated.      The.se  jioor  nt  iitures,  deprived  of 


INTRODUCTION.  31 

their  European  teachers,  persevered  in  their  faith,  though  threatened  with  imprisonment, 
torture,  and  death.  Oppression  presently  drove  them  into  open  rebellion,  and  they  took  refu"-e 
and  made  a  stand  against  the  imperial  forces  in  Simabara.  The  Japanese  authorities  called  on 
the  Dutch  to  assist  them  in  making  war  against  these  Cliristians,  and  the  Butch  did  it.  Kocke- 
hecker  was  then  director  of  the  Dutch  trade  and  nation  in  Japan.  The  native  Christians  had 
endeavored  to  fortify  themselves  in  an  old  town,  which  the  troops  of  the  Emperor  could  not  take. 
A  Dutch  ship  was  lying  at  Firando,  and  on  hoard  of  this  Kockebecker  repaired  to  Simabara,  and 
battered  the  old  tqwn  with  the  ship's  guns  as  well  as  from  a  battery  he  had  erected  on  shore.  After 
a  fortnight  of  this  work  the  Japanese  were  satisfied  to  discharge  the  Dutch  director ;  for  though  the 
Christians  had  not  surrendered,  yet  they  had  lost  so  many  of  their  number  and  the  place  was  so 
weakened  that  it  was  obvious  it  coidd  not  hold  out  much  longer.  Requiring,  therefore,  of  the 
Dutch  director  that  he  should  land  six  more  guns  for  the  iise  of  the  Emperor,  they  dismissed 
him.  The  ]>lace  was  finally  taken,  after  a  very  large  number  of  the  besieged  had  perished  by 
famine,  and  a  total  massacre  of  men,  women  and  children  followed;  not  one  was  spared. 

We  have  spoken  of  this  act  as  perpetrated  by  the  Dutch  m  Japan,  for  we  cannot  deem  it  fair 
to  involve  every  Hollander  in  an  indiscriminate  censure.  There  were  other  Dutch  .shijis  at 
Firando  beside  that  which  was  employed  in  the  bombardment ;  but  the  commanders  of  these, 
either  suspecting,  or  having  intimation  that  the  Japanese  would  demand  aid  at  their  hands,  quietly 
left  their  anchorage,  and  went  to  sea  before  the  demand  was  made,  and  thus  cscajied  particijiation 
in  this  atrocious  wickedness.  To  us  it  seems  that  the  infamy  must  rest  chiefly  on  the  Dutch 
director,  and  that  M.  Kockebecker  deliberately  preferred  this  most  foul  murder  of  the  innocent  to 
the  loss  or  interruption  of  the  Dutch  trade.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the/aci  is  distinctly  admitted  by 
all  the  Dutch  writers  on  Japan  from  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  up  to  Fischer's  work, 
published  in  1833.  It  is  true,  one  says,  that  the  Dutch  were  compelled  to  do  it ;  another  states, 
that  the  Dutch  onlj'  supplied  cannon,  powder,  and  ball,  taught  the  Japanese  artillery  practice,  and 
sent  ammunition,  arms,  and  troops  in  their  ships  to  the  scene  of  action  ;  but  old  Kfempfer,  who, 
though  in  the  Dutch  service  as  a  physician,  was  by  birth  a  German,  affirms  positively  that  the 
Dutch  were  active  as  belligerents.  Fraissinet  (a  recent  French  writer)  endeavors  to  give  a 
difi"erent  coloring  to  the  fact,  but,  as  we  think,  in  vain.  He  represents  the  case  as  one  of 
political  rebellion,  in  which  the  native  Christians  took  sides  with  the  rebels  ;  and  is  pleased  to 
consider  the  Dutch  as  allies  merely  of  the  Emperor,  carrying  on  a  lawful  war  as  allies  ;  and  he 
says  that  the  archives  of  the  Dutch  fectory  at  Dezima,  as  well  as  the  relations  of  natives  of 
respectability,  acquit  the  Hollanders  of  all  blame.  Wliat  the  archives  of  the  Dezima  factory 
may  rww  state,  we  have  not  the  means  of  knowing,  and  we  are  not  furnished  by  the  French 
apologist  with  their  language  ;  but  it  is  certainly  very  remarkable,  if  they  do  contain  exculpatory 
evidence,  that  the  Dutch  writers,  all  of  whom  were  officials  at  Dezima,  and  many  of  whom  lived 
much  nearer  to  the  time  of  the  transaction  than  an  author  of  this  day,  should  have  overlooked 
this  evidence  ;  particularly  when  some  of  them  seek  to  palliate  the  act  itself  Surely  tlie  Dezima 
records  were  open  to  Fischer,  the  last  Dutch  writer  on  the  subject,  (1833  ;)  why,  then,  instead 
of  producing  them,  does  he  admit  the  fact,  and  urge  in  extenuation  comjndsion  of  the  Dutcli  by 
the  Japanese"?  As  to  the  relations  of  respectable  natives,  we  can  only  sa}'  we  have  never  seen, 
in  any  work  on  Japan,  such  relations  as  M.  Fraissinet  has  named.  But  tliere  is  one  fact  which, 
as  it  seems  to  us,  conclusively  negatives  the  supposition  that  it  was  a  mere  political  insurrection 
which  the  Dutch  assisted  in  suppressing.     Over  the  vast  common  grave  in  which  tliese  unhappy 


32  INTRODUCTION. 

Cliristians  were  'hnriecl  at  Simabara  was  set  up,  by  imi)prial  order,  the  following  impious 
inscription :  "So  long  as  the  sun  shall  warm  the  earth,  let  no  Christian  he  so  bold  as  to  come  to 
Japan  ;  and  let  all  know  that  the  King  of  Spain  himself,  or  the  Christian's  God,  or  the  great 
God  of  all,  if  he  violate  this  command,  shall  pay  for  it  with  his  head." 

And  now,  as  to  what  respectable  natives  really  did  say  about  this  sad  transaction,  let  us  hear 
one  who  was  on  the  spot,  honest  old  Ka^mpfer.  He  was  the  physician  in  the  Dutch  service,  and 
thus  writes  :  "By  this  submissive  readiness  to  assist  the  Emperor  in  the  execution  of  his  designs, 
•witla.  regard,  to  the  firicd  destruction  of  ChristianitT/ in  Ms  dominions,  it  is  true_,  indeed,  that  we 
stood  our  ground  so  far  as  to  maintain  ourselves  in  the  country,  and  to  be  permitted  to  carry  on 
our  trade,  although  the  court  had  then  some  thoughts  of  a  total  exclusion  of  all  foreigners 
whatsoever.  But  many  generous  and  noble  i)ersons  at  court,  and  in  the  country,  judged 
unfavorably  of  our  conduct.  It  seemed  to  them  inconsistent  with  reason  that  the  Dutch  should 
ever  be  expected  to  be  faithful  to  a  foreign  monarch,  and  one,  too,  whom  they  looked  upon  as  a 
heathen,  while  they  showed  so  much  forwardness  to  assist  him  in  the  destruction  of  a  people 
with  whom  they  agreed  in  the  most  essential  parts  of  their  faith,  (as  the  Japanese  had  been 
well  informed  by  the  Portuguese  monks,)  and  to  sacrifice  to  their  own  worldly  interest  those 
who  followed  Christ  in  the  very  same  way,  and  hoped  to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  through 
the  same  gate.  These  are  expressions  lohich  I  often  heard  from  the  natives  lohen  the  conversation 
happened  to  turn  upon  this  mournful  subject.  In  short,  by  our  humble  complaisance  and  connivance, 
we  were  so  far  from  bringing  this  proud  and  jealous  nation  to  any  greater  confidence,  or  more 
intimate  friendship,  that,  on  the  contrary,  their  jealousy  and  mistrust  seemed  to  increase  from 
that  time.  They  both  hated  and  despised  us  for  what  we  had  done."  Tliis,  then,  is  the 
testimony  as  to  the  opinion  of  the  natives  who  knew  something  of  the  occurrences;  and  it  is  a 
sad  reflection,  that,  in  the  work  of  excluding  Christianity  from  Japan,  Romanists  and  Protestants 
alike  bore  their  part.  Neither  can,  with  justice,  reproach  the  other.  If  the'worldliness  and  pride 
of  the  Portuguese  Christian  prompted  him  to  conspiracy,  and  drove  him  and  his  companions 
from  the  Empire,  the  avarice  and  cruelty  of  the  Dutch  professed  believer  finished  the  work,  and 
extirpated  the  last  remnant  of  the  faith  in  the  destruction  of  the  native  followers  of  Christ. 
True  Christianity  indignantly  disowns  both. 

In  1041,  the  Dutch  were  ordered  to  remove  their  factory  from  Firando,  where  they  were 
comfortable  and  unrestrained,  and  to  confine  them.selves  to  the  now  forsaken  station  of  the 
Portuguese  at  Dezima,  a  miserable  little  island  in  the  port  of  Nagasaki,  "more  like  a  prison 
than  a  factory,"  says  Ka^mpfer.  Here  they  were  placed  under  a  surveillance  the  most  rigid, 
and  subjected  to  many  a  humiliating  degradation.  "So  great"  (says  our  honest  old  German)  "was 
the  covetousness  of  the  Dutch,  and  so  strong  the  alluring  power  of  the  Japanese  gold,  that  rather 
than  (juit  the  prospect  of  a  trade,  (indeed,  most  advantageous,)  they  willingly  underwent  an 
almost  perj)etual  imprisonment,  for  such,  in  fact,  is  our  residence  at  Dezima,  and  chose  to  suffer 
many  hardships  in  a  foreign  and  heathen  country  ;  to  be  remiss  in  performing  divine  service  on 
Sundays  and  solemn  festivals ;  to  leave  off  praying  and  singing  of  psalms ;  entirely  to  avoid  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  the  calling  upon  the  name  of  Christ  in  the  i)resence  of  the  natives,  and  all  the 
outer  signs  of  Christianity  ;  and,  lastly,  patiently  and  submissively  to  bear  the  abusive  and 
injurious  behavior  of  these  proud  infidels  towards  us,  than  which  nothing  can  be  oftered  more 
shockin"- to  a  noble  and  generous  mind."  And  to  sucli  liuniiliatiou  have  tln'y  sulmiitted  even 
to  this  day.     Dezima  is  shaped  like  a  fan  ;  and  the  island  is,  for  the  most  part,  ol'  artificial 


INTRODUCTION.  33 

construction.  Its  greatest  length  is  about  600  feet,  and  its  greatest  breadth  about  240.  A 
small  stone  bridge  connects  it  with  the  town  of  Nagasaki ;  at  the  end  of  this  bridge  there  is 
always  stationed  a  strong  Japanese  guard,  and  no  one  passes  either  to  or  from  the  island  without 
license.  The  whole  island  is  surrounded  with  a  high  fence,  on  the  top  of  which  are  placed  iron 
spikes.  Two  water  gates,  on  the  north  side  of  the  island,  are^opened  to  let  in  the  Dutch  ships 
when  they  arrive,  and  are  at  all  times  kept  shut  save  at  the  ingress  and  egress  of  these  vessels. 
The  Dutch  are  not  permitted  to  build  a  house  of  stone  on  the  island,  and  their  miserable 
habitations  are  of  fir  wood  and  bamboo.  The  island  has  on  it,  at  all  times,  Japanese  spies,  in 
the  situations  of  interpreters,  clerks,  servants,  &c.,  whom  the  Dutch  are  obliged  to  pay  ;  and  is 
beside  subject  at  any  moment  to  the  intrusion  of  the  police  of  Nagasaki.  In  short,  a  more 
annoying  and  thorough  system  of  imprisonment  and  espionage  was  never  devised. 

When  a  ship  arrives,  the  first  act  is  to  take  out  of  her  all  her  guns  and  ammunition.  She  is 
then  searched  in  every  part,  and  an  exact  list  is  made  of  the  goods  and  everything  else  she  has 
on  board.  The  crew  are  then  permitted  to  land  on  Dezima,  where  they  are  kept,  as  long  as  the 
ship  remains,  imder  the  inspection  of  guards.  Every  Japanese  official,  whose  business  is  with 
the  Dutch  at  the  factory,  is  bound  twice  or  thrice  in  a  year  to  take  a  solemn  oath  of  renunciation 
and  hatred  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  is  made  to  trample  under  his  feet  crosses  and  crucifixes. 
It  is  not  true,  however,  as  has  been  stated,  that  the  Dutch  also  are  required  to  perform  this  act ; 
but  they  dare  not  say  openly  that  they  are  Christians.  A  story  is  told  of  one  who,  in  the  time 
of  the  great  persecution  at  Nagasaki,  being  asked  by  the  Japanese  police  "if  he  were  a 
Christian,"  replied  :  "No!  I  am  a  Dutchman."  With  such  an  exhibition  of  Christianity,  who 
wonders  that  the  Japanese  despise  it. 

.  Formerly  the  chief  of  the  factory,  with  the  physician  and  some  other  officials  at  Dezima, 
visited  the  Emperor  at  Jeddo  annually,  and  made  to  him  costly  presents.  The  visit  is  now 
quadrennial.  On  these  occasions  the  Europeans  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  and  knowing 
something  of  Japan ;  and  almost  all  they  have  published  to  the  world  has  been  gathered  in 
these  periodical  journeys  to  the  capital.  The  story,  however,  is  so  uniform  that  we  are 
constrained  to  believe  there  is  a  well  defined  class  of  objects  and  subjects  with  which  alone  the 
strangers  are  permitted  to  come  into  communication. 

Kcempfer  says  that  in  his  time  (1690-'92)  the  Dutch  were  allowed,  while  the  ships  were  away, 
once  or  twice  in  the  year,  to  walk  into  the  country  in  the  neighborhood  of  Nagasaki ;  but  they 
were  always  objects  of  suspicion  and  surrounded  by  spies.  At  present,  (as  we  learn  from 
Siebold,)  if  a  member  of  the  factory  wishes  such  recreation,  he  must  petition  the  governor  of 
Nagasaki  twenty-four  hours  beforehand  ;  leave  is  granted,  but  the  Dutchman  is  accompanied  by 
a  swarm  of  interpreters,  policemen,  (banyoos,  as  they  are  called,)  and  other  official  spies  to  the 
number  of  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  persons.  Each  of  tliese,  too,  may  invite  as  many  of  his 
acquaintance  as  he  pleases,  and  the  unfortunate  Dutchman  must  entertain  them  all.  Tliis  heavy 
expense  is  doubtless  designed  by  the  Japanese  to  prevent  the  members  of  the  factory  from  leaving 
Dezima.  Nothing  is  more  obvious  than  that  the  Japanese,  as  a  people,  have  but  little  respect 
for  the  Dutch.  Thus,  when  one  of  the  factory  goes  out  on  leave,  the  boys  follow  him  in  a  crowd, 
hooting  and  shouting,  Holanda!  Holanda!  or,  as  they  pronounce  it,  Horanda!  Horanda!  The 
gentleman,  in  pursuit  of  pleasure  and  the  picturesque,  is  not  allowed  to  enter  any  private 
residence  during  his  ramble,  and  he  must  be  back  at  Dezima  by  sunset.  If  a  Dutchman,  at  any 
time,  wishes  to  visit  a  private  acquaintance,  or  is  invited  by  an  inhabitant  of  Nagasaki  to 
5  J 


34  INTRODUCTION. 

partake  of  his  hospitality,  lie  must  present  a  petition  to  the  governor,  and  obtain  special 
l)ermi8sion  to  go  ;  wliile  on  the  visit,  he  is  surrounded  by  spies  as  usiiiil.  And  to  all  this 
humiliation,  the  Dutch  have  submitted,  for  more  than  two  hundred  years,  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  the  monopoly  of  the  Japanese  trade  ! 

THE  ENGLISH. 

We  must  now  remind  the  reader  of  the  letters  written  by  William  Adams,  one  of  which  was 
addressed  to  any  of  his  countrymen  in  the  east  into  whose  hands  Providence  might  cause  it  to 
fall.  Adams  was,  in  truth,  the  founder  of  the  English  as  he  liad  been  of  the  Dutch  trade.  The 
letters  he  wrote  reached  Batavia,  and  were  thence  sent  to  London,  where  they  were  submitted  to 
a  corporation  then  known  as  the  "  Worshipful  Fellowship  of  the  Merchants  of  London,  trading 
into  the  East  Indies,"  but  in  later  times  by  the  far  more  celebrated  name  of  the  "  Honorabla 
East  India  Company."  No  time  was  lost  by  the  corporation  in  dispatching  a  ship  for  Japan, 
and  Purchas  has  preserved  for  us  the  history  of  the  voyage.  The  vessel  was  called  the  Clove, 
and  was  commanded  by  Captain  John  Saris,  who  had  already  made  several  voyages  to  the  east. 
Taking  on  board  such  a  cargo  as  was  deemed  suitable,  and  furnished  with  a  letter  from  King 
James  I.  to  the  Prince  of  Firando,  and  one  also,  with  presents,  to  the  Emperor,  Saris  left  Eng- 
land on  the  I8th  of  April,  1611,  and  stopping  and  trading  at  various  places  on  the  way,  reached 
Firando  on  the  11th  of  June,  1613,  when  the  English  met  with  a  most  friendly  reception  from 
the  natives. 

Saris  found  on  his  arrival  that  Adams  was  at  Jeddo,  nearly  900  miles  distant,  and  imme- 
diately put  himself  in  communication  with  him,  desiring  him  to  rejiair  at  once  to  Firando. 
Until  he  came  he  carried  on  his  conferences  with  the  Japanese,  by  means  of  a  native  of  the 
country  whom  he  had  picked  up  at  Bantam,  and  who  spoke  the  Malay  language,  which  Saris 
understood.  Saris  delivered  the  King's  letter  to  the  Prince  of  Firando,  Foyne  Sama,  who 
received  it  with  pride,  but  would  not  open  it  until  Adams  (whom  they  called  Ange)  should  arrive 
to  interpret  it.     The  Prince  also  sent  intelligence  to  the  Emperor  of  the  arrival  of  the  Clove. 

On  the  29th  of  July  Adams  arrived,  and  Saris  conferred  with  him  on  the  subject  of  trade ; 
and  let  us  hope  he  had  also  something  to  tell  him  of  his  wife  and  children.  Early  in  August 
Saris  left  Firando  for  Jeddo,  having  in  his  company  Adams  and  ten  other  Englishmen.  The 
purpose  of  the  visit  was  to  offer  to  the  Emperor  the  presents  of  the  English  King,  and  to  nego- 
tiate a  treaty.  The  Prince  of  Firando  furnislied  the  party  with  one  of  his  own  galleys  of  fifty 
oars.  Saris  gives  us  the  particulars  of  his  journey,  which  are  not  without  interest,  especially  as  it 
respects  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people,  which  (as  there  were  then  no  restrictions  on  the 
intercourse  with  foreigners,  and  as  he  had  Adams  for  a  companion)  he  had  ample  ojiijortunity 
of  seeing  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  At  length  he  had  an  interview  with  the 
Emperor,  by  whom  he  was  graciously  received,  and  from  whom,  after  some  little  negotiation 
between  Saris  and  the  Emperor's  secretary,  he  obtained  privileges  of  trade,  as  follows : 

"  1 .  We  give  free  license  to  the  subjects  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  viz:  Sir  Thomas  Smith, 
governor,  and  the  company  of  the  East  Indian  merchants  and  adventurers,  forever  safely  to 
come  into  any  of  our  ports  of  our  Emi)ire  of  Japan,  with  their  ships  and  merchandise,  without 
any  hindrance  to  them  or  their  goods  ;  and  to  abide,  buy,  sell,  and  barter,  according  to  their 
own  manner  with  all  nations  ;  to  tarry  here  as  long  as  they  think  good,  and  to  depart  at  their 
pleasure. 


INTRODUCTION.  oO 

"2.  We  srant  unto  them  freedom  of  custom  for  all  such  merchandises  as  either  now  thev 
have  brought,  or  hereafter  shall  bring  into  our  Kingdoms,  or  shall  from  hence  transport  to  any 
foreign  part ;  and  do  authorize  those  sliips  that  hereafter  shall  arrive  and  come  from  England 
to  proceed  to  present  sale  of  their  commodities,  without  further  coming  or  sending  up  to  our 
court. 

"  3.  If  any  of  their  ships  shall  happen  to  be  in  danger  of  shipwreck,  we  will  our  subjects  not 
only  to  assist  them,  but  that  such  ])art  of  ship  and  goods  as  shall  bo  saved  be  returned  to  their 
captain  or  cape  merchant,  or  their  assigns.  And  that  they  shall  or  may  build  one  house  or  more 
for  themselves  in  any  part  of  our  Empire  where  they  shall  think  fittest,  and  at  their  departure 
to  make  sale  thereof  at  their  pleasure. 

"  4.  If  any  of  the  English  merchants  or  others  shall  depart  this  life  within  our  dominions,  the 
goods  of  the  deceased  shall  remain  at  the  dispose  of  the  cape  merchant ;  and  that  all  offences 
committed  by  them  shall  be  punished  by  the  said  cape  merchant,  according  to  his  discretion  ; 
and  our  laws  to  take  no  hold  of  their  persons  or  goods. 

"5.  We  will  that  ye  our  subjects  trading  with  them  for  any  of  their  commodities  pay  them 
for  the  same,  according  to  agreement,  without  delay,  or  return  of  their  wares  again  unto  them. 
"  6.  For  such  commodities  as  they  have  now  brought,  or  shall  hereafter  bring,  fitting  for  our 
service  and  proper  use,  we  will  that  no  arrest  be  made  thereof ;  but  that  the  price  be  made  with 
the  cape  merchant,  according  as  they  may  sell  to  others,  and  present  payment  upon  the 
delivery  of  the  goods. 

"  7.  If  in  discovery  of  other  countries  for  trade,  and  return  of  their  ships  they  shall  need 
men  or  victuals,  we  will  that  ye  our  subjects  furni.sh  them  for  their  money  as  their  need  shall 
require. 

"8.  And  that,  without  other  passport,  they  shall  and  may  set  out  upon  the  discovery  of 
Jesso  or  any  other  part  in  or  about  our  Empire." 

These  certainly  were  privileges  of  the  most  liberal  kind,  and  conclusively  show  that  the 
original  policy  of  Japan  was  not  at  all  one  of  exclusion  ;  and  that  Europeans  may  thank 
themselves  for  the  introduction  of  that  rigorous  system  which  has  so  long  .shut  her  ports 
against  the  commerce  of  nearly  all  the  civilized  world.  Tlie  Japanese,  when  they  discovered 
that  foreigners  were  conspiring  to  take  their  country  from  them,  did  not  choose  to  permit  it ; 
and,  as  the  shortest  mode  of  preventing  it,  sent  out  such  foreigners  as  were  in  the  country,  and 
forbade  any  more  to  come  in.  Now,  whatever  doubts  may  be  entertained  as  to  the  wisdom  or 
expediency  of  such  a  remedy,  no  sane  man  will  question  the  right,  or  find  fault  with  the  desire, 
of  the  Japanese  to  keep  Japan  for  themselves.  If,  unfortunately,  some  of  the  conspirators  were 
European  ecclesia.stics,  they  justly  paid  the  penalty  of  expulsion  from  the  kingdom  for  making 
their  religion  a  part  of  their  politics.     The  blunder  was  their  own,  not  that  of  the  Japanese. 

The  Emperor  also  sent  by  Captain  Saris  the  following  letter  to  the  King  of  England  : 
"To  the  Kinrj  of  Great  Britain:  . 

"  Your  Majesty's  kind  letter  sent  me  by  your  servant.  Captain  John  Saris,  (who  is  the  first 
that  I  have  known  to  arrive  .in  any  part  of  my  dominions,)  I  heartily  embrace,  being  not  a 
little  glad  to  understand  of  your  great  wisdom  and  power,  as  having  three  plentiful  and 
mighty  kingdoms  under  your  powerful  command.  I  acknowledge  your  Majesty's  great  bounty 
in  sending  me  so  undeserved  a  present  of  many  rare  things,  such  as  my  land  affordeth  not, 
neither  have  I  ever  before  seen,  which  I  receive  not  as  from  a  stranger,  but  as  from  your 


36  INTRODUCTION. 

Majesty,  whom  I  esteem  as  myself.  Desiring  the  continuance  of  friendship  with  your  highness — 
and  that  it  may  stand  with  your  good  liking  to  send  your  subjects  to  any  part  or  port  of  my 
dominions,  where  they  shall  be  most  heartily  welcome,  applauding  much  their  worthiness  in 
the  admirable  knowledge  of  navigation,  having  with  much  facility  discovered  a  country  so 
remote,  being  no  whit  amazed  with  the  distance  of  so  mighty  a  gulf,  nor  greatness  of  such 
infinite  clouds  and  storms,  from  prosecuting  honorable  enterprises  of  discoveries  and  merchan- 
dizing— wherein  they  shall  find  me  to  further  them  according  to  their  desires.  I  return  imto 
your  Majesty  a  small  token  of  my  love,  (by  your  said  subject,)  desiring  you  to  accept  thereof,  as 
from  him  that  much  rejoiceth  in  your  friendship.  And  whereas  your  Majesty's  subjects  have 
desired  certain  privileges  for  trade,  and  settling  of  a  factory  in  my  dominions,  I  have  not  only 
granted  what  they  demanded,  but  have  confirmed  the  same  unto  them  under  my  broad  seal  for 
better  establishing  thereof. 

"  From  my  castle  in  Surunga,  this  fourth  day  of  tlie  ninth  montli,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of 

our  Dairi,  according  to  our  computation.     Besting  your  Majesty's  friend.     The  highest 

commander  in  this  Kingdom  of  Japan. 

"MINNA,  MCMTTONO.   Yd,  ye,  yeas." 

[lyeyas.] 

Three  years  after  this,  in  1616,  a  slight  modification  was  made  in  the  grant  of  privileges, 
without,  however,  injuriously  affecting  the  commercial  interests  of  England.  The  ships  were 
directed,  upon  arriving  on  the  coast,  to  repair  to  Firando,  and  carry  on  all  their  trade 
at  their  factory  there.  They  might,  however,  in  case  of  opposing  winds  or  bad  weather, 
enter  and  stay  in  any  harbor  of  the  Kingdom  without  paying  anchorage  duties,  and  though 
they  could  not  sell,  they  might  freely  buy  any  necessaries  their  ships  required.  When  Saris 
returned  to  England,  he  left  in  charge  of  the  factory  he  had  established  at  Firando  Mr.  Eichard 
Cockes,  who  had  under  his  direction  eight  Englishmen,  three  Japanese  interpreters,  and  two 
native  servants.  Among  the  Englishmen  was  Adams,  whom  the  company  were  very  glad  to 
employ  at  a  liberal  salary.  The  Protestant  factories — Dutch  and  English — were  thus  neighbors 
at  Firando,  while  the  Portuguese  were  at  Dezima,  in  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki,  and  bore  them  no 
good  will. 

The  English,  however,  soon  gained  the  friendship  and  confidence  of  the  natives,  and  Cockes 
paid  more  than  one  visit  to  the  Emperor  at  Jeddo.  He  remained  in  the  country  many  years, 
and,  as  it  would  appear  from  his  letters,  (printed  in  Purchas,)  had  ultimately  trouble  witli  his 
Dutch  neighbors,  who  .seem  to  us,  at  least,  to  have  systematically  acted,  from  the  first  hour  of 
obtaining  foothold  in  Japan,  upon  the  policy  of  driving  away  all  European  traders  but  them- 
selves. It  is  a  policy  from  which  (notwithstanding  their  profes.sions)  we  think  they  have  never 
swerved. 

The  English  company,  it  is  probable,  made  an  injudicious  selection  of  merchandise  for 
shipment  to  Japan  ;  at  any  rate,  from  tliis  or  some  other  cause,  certain  it  is  that  the  business 
did  not  prove  remunerative;  and,  discouraged  by  tliis  and  some  other  circumstances,  the  company, 
in  1623,  after  an  expenditure  of  £40,000,  voluntarily  closed  their  factory  at  Firando,  and 
withdrew  from  the  country.  But  they  left  witli  an  unstained  reputation,  and  departed  with  the 
esteem  of  the  higher  classes  and  the  regrets  of  tlie  more  lauuble.  It  is  useless  to  indulge  in 
conjecture  as  to  what  might  have  been  the  present  condition  of  Japan  liad  tliey  remained. 
Possibly,  long  ere  this,  she  might  have  had  commercial  relations  established  with  the  rest  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  37 

world.  The  departure  of  the  English  took  place  before  the  bloody  persecution  of  the  Christians 
reached  its  heiiiht.  They  left  native  Christians  in  Japan  ;  we  are  not  prepared  to  believe  they 
would  ever  have  deliberately  assisted  in  their  extermination.  It  was,  perhaps,  fortunate  for 
them  that  they  were  out  of  the  Kingdom  before  the  bombardment  of  Simabara. 

Thirteen  years  after  the  abandonment  of  their  factory,  the  English  were  disposed  to  make 
a  new  attempt.  Acccordingly,  four  vessels  were  dispatched,  but  they  were  ungraciously  received 
at  Nagasaki,  the  only  port  then  open  to  foreigners,  and  occupied  by  the  Dutch,  and  tliey  returned 
without  accomplishing  their  object.  The  Dutch  were  now  becoming  all-powerful  in  the  east ; 
established  on  the  ruins  of  the  Portuguese  dominion  at  Amboyna  and  Timor,  fortified  in  Batavia, 
masters  of  the  Moluccas,  Ceylon,  the  coasts  of  Malabar  and  Coromandel,  they  were  not  likely  to 
admit  a  rival  among  them,  and  to  them  the  English,  without  doubt  justly,  attributed  the  failure 
of  this  attempt  to  re-establish  themselves  in  Japan. 

But  they  deemed  it  best,  for  a  time,  to  keep  still  ;  dark  days  were  coming  upon  England  ; 
the  country  had  to  pass  through  the  civil  wars  that  marked  the  reign  of  the  first  Charles.  It 
was  no  time  to  undertake  bold  commercial  enterprises.  The  East  India  Company  consequently 
did  but  little  more  for  many  years  than  keep  up  an  intercourse  with  Bantam.  They  wanted 
a  time  of  peace  and  a  firmly  settled  government  before  they  made  further  efforts. 

At  length,  in  1673,  the  company  renewed  its  efibrts  to  re-enter  Japan.  It  had  received  a  fresh 
and  much  enlarged  grant  of  powers  from  the  King,  and  was  in  fact  made  little  less  than  a 
sovereign  power  in  the  east.  The  .ship  that  was  now  sent  was  called  the  "Return."  A  journal, 
as  yet  unpublished,  was  kept  of  the  voyage  ;  and  Fraissinet  says  it  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
the  Southwell  family  at  London.  He  has  had  access  to  it,  and  furnishes  us  with  many  interesting 
extracts  ;  observing  very  justly  that  it  strikingly  illustrates  three  particulars — the  remarkable 
circumspection  of  the  Japanese,  their  extreme  opposition  to  the  introduction  of  any  strangers 
among  them,  and,  above  all,  their  unappeasable  hatred  of  the  Portuguese. 

Charles  II,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  married  a  princess  of  Braganza,  and  was  therefore 
allied  to  the  royal  family  of  Portugal ;  and  the  Dutch  were  by  no  means  backward  in  commu- 
nicating this  fact  to  the  Japanese.  Accordingly,  on  the  appearance  of  the  English  ship  in  the 
Japanese  waters,  she  was,  from  this  cause  alone,  viewed  with  unusual  suspicion.  We  give 
from  the  journal  alluded  to  above,  or  rather  from  the  French  version  of  it,  some  of  the 
conversations  between  the  English  and  the  Japanese  officials. 

"Are  you  English?" 

"Yes.  We  have  come  here  with  the  permission  of  our  sovereign,  the  King  of  England,  to 
carry  on  trade  for  the  East  India  Company,  and  re-establish  the  commerce  which  our  countrymen 
commenced  with  you  and  left  fifty  years  ago.  We  have  letters  from  our  King,  and  from  tlie 
company,  to  his  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan;"  and  with  this  was  handed  to  the  Japanese 
commissioner  a  copy  of  the  privileges  of  trade  already  set  before  the  reader.  This  was  written 
in  the  Japanese  character. 

The  governor  next  charged  the  interpreter  to  ask  "if  England  was  at  peace  with  Portugal 
and  Spain  ;  if  our  King  had  been  long  married  to  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Portugal ; 
whether  there  were  any  children  of  the  marriage;  what  was  our  religion,  and  wliat  sort  of 
merchandize  we  had?" 

We  answered  that  just  now  we  are  at  peace  with  all  the  world  ;  that  our  King  liad  been 
married  eleven  years ;  that  the  Queen  had  no  children  ;  that  we  were  Christians  as  the  Dutcli 
were,  but  not  papists.     As  to  our  merchandize,  the  cargo  of  the  ship  was  a  general  one. 

?5ii7 


38  INTRODUCTION. 

At  the  next  interview,  the  governor  said,  "it  is  fifty  years  since  the  English  were  here;  we 
should  like  to  know  the  reason  of  your  long  absence."  The  civil  wars  of  England,  two  wars 
with  Holland,  and  the  expense  and  dangeV  of  so  long  a  voyage  were  assigned  as  reasons  and 
seemed  to  he  satisfactory.     The  questioning  then  proceeded  : 

"Have  j'ou  none  among  you  who  have  been  in  this  country  before  ?" 

"Not  one." 

"  How,  then,  were  you  able  to  find  your  way  here?" 

"By  means  of  marine  charts  which  guided  us." 

"What  is  the  religion  of  the  Portuguese?  is  it  not  called  Roman  Catholic?  have  they  not  the 
image  of  a  woman  whom  they  call  Santa  Maria,  and  of  a  man  named  Santo  Christof  do  not 
they  wor.ship  these  images?  and  how  many  other  saints  have  they?" 

"We  cannot  answer  the  last  question,  not  knowing  enough  of  the  Roman  religion  to  do  so." 

"  What  is  your  own  worship  ?     Have  you  also  images  like  the  Portuguese?" 

"No.  We  are  of  the  reformed  religion,  which  is  like  that  of  the  Dutch.  We  offer  our 
prayers  to  none  but  to  Almighty  God,  the  creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  fills  all  things  with 
his  presence.     We  never  make  any  image  or  figure  to  represent  him." 

"Can  you  tell  me  who  is  that  Santo  Ohristo,  and  who  is  that  Santa  Maria f" 

"We  call  the  first  the  son  of  God,  and  the  last  the  Virgin  Mary;  but  we  never  offer  prayers 
to  the  Virgin." 

"How  do  the  Dutch  worship  God?" 

"I  have  told  you,  as  we  do." 

"What  do  they  call  him?" 

"They  call  him  God." 

"And  the  Christ?" 

"They  call  him  Chkist?" 

"What  name  do  you  Dutch  and  English  give  to  the  religion  of  the  Portuguese?" 

"We  give  the  name  of  the  'Roman  Catholic  religion.'" 

"And  what  to  those  who  profess  it?" 

"We  call  them  papists^  Romans,  Roman  Catholics." 

"What  do  the  Portuguese  call  you?" 

'' Hereyes  in  their  language,  in  ours  heretics." 

Just  at  this  moment  the  British  flag  was  hoisted,  when  instantly  the  question  was  put : 

"Why  do  you  hoist  your  flag  to-day,  and  why  have  you  not  done  it  every  day  since  you 
came  in?" 

"To-day  is  our  Sabbath,  and  it  is  our  custom  always  to  hoist  our  flag  on  the  return  of  the 
seventh  day." 

"At  what  times  in  the  day  do  you  pray?" 

"Every  morning  and  evening." 

"And  the  Dutch,  do  they  the  same?" 

"Certainly." 

But  the  St.  George's  cross  in  the  flag  troubled  the  Japanese,  and  they  made  it  the  subject  of 
many  inquiries,  desiring  to  know  why  it  was  there. 

"We  do  not  carry  the  cross  in  our  colors  from  superstition,  nor  does  it  have  any  religious 
meaning  there.  It  is  nothing  more  than  our  distinctive  sign.  Beside,  our  flag  and  crofls  and 
those  of  the  Portuguese  are  very  different." 


INTRODUCTION.  39 

"Have  you  ever  been  under  the  dominion  of  Portugal  or  Spain  ?" 

"Never.  Our  sovereign  is  King  of  three  great  States.  He  is  a  prince  much  more  powerful 
than  the  King  of  Portugal." 

"Is  it  not  then  from  either  of  tliese  nations  that  you  have  received  your  cross?" 

"We  have  had  it  from  time  immemorial  ;  for  six  centuries  at  least." 

Notwithstanding  all  these  explanations,  however,  the  Japanese  officers,  not  by  command,  but 
privately  and  as  friends,  advised  the  English  not  to  hoist  the  flag  with  the  cross,  as  a  ^reat 
many  of  the  people  mistook  it  for  the  Portuguese  standard.  At  length  the  answer  came  from 
the  Emperor,  to  whom  had  been  referred  the  English  application  for  a  renewal  of  trade. 

"We  have  received  letters  from  the  Emperor.  Your  request,  as  well  as  the  reasons  by  which 
you  enforced  it,  have  been  duly  considered.  But  you  cannot  be  allowed  to  trade  here,  because 
your  King  has  married  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Portugal.  That  is  the  only  reason  why 
your  request  is  refused.  The  Emperor  orders  that  you  depart  and  come  back  no  more.  Such  is 
his  will,  and  we  cannot  change  it  in  any  particular.  You  will  therefore  make  sail  with  the  first 
favorable  wind,  and  at  the  latest  within  twenty  days." 

"It  is  impossible  for  us  to  leave  before  the  trade  winds  change." 

"In  that  case,  how  much  time  do  you  wish  us  to  grant  you?" 

"Forty-five  days ;  for  in  that  time  I  suppose  we  shall  have  a  change." 

The  English  asked  permission  at  least  to  sell  their  cargo  before  going. 

"The  Emperor  forbids  it ;  we  dare  not  disobey.  It  is  your  unfortunate  alliance  with  Portugal 
which  stands  in  your  way." 

And  thus  ended  this  attempt  to  revive  the  English  trade.  It  may  be  that  other  causes  beside 
the  Portuguese  marriage  operated  ;  and  of  these  the  Dutch,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  would  gladly 
avail  themselves  ;  but  if  there  were  no  other,  then  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  Hollanders,  by 
communicating  this  unpropitious  fact  to  the  Japanese,  were  the  sole  cause  of  the  exclusion  of  the 
English.     And  such  was  the  opinion  of  all  on  board  the  "Return." 

More  than  a  century  elapsed,  after  this  unsuccessful  experiment,  before  the  English  made 
another  attempt ;  but  in  1Y91,  the  "Argonaut,"  which  was  employed  in  the  fur  trade,  on  the 
northwestern  coast  of  America,  made  an  efi'ort  to  barter  with  the  Japanese.  On  the  arrival  of 
the  vessel,  however,  she  was  immediately  surrounded,  according  to  the  usual  custom,  by  lines 
of  boats,  and  no  communication  was  allowed  between  the  ship  and  the  shore.  All  that  was 
obtained  was  wood  and  water,  and  with  these  the  "Argonaut"  took  her  departure. 

In  1803  the  "Frederick,"  an  English  merchantman,  was  sent  from  Calcutta  with  a  cargo  to 
Japan,  but  was  refused  admittance  to  the  harbor,  and  was  ordered  to  depart  witliin  twenty-four 
hours.  This  unceremonious  treatment  of  the  English  was,  undoubtedly,  owing  to  the  Dutch. 
England  had  made  great  conquests  in  India,  and  securely  established  her  power  in  the  east ; 
some  of  these  conquests,  too,  were  made  at  the  expense  of  the  Dutch.  Under  Olive  and  Warren 
Hastings  all  the  fond  anticipations  the  Hollanders  had  formed  of  a  foothold  in  India  had  been 
dissipated.  They  could  not  accomplish  their  wishes,  but  they  could  use  the  very  triumphs  of 
their  rivals  as  an  instrument  in  defeating  the  English  efibrts  to  increase  their  trade.  Tliis  was 
to  be  efiFected  by  awakening  the  jealousy  and  alarming  the  apprehensions  of  the  Japanese. 
These  last  were  uncommonly  well  informeil  of  the  progress  of  events  in  India,  from  the  time 
of  Olive  downward.  Where  could  tliey  have  learned  them  but  from  tlic  Dutch?  The  Hol- 
landers told  the  story  with  such  coloring  as  suited  them  ;  whitewasliing  their  own  disgraces  and 


40  INTRODUCTION. 

defeats,  and  covering  with  blackness  the  acts  of  their  successful  rivals.  Tliey  thus  taught  the 
Japanese  to  form  an  idea  of  the  English  character  and  ambition  perfectly  fatal  to  the  establish- 
ment of  friendly  relations.  And,  unfortunately,  in  many  instances,  (one  of  which,  in  Japan, 
we  shall  detail  directly,)  the  English  were  furnishing  them,  from  time  to  time,  with  abundant 
material.  We  do  not  mean  to  apologize  for  England's  misdoings  in  the  east ;  but  we  do  mean 
to  impute  to  the  Dutch  the  seeming  pursuit,  from  the  very  beginning,  of  a  uniform  system  of 
policy,  which,  whether  it  be  so  or  not,  appears,  at  least,  to  have  sought  the  exclusion  of 
Portuguese,  English,  Americans,  and  every  other  commercial  nation  in  Christendom,  from  any 
participation  in  the  trade  with  Japan,  of  which,  at  the  price  of  a  servility  utterly  imworthy 
of  the  noble  deeds  of  Holland's  past  history,  she  had  procured  the  monopoly. 

The  next  English  visit  we  have  to  record  is  that  of  an  armed  ship-of-war,  in  1808.  In 
October  of  that  year  an  European  vessel,  with  Dutch  colors,  appeared  off  Nagasaki.  It  was  the 
time  when  the  usual  Dutch  trader  was  expected,  and  M.  Doeff  was  then  director  of  the  factory 
at  Dezima.  Supposing  it  to  be  the  expected  annual  trader  from  Batavia,  two  of  the  employes 
of  the  factory,  one  of  whom  was  a  book-keeper,  named  Grozeman,  put  off  to  the  ship  ;  according 
to  Doeff's  account,  the  native  interpreters,  who  never  went  on  board,  reported  on  their  return 
that  the  ship's  boat  put  off  on  the  approach  of  the  boat  containing  the  two  Dutch  clerks,  as  if 
to  meet  them ;  and  that  the  crew  of  the  ship's  boat  had  weapons  concealed  on  their  persons. 
The  Japanese  boat,  with  the  interpreters,  was  astern  of  that  from  the  factory.  As  the  boats 
approached  that  of  the  Dutchmen  was  boarded  fi-om  the  other  and  the  two  employes  were  forcibly 
carried,  as  prisoners,  on  board  the  ship.  Be  this  as  it  may,  certain  it  is  that  Gozeman  and  his 
companion  did  not  return,  and  that  they  were  detained  on  board  of  the  strange  vessel.  The 
Japanese  could  not  conceal  their  astonishment,  nor  understand  bow  Hollanders,  in  that  part  of 
the  Kingdom  where  they  were  permitted  to  be,  and  lawfully  employed,  too,  could  be  thus  treated 
by  men  sailing  under  the  Dutch  flag.  Doeff,  however,  instantly  suspected  that  the  vessel  was 
English,  and  he  knew  that  war  then  existed  between  his  own  country  and  England. 

The  governor  of  Nagasaki,  enraged  beyond  measure,  had  driven  the  Japanese  interpreters 
from  his  presence,  and  bade  them  not  dare  appear  before  him  again  without  Gozeman  and  his 
companion;  and  instantly  set  about  making  preparations  for  repelling  a  warlike  attack.  But, 
to  his  horror,  he  discovered  that,  at  a  strong  point  on  the  harbor,  where  there  should  have  been 
a  garrison  of  a  thousand  men,  nearly  all  were  absent  without  leave  ;  the  commander  was  away, 
and  not  more  than  sixty  or  seventy  soldiers  could  be  mustered.  Though  it  was  not  the 
governor's  duty  to  command  this  point  in  person,  yet  to  him  belonged  its  oversight ;  and  from 
the  moment  he  discovered  its  condition  he  considered  himself  as  a  dead  man. 

At  eleven  o'clock  that  night,  Doeff  received  a  note  in  the  hand-writing  of  one  of  the  detained 
Dutchmen,  in  these  words  :  "  The  ship  has  come  from  Bengal.  The  captain's  name  is  Pellew  ; 
he  wants  water  and  provisions."  The  vessel  was  H.  M.  S.  Phaeton,  belonging  to  the  squadron 
of  Admiral  Drury,  cruising  in  the  eastern  seas.  As  we  have  said,  England  was  at  war  with 
Holland,  which  at  that  time  was  a  mere  dependency  of  France.  The  admiral  had  ordered 
Captain  Fleetwood  Pellew  to  crui.se  off  the  Japanese  islands,  for  the  purpose  of  intercepting  the 
Dutch  traders  to  Nagasaki.  Captain  Pellew,  after  cruising  for  a  month,  supposed  that  the 
Dutch  vessels  might  have  reached  tlic  harbor  of  Nagasaki,  and  put  in  to  that  port  in  the  hope 
of  finding  them  there. 

Doeff  did  not  dare  to  send  off  water  and  provisions  without  the  concurrence  of  the  Japanese 


INTRODUCTION.  41 

governor ;  and  when  the  latter  asked  his  advice  about  acceding  to  the  request,  he  declined 
givin'T  it,  and  said  he  could  give  no  support  to  aiw'  request  made  hy  one  whom  ho  nf(\v  know  to 
be  the  enemy  of  his  country. 

In  the  midst  of  the  embarrassment  and  confusion  of  the  poor  governor,  his  first  secretary 
made  his  appearance  to  submit  a  proposition,  strikingly  characteristic  of  some  of  the  traits  of 
Japanese  character:  "This,"'  said  he,  "is  my  plan.  The  foreign  sliip  has  entrapped  the  Dutchmen 
by  treachery  ;  therefore,  all  means  are  lawful  to  punish  the  tr'^aclujry.  I  will  contrive,  then, 
to  go  on  board  alone  under  the  guise  of  friendly  professions.  I  will  demand  of  the  captain  the 
two  Dutchmen  ;  if  he  will  not  surrender  them,  I  will  strike  him  dead,  and  then  immediately 
kill  myself  with  a  dagger  which  I  will  conceal  in  my  bosom.  I  know  that  assassination  is 
repugnant  to  our  national  character  ;  but  the  English  commander,  who  has  thus  dishonorably 
invaded  our  country  to  attack  those  whose  flag  he  has  usurped  for  his  protection,  is  worthy  of 
no  better  fate.     In  short,  to  punish  him,  I  am  quite  willing  to  sacrifice  my  life." 

M.  Doeff,  however,  represented  to  him  that  the  consequence  of  this  plan  would  certainly  be 
his  own  death,  and  probably  that  of  the  two  Dutchmen  on  board  the  ship  ;  and  the  governor 
concurring  in  this  view,  the  secretary  abaudoued  his  desperate  scheme. 

The  plan  next  considered,  was  to  detain  the  ship  on  one  pretext  or  another,  until  the  forces 
of  the  neighboring  princes  could  be  collected  for  an  attack.  In  the  course  of  the  day,  how- 
ever, Gozeman  was  sent  on  shore  with  a  note,  as  follows :  -'I  have  ordered  my  own  boat  to  set 
G-ozeman  on  shore  to  procure  me  water  and  provisions.  If  he  does  not  return  before  evening, 
I  will  enter  the  harbor  early  to-morrow  morning,  and  burn  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  vessels 
that  may  be  there." 

Gozeman's  story  was,  that  when  he  was  taken  on  board,  he  demanded  to  see  the  commander, 
whereupon  he  was  carried  before  a  youth,  seemingly  some  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  old,  who, 
taking  him  into  the  cabin,  a.sked  him  whether  there  were  any  Dutch  ships  in  Japan,  threat- 
ening him  with  the  severest  punishment  if  he  should  deceive  him.  Gozeman  told  him  truly, 
that  the  Dutch  ships  had  not  arrived  that  year.  The  commander,  however,  pretended  to  know 
better ;  accused  the  Dutchman  of  having  spoken  untruly,  and  said  he  would  enter  the  harbor,  and 
see  for  himself,  and,  in  case  he  found  any,  Gozeman  might  consider  himself  a  dead  man. 
Accordingly,  he  did  enter  in  his  boat,  and  made  examination,  and  on  his  return,  told  Gozeman 
it  was  fortunate  for  him  that  his  statement  had  been  found  true.  He  then  sent  him  on  shore 
with  the  note  given  above,  instructing  him  to  return,  whether  he  obtained  the  supplies  or 
not,  and  informing  him  that  if  he  did  not  come  back,  his  companion,  who  was  kept  on  board, 
should  be  hanged. 

The  governor  was  transported  with  rage  when  he  heard  this  story,  but  was  finally  induced 
by  what  Doeff  said  to  him  to  send  off  water  and  provisions  by  Gozeman.  Soon  after  the  two 
Dutchmen  were  sent  on  shore  in  safety.  And  now  the  Japanese  governor  employed  himself  in 
taking  measures  to  detain  the  ship  (as  was  his  duty)  until  the  pleasure  of  the  government 
could  be  known.  But  how  to  do  this  was  a  question  not  very  easy  of  solution.  Doefif  was 
again  consulted,  when  he  did  not  conceal  the  difiiculty,  not  to  say  the  impossibility,  of  the 
capture  by  the  Japanese  of  a  British  frigate,  in  a  perfect  state  of  warlike  equipment.  One  plan 
was  suggested  by  the  prince  of  Omura,  who  promised  to  take  the  lead  in  its  execution,  and  the 
Japanese  by  no  means  lacked  the  courage  necessary  to  attempt  it.  They  are  a  brave  race. 
The  plan  was  to  man  three  hundred  boats  loaded  with  reeds  and  straw  and  other  combustibles, 
6  J 


42  INTRODUCTION. 

to  surround  the  frigate  and  burn  lier.  Tlie  calculation  was  that  if  the  English  destroyed  two 
hundred  of  the  boats,  enough  would  still  be  left  to  effect  the  object.  Tlie  rowers  were  to  save 
themselves  by  swimming. 

But  Doefl'  advised  another  course.  He  recommended  to  the  governor  to  amuse  the  com- 
mander of  the  ship  by  promises  of  water  the  next  day,  so  as  to  detain  him  as  long  as  possible, 
and  to  improve  the  time  by  causing  a  number  of  native  boats  to  go  with  stones  and  throw  them 
into  the  narrow  channel  by  which  alone  the  ship  could  pass  out  to  the  open  sea.  This  he  hoped 
could  be  done,  without  discovery  by  the  English,  in  the  course  of  the  nc.\.t  day  and  night  ;  and 
the  work  was  ordered ;  but  before  anything  was  accomplished,  a  favorable  wind  sprung  up,  and 
the  Ph;eton  stood  out  to  sea. 

MacFarlaue  thinks  that,  anywhere  but  in  Japan,  the  whole  affair,  having  terminated  blood- 
lessly,  would  have  been  laughed  at  as  a  clever  ruse  de  guerre ;  but  it  was  no  matter  for  mirth  to 
the  unfortunate  Japanese  officials.  The  law  of  the  Kingdom  had  been  broken,  and  the 
consequence  was  inevitable.  In  half  an  hour  after  the  shij)  made  sail,  the  governor  of  Nagasaki 
was  dead  by  his  own  hand ;  he  had  followed  the  custom  of  the  country  and  disembowelled 
himself  The  officers  of  the  neglected  garrison  did  the  same  thing  ;  the  interpreters  were 
ordered  to  Jeddo,  and  never  were  seen  again  in  Nagasaki;  nor  could  the  Dutch  ever  learn  their 
fate;  and  this  "laughable"  ruse  cost  no  less  than  thirteen  Japanese  lives.  The  governor  of 
the  province  (Fizen)  was  the  officer  who  had  supreme  command  of  the  troops  that  belonged  to 
the  garrison  ;  and  was,  at  the  time  of  the  Phajton's  arrival,  residing,  compulsorily,  in  the 
distant  capital,  (Jeddo,)  yet  was  he  punished  by  an  imprisonment  of  one  hundred  days  for  the 
delinquency  of  his  subordinate  officers.  The  visit  of  the  British  frigate  therefore  brought  in 
its  train  very  sad  consequences,  creating  very  strong  prejudices  against  the  English,  and  to 
this  hour  it  is  remembered  in  Japan  with  embittered  feelings. 

Five  years  had  elapsed  after  the  visit  of  the  English  frigate  before  another  attempt  was 
made.  During  that  period  the  wars  of  Europe  had  cut  off  the  Dutch  at  Dezima,  not  only 
from  communication  with  Holland  and  her  colonies,  but  with  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  They 
were  in  profound  ignorance  of  all  that  had  passed  in  this  interval  outside  of  Japan. 

In  July,  1813,  they  heard  with  joy  that  two  European  ships  under  the  Dutch  flag  were  off 
the  port.  They  showed  also  the  private  Dutch  signal,  so  that  M.  Doeff  had  no  doubt  they 
were  the  long  expected  vessels  that  had  come  from  Batavia  for  the  annual  trade.  Letters  also 
were  sent  on  shore  to  the  factory,  from  which  he  learned  that  M.  Waardeuar,  formerly 
president  of  the  factory,  and  under  whose  patronage  and  friendship  M.  Doeff  had  commenced 
his  career  as  an  employ^  at  Dezima,  was  on  board  one  of  the  ships  in  the  capacity  of  commissary 
of  the  government,  with  his  secretary  and  physician  ;  and  that  on  board  the  other  was  M. 
Cassa^,  accompanied  by  three  assistants,  and  charged  to  replace  M.  Doeff. 

Immediately  the  storekeeper,  Blomhoff,  with  another  of  the  Dezima  officials,  (they  had  but 
three  left  in  the  whole  factory,)  put  off  to  meet  the  ships  ;  and,  on  their  return,  Blomhoff  told 
Doeff  that  M.  Waardeuar  was  indeed  on  board,  and  that  the  Dutch  captain,  Voorman,  wlio 
had  often  been  to  Dezima  before,  commanded;  "but,"  added  he,  "everything  aboard  wore  a 
strange  aspect ;  and  the  commissary,  instead  of  confiding  to  me,  as  usual,  the  papers  from  the 
government,  said  he  would  deliver  them  to  you  in  person."  Presently  the  vessels  came  into 
harbor ;  and  as  all  the  crew  sjjoke  English,  the  Japanese,  who  liad  been  accustomed  to  hear 
that  language  since  1795,  concluded  that  tlio  vessels  were  American,  and  that  they  had  been 


INTRODUCTION.  43 

hired  at  Batavia  by  tlie  Dutch,  who  they  knew  had  sometimes  fiought  to  carry  on  their 
commerce,  without  risk  of  cajiture,  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States.  To  ascertain  the 
trutli,  M.  Doeft"  himself  went  on  board,  when  M.  Waardenar  met  him  with  evident  embarrass- 
ment, and  handed  him  a  letter.  The  Dutch  director  saw  that  there  was  something  not  j-et 
intelligible  to  him,  and  prudently  declined  opening  the  letter  until  he  should  reach  the  factory, 
whither  he  soon  returned  accompanied  by  "Waardenar  and  his  secretary. 

"When  they  reached  Dezima,  Doeif  opened  the  letter  in  the  presence  of  Blomhoff  and  of 
"Waardenar  and  his  secretary.  It  was  signed  "  Eaffles,  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Java  and  its 
Dependencies,"  and  announced  that  M.  "Waardenar  was  appointed  commissary  in  Japan,  with 
supreme  power  over  the  factory.  The  poor  director  was  utterly  bewildered.  In  his  long  isola- 
tion great  events,  and  among  them  the  utter  absorption  of  his  own  nation  into  that  of  France, 
and  the  subjugation  of  all  the  Dutch  colonies,  had  occurred;  and  he  asked  in  amazement,  ""Who 
is  Eaffles?"  Then  was  opened  to  him  the  last  five  years  of  European  history,  and  he  learned 
that  Holland  no  longer  had  an  independent  national  existence,  and  that  Java  belonged  to  Eng- 
land; that  Sir  Stamford  Eaffles,  who  ruled  there,  had  appointed  "Waardenar  and  Dr.  Ainslie,  an 
Englishman,  as  commissioners  in  Japan,  and  required  of  him  a  surrender  of  everything  into 
their  hands.  It  was  an  ingenious  but  most  hazardous  attempt  on  the  part  of  Eaffles  to  transfer 
the  trade  which  the  Dutch  had  so  long  monopolized  to  the  hands  of  the  English. 

Doeff  instantly  refused  compliance,  on  the  ground  that  Japan  was  no  dependency  of  Java,  and 
could  not  be  aflected  by  any  capitulation  the  Dutch  might  have  made  on  the  surrender  of  that 
island  ;  and  further,  that  if  Java  was  now  an  English  island,  then  the  order  to  him  came  from 
an  authority  to  which  he,  as  a  Dutchman,  acknowledging  no  allegiance  to  England,  certainly 
owed  no  obedience.  Doeff,  who  was  exceedingly  shrewd,  saw  also  in  an  instant  that  the  ships 
and  crews  were  completely  at  his  mercy.  He  had  bii±  to  tell  the  Japanese  the  facts  he  had 
just  learned,  and,  exasperated  as  they  were  by  the  affair  of  the  Phc-eton,  the  destruction  of  the 
ships  and  their  crews  would  inevitably  follow.  He  saw  his  advantage,  and  shaped  his  course 
accordingly.  Fraissinet  (who  in  his  work  on  Japan  is  very  much  of  an  apologist  for  the  Dutch 
in  all  cases)  represents  this  conduct  on  the  part  of  M.  Doeff  as  an  example  of  exalted  humanity 
and  patriotism  ;  while  MacFarlane  intimates  that,  such  was  the  hatred  of  Doeff  to  the  English, 
he  would  probably  have  denounced  the  ships  to  the  Japanese  but  for  the  fact  that  M.  Waardenar 
was  his  countryman,  his  friend,  and  early  benefactor.  "We  cannot  undertake  to  arbitrate  between 
these  conflicting  views,  our  business  is  to  record  the  fact  that,  in  the  exercise  either  of  loyalty, 
or  friendship,  or  humanity,  as  the  case  may  be,  he  contrived  to  preserve,  in  all  its  purity,  the 
high  reputation  of  the  Dutch  for  taking  care  of  their  commercial  interests  in  Jajian,  at  any 
expense,  particularly  when  such  expense  cordd  be  made  to  fall  upon  others. 

The  Dutch  factory  had  for  five  years  been  without  its  annual  supplies  from  Batavia,  and  had 
consequently  been  obliged  to  contract  a  large  debt  to  the  Japanese  for  their  support  during  this 
long  period.  M.  Doeff,  after  working  upon  the  fears  of  "Waardenar  and  Ainslie  by  a  threat  of 
exposure  to  the  Japanese,  induced  them  to  enter  into  an  arrangement  with  him,  and  to  hind 
themselves  in  writing  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  contract,  which  was  in  substance  this :  In  the  first 
place,  the  ships  were  to  be  passed  off  as  being  American,  employed  by  the  Dutch,  for  the  sake 
of  obtaining  the  protection  of  the  neutral  flag  of  the  United  States.  Secondly,  the  presence  of  M. 
Waardenar,  well  known  to  the  Japanese  as  a  Dutchman,  and  formerly  President  of  Dezima,  was 
to  give  countenance  to  this  view.     Thirdly,  M.  Doeff  demanded  as  the  price  of  holding  his 


44  INTRODUCTION. 

tongue,  that  is,  as  the  price  of  saving  the  lives  of  Waardenar  and  the  English,  that  the  cargoes 
of  the  two  ships  should  be  delivered  to  him,  as  Dutch  factor,  in  the  usual  manner  ;  that  he 
should  dispose  of  them,  and  out  of  the  proceeds  pay  first  all  that  Holland  owed  the  Japanese  for 
the  supplies  of  the  last  five  years.  The  surplus  was  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  copper,  to 
load  the  ships  as  far  as  possible,  though  the  copper  was  to  be  estimated  at  more  than  the  usual 
price  to  the  English  ])urchasers.  Finally,  it  was  provided  that  when  the  ships  reached  Batavia 
and  sold  the  copper,  twenty-five  thousand  rix  dollars  were  to  be  placed  to  the  personal  credit  of 
M.  Doelf.  On  these  terms  the  Dutch  director  connived*  at  the  imposition  of  a  deception  upon 
the  Japanese,  and  successfully  managed  to  secure  the  silence  of  such  of  the  interpreters  as  he 
could  not  help  trusting  with  the  secret.  The  ships  were  loaded  and  dispatched  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  they  certainly  encountered  no  small  risk  while  they  remained  at  Dezima ;  for  the 
son  of  that  governor  of  Nagasaki  who  killed  himself  about  the  affair  of  the  Phfeton  was  now  a 
man  of  office  and  influence  at  Jeddo,  and  would  undoubtedly  have  availed  himself  of  the  oppor- 
tunity, had  he  known  it  existed,  to  avenge  his  father's  death. 

Sir  Stamford  Raflies  is  generally  supposed  by  his  best  friends  to  have  made  a  mistake  in 
sending  these  shi2:)s.  If  Doefif  had  surrendered  the  factory,  the  probability  is  that  as  soon  as 
the  Japanese  discovered  it  to  be  tran.sferred,  and  that,  too,  without  consulting  them,  they  would 
have  destroyed  Dezima,  and  put  all  the  English  there  to  death. 

In  1814,  however,  Raffles  sent  Cassa  back  in  one  of  the  ships,  (Waardenar  was  probably  too 
wise  to  put  his  neck  into  the  halter  again,)  when  the  same  stratagem  was  resorted  to,  the  same 
commercial  profit  was  secured  by  the  wily  Dutchman,  and  Cassa  failed  entirely  in  superseding 
M.  Doefi"  as  director  of  Dezima.  The  latter  was  more  than  a  match  for  him  in  the  game  of 
cunning  and  trickery  by  which  each  sought  to  countermine  the  stratagems  of  the  other.  Doeff 
kept  Dezima  ;  and  for  a  time  the  flag  of  Holland  floated  nowhere  else  in  the  world  but  on  that 
distant  spot,  where  it  was  unfurled  by  sufferance  only.  At  last,  after  the  restoration  of  the  house 
of  Orange,  and  the  return  of  Java  to  the  Dutch,  the  old  trade  was  resumed,  and  Doeff  was 
succeeded  by  a  new  director. 

In  1818,  another  attempt  was  made  in  a  little  vessel  of  sixty-five  tons,  that  was  commanded 
by  Captain  Gordon,  of  the  British  navy.  She  entered  the  bay  of  Jeddo,  and  was  immediately 
surrounded  with  the  usual  line  of  boats.  Her  rudder  was  unshipped,  and  all  her  arms  and 
ammunition  were  taken  ashore.  The  interpreters,  one  of  whom  spoke  Dutch,  and  one  Russian, 
and  both  some  English,  inquired  if  the  Dutch  and  English  were  now  friends,  and  if  the  vessel 
belonged  to  the  East  India  Company?  They  were  quite  civil,  but  utterly  refused  all  presents 
and  trade.  The  last  English  visit,  prior  to  the  time  of  the  United  States  expedition  under 
Commodore  Perry,  was  in  May,  1849.  This  was  made  by  H.  M.  S.  "Mariner,"  under  Com- 
mander Matheson.  She  went  to  Oragawa,  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Jeddo,  but  nothing  of 
importance  resulted  from  the  visit. 

THE  RUSSIANS. 

The  efforts  of  Russia  to  obtain  foothold  in  Japan  commenced  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last 
century.  Her  possessions  in  Asia,  her  seizure  and  occupation  of  some  of  tlie  Kurile 
islands  which  belonged  to  Japan,  and  her  small  portion  of  territory  in  America,  in  the  colony 
at  Sitka,  have  placed  her  on  every  side  of  the  Japanese  Empire  but  the  south.  She  has  pursued 
her  policy  noiselessly ;  possibly  meaning  at  the  proper  time  to  make  her  communications  as  com- 


INTRODUCTION.  45 

plete  as  circumstances  will  allow  between  her  Asiatic  and  American  possessions.  With  Corea, 
Japan,  and  the  Aleutian  islands,  stretching  over  to  the  promontory  of  Alaska  on  our  northwest 
coast,  and  with  a  strong  point  at  Sitka,  she  might  be  in  a  situation  to  show  the  world  that  her  plans 
of  extension  were  by  no  means  confined  to  the  limits  of  the  Eastern  hemisphere.  With  harbors  on 
the  coasts  of  Eastern  Asia  and  Western  America,  opening  on  a  sea  which  must  be  the  seat  of  an 
immense  and  lucrative  commerce,  she  might  aim  to  be  a  great  maritime  power,  and  to  rule 
mistress  of  the  Pacific.  If  she  possessed  Japan,  she  would  have  an  abundance  of  harbors, 
unriv'alled  in  the  world  for  excellency,* and  with  her  resources  would  control  the  commerce  of 
the  Pacific.  It  is  not,  therefore,  the  interest  of  any  part  of  the  commercial  world  that  Eussia 
should  ever  own  Japan ;  but  Eussia  has,  doubtless,  long  seen  the  importance  to  her  of  its  acqui- 
sition. If  she  aims  at  being  a  commercial  nation,  the  possession  of  Japan  would  make  her 
eminently  so. 

Some  seventy  or  eighty  years  ago,  a  Japanese  vessel  was  wrecked  on  one  of  the  Aleutian 
islands  belonging  to  Eussia.  The  crew  was  rescued,  and  was  carried  to  the  Eussian  port  of 
Okotsk,  orlrkutzk.  But,  instead  of  being  sent  hoem  at  once,  they  were  detained  in  Eussia  ten  years. 
The  object  undoubtedly  was,  that  the  Japanese  and  Eussians  might  learn  each  others'  languages. 
It  seemed  to  be  a  small  matter,  but  it  had  a  specific  end.  At  last,  the  discovery  was  made  that 
it  would  bs  humane  to  attempt,  at  least,  the  return  of  these  poor  shipwrecked  Japanese  to  their 
country.  Eussia,  probably,  was  ignorant  that  they  would  be  refused  admission.  Had  they 
been  sent  ten  years  before,  the  consequences  would  have  been  the  same ;  but  Eussia  did  not  know 
this  ;  and  beside,  her  later  eflbrt  deprives  her  ot  any  apology  for  her  tardy  humanity. 

The  Empress  Catharine,  however,  directed  the  governor  of  Siberia  to  send  them  back,  and  to 
endeavor,  through  their  instrumentality,  to  establish  such  mutual  relations  as  might  tend  to  the 
benefit  of  both  nations.  He  was  ordered  to  dispatch  an  envoy,  in  his  own  name,  with  credentials 
and  suitable  presents  ;  and  was  expressly  forbidden  to  permit  any  Englishman  or  Dutchman  to 
be  employed  in  the  work.  A  Eussian  lieutenant,  named  Laxman,  was  the  agent  employed,  and 
in  the  autumn  of  1792,  he  sailed  from  Okotsk,  in  a  transport  ship  called  the  "  Catharine."  He 
soon  made  a  harbor  on  the  northern  coast  of  the  island  of  Jesso,  and  there  wintered  ;  in  the 
succeeding  summer  he  went  round  to  the  southern  coast  of  the  same  island  and  entered  the 
harbor  of  Hakodadi.  The  Japanese  were  polite,  but  refused  to  take  back  their  countrymen, 
informing  Laxman  tliat  it  was  against  their  laws.  They  also  told  him  that  he  had  subjected 
himself  and  his  crew,  as  being  foreigners,  to  perpetual  imprisonment  for  landing  anywliere  in 
the  Kingdom  except  at  the  appointed  port  of  Kaga.saki ;  yet,  in  consideration  of  the  Eussian 
ignorance  of  this  law,  and  of  their  kindness  to  the  shipwrecked  Japanese,  they  would  not  enforce 
the  law,  provided  Lieutenant  Laxman  would  promise  for  himself  and  his  countrymen  to  return 
immediately  to  his  own  country,  and  never  again  come  to  any  part  of  Japan  but  Nagasaki. 

Laxman  left  without  landing  the  Japanese,  and  the  Empress  Catharine  made  no  further 
attempt  during  her  reign.  In  1804,  her  grandson,  the  Emperor  Alexander,  renewed  the  eftbrt. 
A  government  ship,  commanded  by  Krusenstern,  was  sent  to  Nagasaki,  having  on  board 
Resanoff,  sent  as  special  ambassador  to  Japan.  He  had  hardly  arrived,  however,  before  he 
furnished  abundant  evidence  of  his  unfitness  for  the  delicate  mission  witli  which  he  was  intrusted. 
He  commenced  his  intercourse  with  the  Japanese  officials  by  a  dispute  on  a  ridiculous  point  of 
etiquette,  viz :  whether  he  should  make  a  bow  to  the  Emperor's  representatives.  Next  ho 
positively  refiised  to  surrender  the  arms  of  the  ship,  according  to  the  usual  custom,  though  it 


46  INTRODUCTION. 

was  perfectly  useless  to  retain  them,  as  he  had  given  up  all  the  ammunition  to  the  Japanese. 
He  then  very  foolishly  contrived  to  convince  the  inmates  of  the  Dutch  factory  at  Deziraa,  to  whom 
he  brought  letters,  that  he  suspected  them  of  secretly  intriguing  to  defeat  his  purposes  with  the 
Japanese  ;  while,  in  point  of  fact,  the  sagacious  Dutchman,  DoeflP,  who  had  charge  of  Dezima, 
was  exercising  all  his  ingenuity  to  pursue  such  a  nicely  balanced  system  of  non-committal,  tliat, 
let  the  mission  terminate  as  it  would,  he  might  be  able  to  exclaim,  "thou  canst  not  say,  /did 
it,"  and  to  turn  events  to  the  advantage  of  himself  and  his  countrymen.  But,  at  last,  the 
ship  was  brought  into  safe  anchorage,  within  the  harbor';  and  after  a  great  deal  of  negotiation 
and  delay,  consent  was  given  that  the  Russian  ambassador  might  live  on  land  until  an  answer 
to  his  message  was  received  from  the  Emperor  at  Jeddo.  An  old  fish  warehouse  was  cleaned 
out  and  prepared  for  his  reception,  and  surroimded  with  a  high  fence  of  bamboos.  At  last, 
when  he  was  summoned  to  go  to  Nagasaki  to  hear  the  Emperor's  answer  to  his  application, 
curtains  were  hung  before  the  houses  on  each  side  of  the  street  through  which  he  passed,  and 
the  inhabitants  were  all  ordered  to  keep  out  of  sight,  so  that  he  saw  nothing  of  the  place. 
Indeed,  as  we  read  the  account  of  Resanoff's  mission,  it  is  hard  to  resist  the  belief,  that  the 
Japanese  took  pleasure  in  mortifying  the  ambassador,  and  in  overwhelming  him,  at  the 
same  time,  with  an  affectation  of  great  personal  j^oliteness.  They  kept  him  waiting,  too, 
until  1805  for  his  answer  ;  when  it  came,  it  was  peremptory  enough.  "  Order  from  the  Emperor 
of  Japan  to  the  Russian  ambassador."  "Formerly,  our  Empire  had  communication  with 
several  nations ;  but  experience  caused  us  to  adopt,  as  safe,  the  opposite  principle.  It  is  not 
permitted  to  the  Japanese  to  trade  abroad  ;  nor  to  foreigners  to  enter  oiir  country."  *  *  * 
"As  to  Russia,  we  have  never  had  any  relations  with  her.  Ten  years  ago,  you  sent  certain 
shipwrecked  Japanese  to  Matsmai,  and  you  then  made  us  propositions  of  alliance  and  commerce. 
At  this  time  j^ou  have  come  back  to  Nagasaki,  to  renew  these  propositions.  This  proves  that 
Russia  has  a  strong  inclination  for  Jajian.  It  is  long  since  we  discontinued  all  relations  with 
foreigners  generally.  Although  we  desire  to  live  in  peace  with  all  neighboring  States,  the 
difference  between  them  and  us,  in  manners  and  character,  forbids  entirely  treaties  of  alliance. 
Your  voyages  and  your  labors  are,  therefore,  useless."  *  *  *  "  All  communications 
between  you  and  us  are  impossible,  and  it  is  my  imperial  pleasure  that,  henceforth,  you  no  more 
bring  your  ships  into  our  waters." 

Resanoff  departed,  the  Japanese  paying  all  the  expenses  of  the  embassy  while  it  was  in  Japan. 
It  is  easy  to  understand  how  the  indignant  Russian  envoy  immediately  resolved  to  be  revenged 
for  the  treatment  he  had  received.  He  gave  'way  to  his  angry  feelings,  and  proceeding  to 
Kamtschatka,  directed  two  Russian  naval  ofhcers,  Chwostoff  and  Davidoff,  who  happened  to  be 
there  in  the  temporary  command  of  two  armed  merchantmen  that  traded  between  Asia  and  the 
northwest  coast  of  America,  to  make  a  hostile  landing  upon  the  most  northern  Japanese  islands, 
or  their  dependencies.     He,  himself,  started  for  St.  Petersburg,  and  died  on  the  way. 

Tlie  Russian  officers  did  make  a  descent  ujion  one  of  the  southern  Kurile  islands  that  belonged 
to  Japan.  Tliat  Empire  had  once  owned  the  whole  Kurile  archipelago  ;  but  Russia  had  contrived, 
by  some  means,  to  possess  herself  of  the  northern  islands ;  and  it  was  doubtful  to  the  Dutch 
whether  this  appropriation  of  territory  was  even  known  at  Jeddo.  It  is  said  not  to  be  unlikely 
that  the  prince  of  these  islands,  (thus  taken  by  Russia,)  and  his  spy  secretaries,  deemed  it 
expedient  to  conceal  from  the  Emperor  this  loss  of  a  territory,  of  but  little  value,  rather  than 
make  known  ;in   event  whicli  would  be  deemed  disgraceful  to  Japan,   and  subject  them  to 


INTRODUCTION.  47 

puuislimeut.  If  this  bo  so,  they  had,  of  course,  to  buy  up  the  spies  of  government.  Tlie 
islands  were  of  but  little  value  except  from  2>osltion.  It  was  precisely  on  account  of  their  position 
that  Russia  desired  them.  On  the  southern  Kuriles,  however,  their  officers  landed,  and  wreaked 
their  vengeance  on  tlie  unoifending  inhabitants,  by  plundering  their  villages,  killiu'^  some  of 
the  people,  and  carrying  off  others  in  their  vessels.     This  was  in  1807. 

The  news  of  these  events  filled  the  Japanese  court  with  surprise  and  indignation  ;  and  they 
sought,  through  the  medium  of  the  Dutch,  to  find  out  whether  they  liad  been  authorized  by 
the  Emperor  of  Russia.  Some  time  after,  in  May,  1811,  Captain  Golownin,  of  the  Russian 
navy,  was  sent  in  the  sloop-of-war  "Diana,"  ostensibly  to  make  a  survey  of  the  Kurile  group, 
though  it  was  suspected  (not  proved)  that  he  had  ulterior  objects,  and  was  instructed  once  more 
to  attempt  the  establishment  of  commercial  relations.  When  he  came  to  the  island  Eeterpoo 
(which  Siebold  calls  letorop)  he  landed,  supposing  he  would  find  Kuriles  only ;  but  he  was  met 
by  a  Japanese  officer  and  soldiers,  who  asked  him  if  the  Russians  meant  to  treat  them  as  Chwostoff 
and  Davidoff  had  treated  another  island  some  few  years  before  ?  Golownin,  on  this,  thought  it 
best  to  get  away  as  soon  as  he  could.  He  then  went  to  an  island  called  Kunaschier,  and 
here  the  Diana  was  fired  upon.  Golownin,  however,  strove  to  show  them  that  his  purposes 
were  friendly,  and  was  finally,  by  the  cunning  of  the  Japanese,  tempted  to  land  with  only  a 
midshipman,  pilot,  four  Russian  seamen,  and  a  Kurile  interpreter.  All  were  made  prisoners, 
and  passed  through  various  adventures,  which  Golownin  has  recorded.  They  were  kept  prisoners 
for  a  long  time,  avowedly  in  retaliation  for  the  injuries  that  had  been  committed  to  gratify  the 
angry  feelings  of  Resanoff ;  nor  would  the  Japanese  release  them  until  they  were  satisfied  that 
these  injuries  had  not  been  ordered  by  the  Russian  Emperor.  When  Golownin  left  he  was 
furnished  with  a  document  warning  the  Russians  no  more  to  attempt  the  impossibility  of 
establishing  trade  with  Japan.  It  is  but  just  to  the  Japanese  to  aeld  that  Golownin,  notwith- 
standing all  his  sufierings,  unavoidable  in  a  state  of  imprisonment,  gives  to  the  people  of  Japan 
a  high  character  for  generosity  and  benevolence. 

Thus  ended  the  efforts  of  Russia,  until  within  a  very  recent  period,  of  which  we  shall  speak 
presently. 

THE   rXITED   STATES   OF   AMERICA. 

The  attempts  of  our  own  country  are  all  recent,  and  need  not  detain  us  long.  In  the  year 
1831  a  Japanese  junk  was  blown  oft'  the  coast,  and,  after  drifting  about  for  some  time  in  the 
Pacific,  at  length  went  ashore  on  the  western  coast  of  America,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
river.  Kindness  was  shown  to  the  shipwrecked  Japanese,  and  finally  they  were  carried  to 
Macao,  where  they  received  the  protection  and  care  of  the  American  and  English  residents.  It 
was  determined,  after  a  time,  to  return  the  poor  creatures  to  their  home.  Either  their  benevolent 
friends  were  ignorant  of  the  Japanese  law  which  prohibited  the  return  of  natives  to  Japan,  or, 
if  they  knew  it,  they  supposed  that,  at  any  rate,  those  who  went  to  Japan  on  such  an  errand  of 
mercy  would  not  be  molested  for  entering  one  of  the  harbors  of  the  Empire.  Accordingly  the 
"Morrison,"  an  American  merchantman,  was  fitted  out  by  the  American  bouse  of  King  for  the 
voyage  to  Japan  ;  and  the  more  eft'ectually  to  manifest  her  purely  pacific  purposes,  all  her  guns 
and  armanent  were  taken  out.  In  1837  she  made  the  voyage,  notes  of  which  have  been  published 
by  Mr.  C.  W.  King,  an  American  merchant  of  great  respectability,  who  sailed  in  the  "Morrison." 
The  ship  reached  the  bay  of  Jeddo,  and  the  Japanese  very  soon  found  out  that  slie  was  entirely 


48  INTRODUCTION. 

unarmed  and  defenceless.  Tlie  official  visitors  soon  sliowed  their  contempt  after  making  this 
discover}',  and  early  the  next  day  the  vessel  was  fired  at  with  shotted  guns.  She  immediately 
weighed  anchor  and  ran  to  Kagosima,  the  principal  town  of  the  island  of  Kiu-siu,  where  she 
again  came  to  anchor.  After  a  while  preparations  were  made  here,  also,  to  fire  upon  the  vessel, 
and  before  she  could  remove^  a  battery  opened  upon  her.  The  ship  then  returned  to  Macao  with 
the  Japanese  on  board. 

In  1846  an  expedition  was  sent  from  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  Japan ;  its  business 
was,  if  possible,  to  open  negotiations  with  the  Empire.  The  ships  consisted  of  the  "Columbus," 
of  ninety  guns,  and  the  corvette  "Vincennes."  Commodore  Biddle  commanded  the  expedition. 
In  July  the  vessels  reached  the  bay  of  Jeddo,  and  were,  as  usual,  immediately  surrounded  by 
the  lines  of  guard  boats.  On  this  occasion  they  numbered  about  four  hundred.  Some  of  the- 
Japanese  went  on  board  the  "  Vincennes,"  and  one  of  them  placed  a  stick  with  some  sort  of  a 
symbol  carved  on  it  at  the  head  of  the  vessel  and  another  of  similar  kind  at  the  stern.  The 
act  was  not  perfectly  understood  by  the  Americans,  but  they  construed  it  to  mean  taking 
possession  of  the  ship,  and  ordered  the  sticks  to  be  taken  away.  The  Japanese  complied 
immediately  without  making  any  objection.  The  ships  remained  ten  days,  but  no  one  belonging 
to  them  landed,  nor  was  anything  accomplished.  The  answer  of  the  Emperor  to  the  application 
for  license  to  trade  was  very  short :  "  No  trade  can  be  allowed  with  any  foreign  nation  except 
Holland." 

In  February  of  the  year  1849  the  United  States  ship  Preble,  under  Commander  Glynn,  formed 
part  of  the  American  squadron  in  the  China  seas,  when  information  was  received,  by  way  of 
Batavia,  of  the  detention  and  imprisonment,  in  Japan,  of  sixteen  American  seamen,  who  had 
been  shipwrecked  on  the  coast  of  some  of  the  Japanese  islands.  The  Preble  was  immediately 
dispatched  to  demand  their  release.  As  the  ship  neared  the  coast  of  Japan,  signal  guns  were 
fired  from  the  prominent  headlands  to  give  warning  of  the  approach  of  a  strange  vessel ;  and 
when  she  entered  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki,  she  was  met  by  a  number  of  large  boats  which  ordered 
her  ofi",  and  indeed  attempted  to  oppose  further  ingress.  But  the  ship  steadily  standing  on  with 
a  firm  breeze  soon  broke  their  ranks,  and  came  to  anchor  in  a  desirable  position. 

Fleets  of  boats,  crowded  with  soldiers,  shortly  afterward  began  to  arrive,  and  from  that  time 
until  the  Preble's  departure,  they  poured  in,  in  one  constant  stream,  day  and  night.  The  troops 
they  brought  were  encamped  on  the  elevated  shores  surrounding  the  anchorage  of  the  Preble. 
From  these  heights  also  were  unmasked,  at  intervals,  batteries  of  heavy  artillery,  numbering  in 
all  sixty  guns,  which  were  trained  upon  the  Preble's  decks. 

Commander  Glynn  forthwith  commenced  negotiations  for  the  release  of  the  American  seamen, 
who  had  been  imprisoned  for  nearly  seventeen  months,  and  been  treated  with  great  cruelty  and 
inhumanity.  When  they  were  first  confined,  they  were  made  to  trample  on  the  crucifix,  and 
were  told  that  it  was  the  "  devil  of  Japan,"  and  that  if  they  refused  to  trample  on  it  their 
lives  should  be  taken  When  Commander  Glynn  first  demanded  the  release  of  the  prisoners, 
the  Japanese  officials  treated  the  demand  with  a  well  affected,  haughty  indifi'erence ;  finding, 
however,  that  this  would  not  answer,  they  resorted  to  evasive  diplomacy  ;  when  the  captain  of 
the  Preble,  with  the  rough  bluntness  of  a  sailor,  peremptorily  told  them,  in  most  unmistakeable 
language,  that  they  must  immediately  give  up  the  men,  or  means  would  be  found  to  compel 
them  to  do  so,  as  the  government  to  which  they  belonged  had  both  the  power  and  the  will  to 
protect  its  citizens.     This  very  soon  changed  their  tone,  and  deprecating  any  angry  feeling,  a 


INTRODUCTION 


49 


promise  was  immediately  made  that  the  men  should  he  sent  on  board  in  two  days  from  that  time. 
This  promise  having  been  fultilled  to  the  letter,  the  Prehle  returned  to  join  the  squadron  on  tlie 
coast  of  China.  The  next  eifort  made  hy  the  government  of  the  United  States  was  that  of 
which  the  story  is  told  in  the  subsequent  pages  of  this  work. 

We  have  thus  laid  before  the  reader  the  chief  features  of  the  principal  attempts  made  by 
civilized  nations  to  open  commerce  with  Japan  ;  and,  in  the  following  tabular  view,  these  may 
be  seen  at  a  glance,  and  thus,  by  showing  what  efforts  were  simultaneous,  we  may  facilitate, 
perhaps,  the  understanding  of  the  subject  as  a  whole. 


TEAR. 

PORTCGUESE. 

DUTCH. 

EKGI.ISH. 

• 

RtrssiA». 

UNITED   STATES. 

1543- '45 

First  landing 

1550 

Christianity     intro- 

1597 

Persecution  of  Chris- 

.     . 

1600 

1609 

1613 

Saris  reaches  Firando 

1 

1623 

1636 

Futile    attempt    to 

Expelled  from  Japan. 

Assist  in  persecuting 
native  Christians. . 

1639 

1641 

Sent  to  Dezima .  •  •  •  ■ 

1673 

Attempt  again  to  re- 



1791 

"Argonaxit's"{alile 

1792 

1803 

"  Frederick's  "     at- 

1804 

"'"^ 

1807 

1808 

"Phaetons"  visit  un- 



1811 

Captivity  of  Captain 

Defeat    Raffles'   at- 

Sir   S.   Raffles'   at- 

1813 

1814 

Defeat   Raffles'   at- 

1818 

'""'' 

]«37 1 

"  Morrison's  "  visit . 

1-46 ■      .                                  '     .. 

Com.  Biddle's  visit.. 

1849 

"Mariner's  "  visit . . 

Glynn,  in  the  Preble. 

1852 1 

Com.  Perry's  visit  .. 

7j 


50  INTRODUCTION 


SECTION    VI. 

PROGRESS   IN   INDUSTRIAL   ARTS,    AND   EXTENT  OF   CIVILIZATION   IN   JAPAN. 

The  Japanese  are  an  exceedingly  industrious  and  ingenious  people,  and  in  certain  manufac- 
tures are  surpassed  by  no  nation. 

Metals. — They  work  well  in  iron,  copjier,  gold,  and  silver,  and,  indeed,  in  all  the  metals  they 
have.  Of  iron,  it  is  supposed  the  supply  aiibrded  by  their  country  is  not  large  ;  still  they  have 
extracted  the  metal  from  such  ores  as  they  possess,  and  wrought  it  into  shape.  Copper  is  very 
abundant,  and  they  understand  perfectly  well  the  mode  of  treating  the  ore,  and  preparing  the 
metal  for  market  or  for  manufactures.  Gold  also  exists,  and  probably  to  an  extent  as  yet  un- 
developed ;  the  deposits  are  likely,  we  think,  to  jirove  large  on  further  and  scientific  exploration. 
At  any  rate,  there  does  not  seem  now  to  be  any  scarcity  of  it  for  the  purposes  to  which  they 
apply  it.  They  have  silver  mines  which  they  work.  They  know,  too,  how  to  make  some  com- 
binations of  metals  which  produce  a  beautiful  effect.  Thunberg  tells  us  that  they  work  with 
great  skill  in  what  they  call  soivas.  This  is  a  mixture  of  gold  and  copper,  which  they  color 
with  tousche,  or  ink,  making  it  a  fine  blue  or  black,  by  an  art  unknown  among  Europeans. 
They  make  steel,  and  temj^er  their  sword  blades  admirably.  Clocks  and  watches  are  also  made 
by  them,  but  in  these  they  are  not  entitled  to  the  merit  of  invention  ;  they  have  coijied  from 
European  models.  The  same  may  be  said  of  their  astronomical  instruments  ;  they  make  very 
well  the  metallic  portion  of  telescopes,  &c.,  and  buy  mirror  glasses  from  the  Dutch,  which  they 
grind  into  suitable  lenses.  They  also  manufacture  excellent  metallic  mirrors ;  and  Golownin 
says,  he  saw  carpenters'  and  cabinet-makers'  tools,  particularly  saws,  made  in  Japan,  quite 
equal  to  any  English  tools  of  a  similar  kind.  They  are  exceedingly  quick  in  observing  any 
improvement  brought  in  among  them  by  foreigners,  soon  make  themselves  masters  of  it,  and 
copy  it  with  great  .skill  and  exactness.  They  are  very  expert  in  carving  metal,  and  can  cast 
metal  statues.  Their  copper  coinage  is  well  stamped,  for  they  are  good  die-sinkers  ;  and  several 
of  their  operations  in  metal  are  carried  on  in  very  large  and  well-ordered  manufactories. 

Wood. — No  people  work  better  than  they  can  in  wood  and  bamboo,  and  they  possess  one  art 
in  which  they  excell  the  world.  This  is  in  lacquering  wood  work.  Other  nations  have 
attempted  for  years,  but  without  success,  to  equal  them  in  this  department.  In  this  operation 
they  select  the  finest  wood  of  fir  or  cedar  to  be  covered  with  varnish.  Tliey  get  the  gum  from 
which  they  prepare  the  varnish  from  the  rlius  vernix — a  tree  that  is  abundant  in  many  parts  of 
their  country.  On  puncturing  the  tree  the  gum  oozes  out,  of  a  light  color,  and  of  the  con- 
sistence of  cream,  but  on  expo.sure  to  the  air  grows  tliieker  and  blacker.  It  is  so  transj)arent, 
that  when  laid  unmixed  on  wood,  the  grain  and  every  mark  on  the  wood  may  be  seen  through 
it.  They  obviate  this,  however,  where  it  is  desirable,  by  placing  beneath  the  varnish  a  dark 
ground,  one  element  in  the  composition  of  which  is  the  fine  sludge  caught  in  the  trough  under 
a  grindstone.  They  also  iise  for  the  purpose  minutely  pulverized  charcoal,  and  sometimes  leaf 
gold  grotmd  very  fine.  Tliey  then  ornament  the  varnish  with  figures  and  finwers  of  guld  and 
silver.     They  make,  and  tluis  varnish,  screens,  desks,  caskets,  cabinets,  and  other  articles. 


INTRODUCTION.  51 

exceedingly  beautiful,  and  of  whicli  specimens  may  from  time  to  time  be  seen  in  Europe  and  in 
this  country.     It  is,  said,  however,  tliat  the  best  samples  never  are  sent  out  of  the  Kingdom. 

Glass. — They  know  how  to  make  this  article,  and  can  manufacture  it  now  for  any  purpose, 
both  colored  and  uncolored.  Formerly  they  did  not  know  how  to  make  the  flat  pane  for  window 
glass  ;  and  probably  what  they  make  is  an  inferior  article,  as  they  still  purchase  thick  mirror 
glass  from  the  Dutch  to  grind  into  lenses. 

Forcelain. — This  they  make,  and  some  say  in  greater  perfection  than  the  Cliinese  can.  At 
any  rate,  specimens  we  have  seen  of  Japanese  porcelain  are  very  delicate  and  beautiful ;  though 
some  writers  tell  us,  that,  owing  to  the  exhaustion  of  the  best  clay,  they  cannot  now  manufac- 
ture such  as  they  once  could. 

Paper. — Of  tliis  they  make  an  abundance,  as  well  for  writing  and  printing,  as  for  tapestry, 
handkerchiefs,  packing  cloths  for  goods,  &c.  It  is  of  different  qualities,  and  some  of  it  is  as 
soft  and  flexible  as  our  cotton  cloth.  Indeed,  that  used  for  handkerchiefs  might  be  mistaken  for 
cloth,  so  far  as  toughness  and  flexibility  are  concerned.  The  material  of  which  it  is  made  is 
the  bark  of  the  mulberry,  (morns  papyri/era,)  and  the  process  is  described  as  follows :  In 
December,  after  the  tree  has  shed  its  leaves,  they  cut  off  the  branches  about  three  feet  in  length, 
and  tie  them  up  in  bundles.  They  are  then  boiled  in  a  ley  of  ashes  in  a  covered  kettle  till  the 
bark  is  so  shrunk  that  half  an  inch  of  the  wood  may  be  seen  projecting  at  either  end  of  the 
branch.  When  they  have  become  cool,  the  bark  is  stripped  off"  and  soaked  in  water  three  or 
four  hours  until  it  becomes  soft,  when  the  fine  black  skin  is  scraped  off  with  a  knife.  The 
coarse  bark  is  then  separated  from  the  fine ;  the  new  branches  make  the  finest  paper.  The 
bark  is  then  boiled  again  in  fresh  ley,  continually  stirred  with  a  stick,  and  fresh  water  from 
time  to  time  is  added.  It  is  then  put  in  a  sieve  and  taken  to  a  brook,  and  here  the  bark  is 
incessantly  stirred  until  it  becomes  a  fine  pulp.  It  is  then  thrown  into  water  and  separates  in 
the  form  of  meal.  This  is  put  into  a  small  vessel  with  a  decoction  of  rice  and  a  species  of 
Hibiscus,  and  stirred  until  it  has  attained  a  tolerable  consistence.  It  is  then  poured  into  a  larger 
vessel,  from  whence  it  is  taken  and  put  in  the  form  of  sheets  on  mats  or  layers  of  grass  straw  ; 
these  sheets  are  laid  one  upon  another  with  straw  between,  and  pressed  to  force  the  water  out. 
After  this  they  are  sj^read  upon  boards  in  the  sun,  dried,  cut,  and  gathered  into  bundles  for  sale. 
This  paper  will  better  endure  folding,  and  last  longer  than  ours. 

Woven  fabrics. — They  make  silk,  the  best  of  which  is  superior  to  that  of  China.  The  best 
silks  are  woven  by  criminals  of  high  rank,  who  are  confined  upon  a  small,  rock}',  unproductive 
island,  deprived  of  their  property,  and  made  to  support  themselves  by  their  labor.  The 
exportation  of  these  silks,  it  is  said,  is  prohibited. 

They  have  but  small  skill  in  producing  cotton  fabrics,  though  such  are  made.  For  many 
ptirposes  to  which  we  apply  cloth  of  cotton,  they  use  the  coarse  spongy  paper  to  which  we  have 
alluded.  They  require  woollen  cloths,  for  the  winters  are  cold  ;  but,  we  believe,  they  make 
none.  Indeed,  they  have  no  sheep  or  goats,  and  therefore  lack  materials  from  which  to  make 
woollen  cloths. 

Leather. — They  convert  the  skins  of  certain  animals  into  this  article  ;  but,  as  we  have  stated 
on  a  previous  page,  all  those  who  have  anything  to  do  with  the  making  or  vemling  of  leather 
are  outcasts  from  all  the  rest  of  the  population  and  universally  proscribed.  Tiiey  never  apply 
the  article,  as  we  do,  to  making  shoes,  or  other  coverings  for  the  feet.  They  hardly  ever  wear 
shoes  or  slippers  that  arc  not  made  of  plaited  straw.     Thuuberg  says  the  shoes  are  always  the 


62  INTRODUCTION. 

shabbiest  part  of  tlie  dress  of  the  Japanese.  As  they  are  of  straw,  they  consequently  hast  but  a 
little  time.  But  they  are  made  in  immense  niunbers,  cost  but  a  trifle,  and  may  be  bought  in 
every  town  and  village  in  the  Empire.  The  pedestrian,  therefore,  throws  away  the  old  pair  by 
the  road  side,  and  buys  new  ones  as  he  goes  along  ;  while  the  more  provident  man  takes  two  or 
three  pairs  with  him  on  starting.  Immense  numbers  of  these  discarded  shoes  may  be  found  on 
the  sides  of  all  the  roads.  In  wet  weather  they  wear  under  the  shoe  a  wooden  clog,  which  is 
attached  to  the  foot  by  ties  of  plaited  straw.  Dignitaries  sometimes  wear  slippers  made  of  fine 
rattan  slips  neatly  plaited. 

Agriculture. — Japan  is  very  mountainous,  as  we  have  already  stated  ;  Init  with  the  cxcejjtion 
of  that  ])ortion  of  the  ground  covered  by  the  roads,  and  by  the  woods  left  to  supply  timber  and 
charcoal,  nearly  every  foot  of  ground,  to  the  very  tops  of  the  mountains,  is  cidtivated.  Of 
animals  to  assist  in  culture  they  have  the  horse,  ox,  and  a  large  species  of  buftalo,  which  they 
train  to  draw  carts  and  carry  heavy  goods  on  the  back.  They  plough  with  both  the  ox  and  cow. 
Of  milk  and  butter  they  make  no  use.  AVhen  they  cannot  use  cattle  to  plough,  as  on  the  steep 
sides  of  hills,  men  are  substituted  ;  and  sometimes  the  plough  is  laid  aside  and  all  the  labor  in 
preparing  the  earth  is  done  by  hand.  Generally,  their  soil  is  rather  poor  ;  but  by  means  of  the 
immense  labor  they  bestow  upon  it,  by  irrigation,  and,  especially,  by  the  use  of  manures,  which 
they  understand  well,  they  make  very  large  crops. 

Their  chief  grain  is  rice,  of  which  they  are  said  to  produce  the  best  in  all  Asia.  They  also 
make  barley  and  wheat.  The  first  is  used  for  feeding  the  cattle  ;  the  other  is  not  much  valued, 
and  is  chiefly  used  for  cakes  and  soy.  This  last  is  made  by  fermenting,  under  ground,  wheat 
with  a  peculiar  kind  of  bean  and  salt. 

Next  to  rice,  in  importance,  is  the  tea  plant.  This  was  not  cultivated  in  Japan  before  the 
beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  when  it  was  introduced  from  China.  Immense  quantities  of  it 
are  now  produced,  for  its  use  is  universal.  Beside  the  plantations  devoted  to  it,  the  hedges 
on  the  farms  are  all  of  the  tea  plant.  Siebold  says  the  finer  kinds  require  great  care  and  skill 
in  the  cultivation.  The  plantations  are  situated,  as  far  as  they  conveniently  can  be,  from  all 
other  crops  and  from  human  habitations,  lest  the  delicacy  of  the  tea  should  be  impaired  by 
smoke  or  any  other  impurity.  They  manure  the  plants  with  dried  anchovies,  and  with  the 
juice  pressed  out  of  mustard  seed.  The  harvesting  is  a  process  of  great  nicety.  Dr.  Siebold 
thinks  that  the  green  and  black  tea  are  from  the  same  plant,  and  difier  only  in  the  mode  of 
preparation ;  though  others  have  said  the  plants  themselves  difier.  Neither,  however,  is  ever 
dried  on  copper,  but  both  are  dried  in  an  iron  pan. 

Beans  of  various  kinds  are  produced,  and  some  other  vegetables.  Several  edible  roots  are 
carefully  cultivated.  They  grow  the  mulberry  tree  in  large  quantities  for  the  sake  of  the  silk 
worm,  and  also  for  making  paper.  In  Loo-Choo  they  make  a  coarse  sugar  from  the  cane  ;  in 
Nippon  thoy  manufsicture  it  from  the  sap  of  a  tree.  Our  farmers  deem  it  a  part  of  their  business 
to  rear  such  animals  as  we  use  for  food  ;  but  the  Japanese  farmer  is  most  frequently  a  Buddhist 
and  cares  nothing  for  animal  food.  The  Dutch,  a  great  while  ago,  introduced  some  sheep  and 
goats,  and  some  few  may,  possibly,  still  be  found  in  the  Kingdom.  If  attended  to  they  would 
thrive  very  well ;  but  the  religion  of  the  natives  forbids  them  to  eat  the  flesh,  and  they  do  not 
know  how  to  manufacture  the  wool  and  hair  ;  hence  the  animals  are  little  valued.  Tliey  have, 
also,  a  few  hogs,  which  were  originally  brought  from  China.  Some  of  the  country  peojile  near 
the  coast  keep  them,  but  not  to  eat.     They  sell  them  to  the  Chinese  junks  which  are  allowed  to 


INTRODUCTION.  53 

come  over  to  trade.     The  Cliiueso  sailor  lias  a  passion  for  pork.     The  hog  thrives  well  and 
becomes  very  fat  in  Jajjan. 

Uortlculture. — In  this  department  the  Japanese  are  very  skillful .  They  possess  the  art,  In  a 
wonderful  degree,  either  of  dwarfing,  or  of  unnaturally  enlarging  all  natural  productions.  As 
an  evidence  of  the  first,  may  be  seen,  in  the  miniature  gardens  of  the  towns,  perfectly  mature 
trees,  of  various  kinds,  not  more  than  three  feet  high,  and  with  heads  about  three  feet  in 
diameter.  These  dwarfed  trees  are  often  placed  in  flower  pots.  Fischer  says  that  he  saw  in  a 
box  four  inches  long,  one  and  a  half  wide,  and  six  in  height,  a  bamboo,  a  fir,  and  a  plum  tree, 
all  thriving,  and  the  latter  in  full  blossom.  As  proofs  of  the  last,  Meylan  tells  us  that  he  saw 
plum  trees  covered  with  blossoms,  each  of  which  was  four  times  the  size  of  the  cabbage  rose  ;  it 
produced  no  fruit,  however.  He  also  saw  radishes  weighing  from  fifty  to  sixty  pounds  ;  and 
those  of  fifteen  pounds  were  not  at  all  uncommon.  The  fir  trees  are  represented  as  being  forced 
to  an  enormous  size  ;  we  are  told  that  the  branches,  at  the  height  of  seven  or  eight  feet  from  the 
ground,  are  led  out,  sometimes  over  ponds,  and  supported  upon  props,  so  that  they  give  a  shade 
around  the  tree  three  hundred  feet  in  diameter.  The  cedar,  also,  is  a  tree  which  reaches  a  great 
size. 

Navigation. — Formerly  the  Japanese  made  voyages,  in  vessels  of  their  own  construction,  to 
Corea,  China,  Java,  Formosa,  and  other  places  at  some  distance  from  their  own  islands ;  but 
when  the  Portuguese  were  expelled  a  decree  was  made  that  the  natives  should  not  leave  the 
country  ;  hence  navigation  declined.  Still,  short  coasting  voyages  are  made  within  the  bound- 
aries of  the  Kingdom ;  and  fishing-smacks  go  to  sea,  but  not  very  far  from  the  coast.  This 
coasting  trade,  however,  is  large ;  and  the  Japanese  use  fish  for  food  so  extensively  that  the 
number  is  immense  of  these  trading  boats  and  fishing  smacks.  The  Japanese  have  the  compass  ; 
not  divided,  however,  into  as  many  points  as  ours.  The  construction  of  their  vessels,  as  to 
model,  is  very  clumsy ;  and,  as  they  have  seen  and  examined  many  European  ships,  it  may 
seem  strange  that  a  people  so  skilfu^and  ingenious  should  not,  ere  this,  have  improved  in  naval 
architecture.  The  fault  is  not  theirs ;  the  fact  is  that  they  have,  in  more  tlian  one  instance, 
built  very  good  vessels  after  European  models  ;  but  the  law  has  interposed,  for  a  special  reason, 
and  retarded  improvement  among  a  people  whose  insular  position  would  have  made  them  sailors, 
and  whose  quick  perceptions  would  have  made  them  good  ones  if  left  to  themselves.  Their 
craft  are,  by  law,  made  with  the  stern  open,  so  that  they  cannot  weather  an  open  and  heavy  sea. 
The  smaller  ones  never,  if  they  can  help  it,  go  out  of  sight  of  land,  and  upon  any  threatening 
appearance  of  rough  weather  they  instantly  run  in  to  make  a  harbor.  The  object  of  this  law  of 
construction  is  to  keep  the  natives  at  home. 

Internal  trade  by  land  and  tcater. — This  is  large,  resulting  from  the  variety  of  produce  afforded 
by  the  variety  of  climate,  and  from  the  immense  population.  In  many  places,  town  joins  on  to 
town,  and  village  to  village,  for  miles,  so  that  the  road  looks  like  a  continued  street.  Ka?mpfer 
thus  speaks  of  the  population:  "The  country  is  indeed  populous  beyond  expression,  and  one 
would  scarcely  think  it  possilde  that,  being  no  greater  than  it  is,  it  .should,  iievertlieless, 
maintain  and  support  such  a  vast  number  of  inhabitants.  Tlie  highways  are  almost  one  con- 
tinued line  of  villages  and  boroughs.  You  scarce  come  out  of  one,  but  you  enter  another  ;  and 
you  may  travLd  many  miles,  as  it  were,  in  one  street,  without  knowing  it  to  be  composed  of 
many  villages,  save  by  the  dift'uring  names  that  were  formerly  given  them,  and  wiiicli  tliey  after 
retained,  though  joined  to  one  another.     It  halli   many  towns,  the  chief  whereof  may,  of  a 


54  INTRODUCTION. 

certainty,  vie  with  the  most  considerahle  in  the  world  for  largeness,  magnificence,  and  nnmher 
of  inhabitants."  Ksempfer  says  of  Jeddo,  that  he  was  one  whole  day,  riding  at  a  moderate 
pace,  "from  Sinagawa,  where  the  suhurh  begins,  along  the  main  street,  wliich  goes  across, 
a  little  irregularly  indeed,  to  the  end  of  the  city." 

As  to  the  variety  of  climate  and  produce,  the  southern  part  of  the  Kingdom,  reaching  down  as 
low  as  the  twenty-fourth  degree  of  north  latitude,  produces  the  sugar  cane  and  the  tropical  fruits ; 
while  the  northern,  extending  as  high  up  as  fifty  degrees,  yields  the  products  of  the  temperate 
zones.  The  mineral  wealth  of  the  country  is  very  great,  the  manufactures  numerous,  and, 
under  such  circumstances,  the  internal  trade  among  so  many  people  is  necessarily  active.  Of 
the  facilities  for  carrying  it  on,  we  remark  that  goods  are  conveyed  by  laud  on  pack-horses  and 
pack-oxen,  and  that  the  roads  are  excellent,  and  kept  in  admirable  order.  In  the  rugged  and 
mountainous  parts  of  the  country  where  the  road  must  pass,  they  make  it  zigzag  on  the  side  of 
the  mountain,  and,  where  necessary,  cut  steps  in  the  rocks.  Indeed,  the  roads  must  be  kept  in 
order,  otherwise  they  could  not  accomplish  what  they  do  by  their  postal  arrangements.  As 
among  the  ancient  Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  the  post  is  pedestrian,  and  very  expeditious.  Every 
carrier  is  accompanied  by  a  partner  to  take  his  place  in  case  of  accident.  The  men  run  at  their 
utmost  speed,  and  as  they  approach  the  end  of  their  stage,  find  the  relay  waiting,  to  whom,  as 
soon  as  they  are  near  enough,  they  toss  the  package  of  letters,  when  the  new  runners  set  off 
before  the  coming  ones  have  stopped.  Nothing  must  be  interposed  to  delay  them  a  moment  on 
the  road.  The  highest  prince  of  the  Empire,  with  all  his  train,  must  make  way  for  the  post- 
men, if  he  meet  them  on  the  road.  Where  necessary  and  practicable  on  their  roads,  the 
Japanese  make  good  bridges,  often  of  stone ;  but  they  do  not  seem  to  have  arrived  at  the  art  of 
tunnel-making.  Some  principles  of  civil  engineering  they  understand  and  apjily,  but  of 
military  engineering  they  know  nothing.  But  beside  their  roads,  they  use  their  rivers  and 
inland  lakes  for  internal  trade  wherever  it  is  possible ;  and  in  those  parts  of  the  Kingdom 
nearest  the  sea,  probably  the  greater  jiart  of  the  inland  track  is  carried  on  by  the  rivers,  which, 
though  short,  are  navigable  for  some  miles  into  the  interior.  On  the  roads,  in  all  parts  of  the 
Empire,  stables,  inns,  tea-shops,  and  other  resting  places  occur  at  intervals,  and  the  distances 
are  regularly  marked. 

Scientific  hnmdedcje  and  Us  applications. — We  have  just  said  that  the  Japanese  possess  some 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  civil  engineering.  They  know  something  of  matliematics, 
mechanics,  and  trigonometry.  Thus,  they  have  constructed  very  good  maps  of  their  country  ; 
they  have  measured  the  height  of  some  of  their  mountains  by  the  barometer ;  they  have  made  some 
very  good  canals  ;  they  have  constructed  water-mills,  and  lathes  moved  by  water  power.  They 
make  clocks,  and  herein,  by  the  way,  they  have  shown  remarkable  ingenuity  and  skill.  Meylan 
gives  the  following  account  of  a  clock  which  they  made,  and  exhibited  to  the  Dutch,  while  he 
was  an  inmate  of  Dezima.  "  The  clock,"  says  he,  "  is  contained  in  a  frame  three  feet  high  by 
five  feet  long,  and  presents  a  fair  landscape  at  noon-tide.  Plum  and  cherry  trees  in  full  blussora, 
with  other  plants,  adorn  the  foreground.  The  back-ground  consists  of  a  hill,  from  wliich  falls 
a  cascade,  skilfully  imitated  in  glass,  that  forms  a  softly  flowing  river,  first  winding  round 
rocks  pliiced  here  and  there,  then  running  across  the  middle  of  the  Landscape  till  lost  in  a  wood  of 
fir  trees.  A  golden  sun  hangs  aloft  in  the  sky,  and,  turning  upon  a  pivot,  indicates  the  striking 
of  the  hours.  On  the  frame  below,  the  twelve  hours  of  day  and  night  are  marked,  where  a 
slowly  creeping  tortoise  serves  as  a  hand.     A  bird,  perched  upon  the  branch  of  a  plum  tree,  by 


INTRODUCTION.  55 

its  song  and  the  clapping  of  its  wings,  announces  the  moment  when  the  hour  expires  ;  and  as  the 
song  ceases,  a  bell  is  heard  to  strike  the  hour — during  which  operation,  a  mouse  comes  out  of  a 
grotto  and  runs  over  the  hill.  *  *  *  *  Every  separate  part  was  nicely  executed  ;  but  the 
bird  was  too  large  for  the  tree,  and  the  sun  for  the  sky,  while  the  mouse  scaled  the  mountain 
in  a  moment  of  time."  Whatever  may  have  been  the  defects  of  taste,  the  ingenuity  and  skill 
in  this  piece  of  mechanism  are  very  apparent. 

Fischer  also  tells  us  a  story  of  the  ingenuity  of  a  Japanese  fisherman,  of  which,  perhaps,  the 
specimen  may  now  be  found  among  ourselves.  The  Japanese,  like  many  other  people  of  lively 
temperaments,  have  a  passion  for  things  that  are  strange  and  odd,  and  rather  prefer  sometimes 
to  be  gulled.  This  fisherman,  availing  himself  of  this  passion,  contrived  to  uuite  the  upper 
half  of  a  monkey  to  the  lower  half  of  a  fish,  so  neatly  as  to  defy  ordinary  inspection.  He  then 
announced  that  he  had  caught  a  strange  animal  alive  in  his  net,  but  that  the  creature  had  soon 
died  when  taken  out  of  the  water,  and  invited  his  countrymen  to  come,  and,  for  a  consideration 
to  see  the  curiosity.  After  he  had  put  money  in  his  purse  to  some  considerable  extent  by  this 
bold  reliance  on  human  credulity,  he  improved  on  the  original  story,  and  said  that  duriu"-  the 
few  moments  of  its  life  the  strange  creature  had  spoken  to  him,  (whether  in  the  lan"-uao-e  of 
Japan  or  in  that  of  the  Fee-jee  islands,  he  did  not  say,)  and  had  predicted  a  certain  number  of 
years  of  great  fertility,  to  be  followed  or  accompanied  by  a  most  fatal  epidemic  ;  and  that 
against  this  last  the  only  remedy  would  be  the  possession  of  a  liJcejie-ss  of  the  marine  nondescript, 
half  himian  half  fish.  Pictures  of  the  mermaid  were  forthwith  in  demand,  and  the  sale  was 
immense.  Presently,  as  the  aflair  had  well  nigh  had  its  run  in  Japan,  this  mermaid,  or  one 
made  like  it,  was  sold  to  the  Dutch  factory  at  Dezima,  and  was  sent  off  in  the  next  ship  to 
Batavia.  Here  one  of  our  speculating  brethren  of  the  ' '  universal  Yankee  nation' '  contrived  to 
get  it,  and  forthwith  repaired  to  Europe,  where  he  very  successfully  played  the  part  of  proprietor 
and  showman  of  a  veritable  mermaid,  during  the  years  1822-'23,  thus  settling  a  disputed  question 
in  natural  history  and  filling  his  pockets  at  the  same  time.  We  are  inclined  to  think  that  this 
is  the  identical  mermaid  which  graces  the  collection  at  the  New  York  Museum  ;  if  it  be  not, 
then  our  Japan  fisherman  furnished  the  parent,  (so  ingeniously  made  as  to  elude  detection,) 
from  which  was  born  the  Fee-jee  prodigy. 

But  another  more  remarkable  and  far  more  creditable  instance  of  the  ingenuity  and  talent  of 
a  Japanese  fisherman  is  related  in  the  Dutch  annals  of  Dezima.  It  occurred  during  the 
})residency  of  M.  Doeif.  The  Dutch  at  Batavia,  during  the  war,  feared  the  English  cruisers  too 
much  to  send  one  of  their  own  ships  on  the  annual  voyage  to  Japan.  They  therefore  more  than 
once  hired  American  vessels.  One  of  these  having  taken  in  at  Dezima  the  usual  cargo  of  cojjper 
and  camphor,  as  she  set  sail  in  the  night,  struck  upon  a  rock  in  the  harbor,  filled  and  sunk. 
The  crew  reached  the  shore  in  boats,  and  the  authorities  of  Nagasaki,  the  Dutch  factory,  and  the 
American  captain,  were  all  alike  concerned  to  devise  means  of  raising  the  vessel.  Jap.anese 
divers  were  .sent  down  to  fetch  up  the  copper,  but  the  camphor  had  dissolved,  and  the  eftluvia 
thus  disengaged  cost  two  of  the  divers  their  lives.  The  idea  of  unloading  her  was  then  aban- 
doned. Efforts  were  then  made  to  raise  her  as  she  was,  but  without  success.  A  simple 
fisherman  named  Kiyemon,  who  now  perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  saw  an  European  built 
ship,  for  he  did  not  live  in  Nagasaki,  ])romiscd  to  raise  the  shiji,  ])riivided  his  mere  expi'iiscs  in 
doing  it  were  i)aid;  if  he  did  not  succeed  he  asked  nothing.  He  was  laughed  at  by  tlie  people 
for  his  presumption,  but,  as  the  case  was  hopeless,  those  interested  permitted  him  to  make  the 


5G  INTRODUCTION. 

attempt.  At  low  tide  he  fastened  on  either  side  of  the  vessel  fifteen  or  seventeen  boats,  such  as 
those  by  which  the  Dutch  shii)s  are  towed  in,  and  connected  them  all  together  firmly  by  props 
and  stays.  He  then  waited  for  a  spring  tide,  when  he  came  in  a  Japanese  coasting  vessel, 
which  he  attached  firmly  to  the  stern  of  tlie  sunken  ship,  and  at  the  moment  when  the  tide  was 
highest,  he  set  every  sail  of  every  boat.  The  sunken  vessel  was  lifted,  disengaged  herself  from 
the  rock,  and  was  towed  by  the  fisherman  to  the  strand,  where  she  could  be  unloaded  and 
repaired.  Fraissinet  says  he  was  handsomely  rewarded  for  this.  The  reader  will  be  amused  to 
learn  that  his  reward  consisted  in  being  allowed  to  wear  two  sabres,  (which  is  the  badge  of 
elevated  rank,)  and  to  bear  as  his  coat  of  arms  a  Dutch  hat  and  ttuo  Dutch  tobacco  pipes.  We 
have  never  read  in  any  narrative  of  the  circumstance  that  lie  received  any  money  with  which  to 
support  his  rank.  The  Dutchmen  and  the  American  captain  should  have  furnished  that.  If 
the  circumstances  had  been  changed,  and  either  Hollander  or  Yankee  had  raised  the  vessel  for 
the  Japanese,  it  would  have  been  very  soon  intimated  to  the  natives  that  two  swords  with  a 
picture  of  a  Dutch  hat  and  two  tobacco  pipes  afibrded  very  inadequate  compensation  for  such 
a  valuable  service.  We  think  it  would  scarcely  have  satisfied  the  Japanese  mermaid  maker, 
had  he  been  the  fortunate  fisherman  instead  of  the  modest  Kiyemon. 

Medicine. — All  the  writers  on  Japan  agree  in  the  statement  that  on  the  visit  of  the  Dutch 
president  to  Jeddo,  his  European  jihysician,  who  accompanies  him,  is  always  visited  by  the 
native  physicians,  and  closely  questioned  on  points  purely  professional.  Their  object  is  to  gain 
information.  But  they  already  know  something.  They  have  not,  however,  availed  themselves 
at  all  of  post  mortem  examinations,  either  to  investigate  disease  or  to  study  anatomy.  We 
cannot  suppose  they  are  without  opportunities  of  thus  acquiring  knowledge,  for  we  read  that 
after  a  criminal  is  executed  it  is  not  uncommon  for  his  body  to  be  hacked  in  pieces  by  the  young 
nobility,  that  they  may  try  the  temper  and  edge  of  their  sword  blades.  But  superstition  is  in 
the  way.  To  come  into  contact  with  death  is  deemed  jjollution.  Without  such  examinations,  it 
is  obvious  that  the  knowledge  of  the  physician  and  surgeon  must  be  but  innierfect  at  best. 

There  are,  however,  in  Japan,  original  medical  works  constantly  appearing,  and  translations 
are  also  made  of  all  such  as  they  can  obtain  in  the  Dutch  language,  which  they  best  understand. 
The  European  medical  gentlemen,  who  have  come  in  contact  with  their  professional  brethren  of 
Japan,  report  favorably  of  them  ;  and  Dr.  Siebold  speaks  with  high  prai.se  of  the  zeal  with 
which  the  native  physicians  thronged  around  him,  from  all  parts  of  the  Empire,  seeking  to 
enlarge  the  stores  of  their  knowledge.  He  bears  testimony  also  to  their  intelligence,  as  evinced  by 
the  questions  they  asked.  Acupuncture  and  moxa  burning  are  both  used  in  Japan  and  are  native 
inventions.  They  have  an  original  treatise  on  the  first,  and  the  proper  cases  for  its  use.  Tlieir 
drugs  are  mostly  animal  and  vegetable ;  they  are  too  little  acquainted  with  chemistry  to  venture  upon 
mineral  remedies.  They  study  medical  botany,  however,  with  great  attention,  and  tlieir  remedies 
are  said  to  be  generally  efficacious.  Some  of  their  medicinal  preparations  are  very  remarkable, 
producing  most  singular  eifocts.  Of 'these  there  is  one  spoken  of  by  Titsingh,  who  saw  its 
application  and  its  consequences  ;  and  from  some  of  the  officers  of  our  own  expedition  we  have 
heard  of  this  preparation,  of  which,  we  believe,  they  have  brought  home  specimens.  Titsingh  thus 
writes  :  "Instead  of  enclosing  the  bodies  of  the  dead  in  coffins  of  a  length  and  breadth  proportionate 
to  the  stature  and  bulk  of  the  deceased,  they  place  the  body  in  a  tub,  three  feet  high,  two  feet  and 
a  half  in  diameter  at  tlie  top,  and  two  feet  at  bottom.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  the  body  of 
a  grown  person  can  be  compressed  into  so  small  a  space,  when  the  limbs,  rendered  rigid  by 


INTROPUCTION.  07 

death,  cannot  be  bent  in  any  way.  The  Japanese  to  whom  I  made  this  observation  told  me 
that  they  })roduced  the  result  by  means  of  a  jiarticnlar  jjowder  called  Dosia,  which  tliey  introduce 
into  the  cars,  nostrils,  and  mouth  of  the  deceased,  after  which,  the  limbs,  all  at  once,  acquire 
astonishing  flexibility.  As  they  promised  to  perform  the  experiment  in  my  presence,  I  could 
not  do  otherwise  than  suspend  my  judgment,  lest  I  should  condemn,  as  an  absurd  fiction,  a  fact 
which,  indeed,  surpasses  our  conceptions,  bvit  may  yet  be  susceptible  of  a  plausible  explanation, 
especially  by  galvanism,  the  recently  discovered  effects  of  which  also  appeared  at  first  to  exceed 
the  bounds  of  credulity.  The  experiment  accordingly  took  place  in  the  month  of  October,  1783, 
when  the  cold  was  pretty  severe.  A  young  Dutchman  having  died  in  our  factory  at  Dezima,  I 
directed  the  physician  to  cause  the  body  to  be  wa.shed  and  left  all  night  exposed  to  the  air,  on  a 
table  placed  near  an  open  window,  in  order  that  it  might  become  completely  stiff.  Next 
morning,  several  Japanese,  some  of  the  officers  of  our  factory,  and  myself,  went  to  examine  the 
corpse,  which  was  as  hard  as  a  piece  of  wood.  One  of  the  interpreters,  named  Zenby,  drew  from 
his  bosom  a  santock,  or  pocket-book,  and  took  out  of  it  an  oblong  paper,  filled  with  a  coarse 
powder  resembling  sand.  This  was  the  famous  Dosia  powder.  He  put  a  pinch  into  the  ears, 
another  pinch  into  the  nostrils,  and  a  thirdinto  the  mouth  ;  and  presently,  whether  from  the 
effect  of  this  drug,  or  of  some  trick  which  I  could  not  detect,  the  arms,  which  had  before  been 
crossed  over  the  breast,  droiDped  of  themselves^  and  in  less  than  twenty  minutes  by  the  watch, 
the  body  recovered  all  its  flexibility. 

"I  attributed  this  phenomenon  to  the  action  of  some  subtle  poison,  but  was  assured  that  the 
Dosia  powder,  so  far  from  being  jioisonous,  was  a  most  excellent  medicine  in  child-bearing,  for 
diseases  of  the  eyes,  and  for  other  maladies.  An  infusion  of  this  powder,  taken  even  in  perfect 
health,  is  said  to  have  virtues  which  cause  it  to  be  in  great  request  among  the  Japanese  of  all 
classes.  It  cheers  the  spirits  and  refreshes  the  body.  It  is  carefully  tied  up  in  a  white  cloth 
and  dried,  after  being  used,  as  it  will  serve  a  great  number  of  times  before  losing  its  virtues. 

"  The  same  infusion  is  given  to  people  of  quality  when  at  the  point  of  death  ;  if  it  does  not 
prolong  life,  it  prevents  rigidity  of  the  limbs  ;  and  the  body  is  not  exposed  to  the  rude  handling 
of  professional  persons,  a  circumstance  of  some  consequence  in  a  country  where  respect  for  the 
dead  is  carried  to  excess.  I  had  the  curiosity  to  procure  some  of  this  powder,  for  which  I  was 
obTiged  to  send  to  Kidjo,  or  the  nine  provinces,  to  the  temples  of  the  Sintoos,  which  enjoy  the 
exclusive  sale  of  it,  because  they  practice  the  doctrine  of  Kobou-Daysi,  its  inventor.  The 
quantity  obtained  in  consequence  of  my  first  application  was  very  small,  and  even  this  was  a 
special  favor  of  the  priests,  who  otherwise  never  part  with  more  than  a  single  pinch  at  a  time." 

Titsingh,  however,  obtained  a  considerable  quantity  afterward,  which  he  carried  home  with 
him  in  1784.  It  has  the  appearance  of  sand,  and  when  it  is  fully  perfected  for  use  is  as  white 
as  snow.  It  is  obtained  on  the  mountain  of  Kongosen  or  Kinbensen  in  the  province  of  Yamatto, 
where  there  are  many  mines  of  gold  and  silver.  The  jirocess  by  which  it  is  prepared  is  the 
secret  of  the  priests.  Their  knowledge  is  doubtless  the  result  of  accidental  experience ;  for 
their  acquaintance  with  cliemistry  is  so  slight  that  we  may  safely  conclude  they  do  not  under- 
stand the  rationale  of  its  preparation. 

Astronomy. — In  this  science  they  have  made  very  considerable  proficiency.     They  understand 

the  u.se  of  European  instruments,  and  have  caused  many  of  them  to  be  very  successfully  imitated 

by  native  workmen.     Meylan  says  he  saw  good  telescopes,  chronometers,  tliermometers,  and 

barometers,  made  by  Japanese   mechanics.      They  calculate   eclipses  accurately,  and   yearly 

8  J 


58  INTRODUCTION. 

almanacs  arc  jircparcil  in  the  Jeddo  and  Dairi  colleges.  Lalande's  treatises  and  other  astro- 
nomical \\H)rks  have  been  translated  from  Unteli  into  Japanese,  and  are  studied  with  great 
ardor.  They  have  in  their  division  of  time  a  cycle  of  sixty  years,  calculated  out  of  their  zodiac, 
which,  like  ours,  has  twelve  signs,  ditfering  from  ours  in  their  names  only.  But  this  is  not  the 
place  to  consider  minutely  their  astronomical  system.  We  cannot  leave  it,  liowever,  witliout 
the  remark  that,  on  a  comparison  of  it  with  that  of  the  Muiscas,  an  ancient,  semi-civilized,  and 
now  extinct  race,  that  once  inhabited  the  ])lains  of  Bogota,  in  New  Granada,  the  resemblances 
were  so  striking  that  they  produced  on  our  mind  a  conviction  that  the  astronomical  systems  of 
the  two  people  were  substantially  the  same. 


SECTION   VII. 


LITERATUllE  AND   THE   FINE   ARTS. 

Paper  was  made  by  the  Japanese  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  and 
printing  from  blocks,  after  the  Chinese  fashion,  was  introduced  in  the  year  120fi  of  our  era. 
The  city  of  the  3Iikado  appears  to  be  the  great  metropolis  of  literature  in  Japan.  A  great 
many  books  are  there  made,  and  a  great  many  reside  there  whose  occupation  is  that  of  letters. 
Seminaries  of  learning  of  different  grades  have  existed  in  the  country  ever  since  Europeans 
knew  anything  about  it.  Xavier  says  that  in  his  day  there  were  for;r  "academies"  in  or  near 
Miako,  each  having  between  thr-ee  and  four  thousand  pupils  ;  and  he  adds  tliat  much  larger 
numbers  were  taught  at  an  institution  near  the  city  of  Bandone,  and  that  such  seminaries  were 
universal  throughout  the  Empire.  Beside  the  colleges  or  higher  institutions  at  the  city  of 
Miako,  we  know  of  similar  ones  at  Jeddo,  and  of  one  at  Nagasaki.  How  many  there  may  be  in 
the  Kingdom  we  cannot  say  ;  but  education,  such  as  it  is,  is  by  no  means  neglected  in  Japan. 
There  would  seem  to  be  something  like  a  common  school  system,  for  Meylan  states  that  children 
ofhoth  sexes  and  of  all  ranks  are  invariably  sent  to  rudimentary  schools  ;  whether  stipported 
by  the  State  or  not  he  does  not  say.  Here  the  pujnls  are  all  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  are 
initiated  into  some  knowledge  of  the  history  of  their  own  country.  Thus  mucli  tlie  meanest 
peasant  child  is  expected  to  k'arn.  There  are  immense  numbers  of  cheaj),  easy  liooks  continually 
issuing  from  tlie  Japanese  press,  which  are  designed  for  the  instruction  of  children  or  jioor  people  ; 
80  it  will  be  seen  they  liave  their  "  cheap  literature."  Books  innumerable  of  a  higher  order 
are  provided  for  the  rich,  and  all,  of  both  kinds,  are  profusely  illustrated  with  wood-cuts, 
,  engraved  on  the  same  block  with  the  type.  Some  of  these  books,  whicli  we  liave  examined, 
show  also  that  an  art  but  recently  introduced  in  Europe  and  America  is  very  old  in  Japan,  viz  : 
that  of  printing  in  olors.  So  that  in  our  modern  inventions  of  stereoty])ing  and  printing  in 
colors,  and  in  our  manufacture  of  cheap  literature  for  the  people  generally,  Japan  has  antici- 
pated us  by  centuries.  Their  books  consist  of  works  of  science,  history,  biograpliy,  geograi)hy, 
travels,  moral  philosophy,  natural  history,  poetry,  the  drama,  and  encyclopiudias.  Reading  is 
a  favorite  occui)ation  witli  botli  sexes  ;  and  it  is  said  to  be  connnou  in  Japan  to  see,  when  the 
weather  permits,  a  group  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  seated  by  a  cool  running  stream,  or  in  a 
shady  grove,  each  witli  a  book. 


INTRODUCTION.  59 

Of  the  merits  of  the  Japanese  hooks  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  speak  with  much  confidence. 
Very  few  Europeans  or  Americans  know  anything  of  the  language  ;  it  is  not  the  easiest  of  acqui- 
sition ;  and  yet,  all  we  have  of  the  Japanese  hooks  is  in  translation.  We  doubt  if  any  western 
scholar  has  ever  yet  mastered  it  thoroughly,  for  opportunity  has  been  wanting  ;  and  very  sure 
we  are  that  Klaproth  accuses  Titsingh  of  ignorance,  and  Siebold  and  Hoffman  similarly  accuse 
Klaproth,  while  a  Japanese  at  our  side  informs  us  that  all  are  mistaken.  Now,  without  a 
thorough  understanding  of  the  language,  no  translation  can  convey  a  correct  idea  of  the 
sentiments  expressed,  much  less  of  the  spirit  embodied  in  the  original.  An  ex  cathedi-a  critical 
opinion  on  the  Japanese  literature  is,  therefore,  premature.  Let  us  hope  that,  ere  long,  both 
Europeans  and  Americans  will  master  the  language  completely  ;  and  then  let  them  speak. 

3Ius!c. — The  Japanese  music,  of  which,  by  the  way,  the  natives  are  passionately  fond,  has 
nothing  in  it  to  recommend  it  to  the  ears  of  Europeans  or  Americans.  The  principal  instrument 
is  the  samsic  or  guitar,  and  every  young  female  of  the  upjier  classes  is  taught  to  play  uiion  it. 
It  is  the  invariable  accompaniment  of  ladies  when  they  go  to  parties  ;  and  on  these  occasions  the 
female  guests  sing  and  play  by  turns.  They  have,  besides,  various  other  instruments,  but  little 
can  be  said  in  commendation  of  their  music. 

Arts  of  design,  paintings,  prints,  &e. — In  this  department  they  have  made  some  progress, 
and  in  certain  branches  have  attained  to  no  small  skill.  Of  anatomy,  as  we  have  already  said, 
they  know  nothing,  and  consequently  are  no  sculptors ;  neither  are  they  portrait  painters. 
They  are  ignorant  of  perspective,  and,  therefore,  cannot  paint  a  landscape  ;  but  in  the  rejire- 
sentation  of  a  single  object,  their  accuracy  of  detail  and  truthful  adherence  to  nature  cannot  be 
surpassed.  Their  deficiency  is  in  composition.  Nothing  is  more  beautiful  than  their  delineations 
of  a  flower,  or  a  fruit,  and  especially  of  birds.  The  drawing  is  accurate  and  tlie  coloring  perfect. 
They  make,  too,  colors  which  European  artists  pronounce  to  be  unrivalled  ;  and  some  of  which 
excel  any  we  can  produce.  The  Japanese  are  very  fond  of  painting,  and  are  eager  collectors  of 
pictures.  They  sketch  boldly  with  charcoal  or  ink ;  and  of  an  isnlated  object  the  drawing,  as 
we  have  said,  is  apt  to  be  good.  They  do  not  paint  in  oil  at  all ;  all  their  specimens  are  in 
water  colors,  the  management  of  which  they  certainly  understand  very  well. 

They  have  prints  in  great  abundance  ;  all,  however,  are  made  from  wood  cuts,  and  very  often 
are  printed  in  colors.  Engraving  on  copper  has  but  recently  been  introduced  among  them,  and 
as  it  has  been  adopted  with  great  eagerness,  it  will  probably  be  prosecuted  with  success. 

We  have  already  said  that  they  make  castings  in  metal  of  vases  and  images,  and  the  sides  of 
their  bells  are  adorned  with  bas-reliefs. 

They  cannot  be  said  to  understand  architecture  as  an  art,  though  they  cut  stone  and  lay  it 
skilfully  enough  ;  nor  have  they  any  skill  in  the  work  of  the  lapidary.  The  country  produces 
precious  stones,  but  they  do  not  know  how  to  cut  or  polish  them.  Hence  there  is  very  little 
jewelry  worn  by  either  sex.  But  they  have  a  substitute  for  jewels,  such  as  we  cannot  make. 
Tins  is  called  sijakfdo,  in  which  various  metals  are  so  blended  and  combined  tiiat  they  produce 
an  effect  resembling,  very  much,  fine  enamel.  This  is  used,  instead  of  precious  stones,  ibr 
girdle  clasps,  sword  hilts,  boxes,  and  other  ornamental  work. 


60  INTRODUCTION. 


SECTION   VIII. 

NATURAL    PRODUCTIONS. 

Mineral  wealth. — Ktempfer,  whom  we  believe  to  be  as  accurate  as  auy  writer  ou  Jafian,  remarks 
that,  "the  greatest  riches  of  the  Japanese  soil,  aad  those  in  which  this  Empire  exceeds  most 
known  countries,  consist  in  all  sorts  of  minerals  and  metals,  particularly  ia  gold,  silver,  and 
copper."  The  gold  is  found  in  many  parts  of  the  Empire.  Sometimes  it  is  obtained  from  its 
own  ore,  sometimes  from  the  washings  of  the  earth  or  sand,  and  sometimes  it  is  mixed  with  the 
copper.  The  quantity  in  the  country  is  undoubtedly  great.  An  old  Spanish  writer  of  the 
seventeenth  century  tells  us  that,  in  his  day,  the  palace  of  the  Emperor  at  Jeddo,  as  well  as 
many  houses  of  the  nobility,  were  literally  covered  with  plates  of  gold.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  Dutch  trade,  the  annual  export  was  £840,000  sterling  ;  and  in  the  course  of  sixty  years 
the  amount  sent  out  of  the  Kingdom,  through  the  Dutch  alone,  was  from  twcnty-iive  to  fifty 
millions  sterling. 

Silver  mines  are  quite  as  numerous  as  those  of  gold.  In  one  year,  the  Portuguese,  while  they 
had  the  trade,  exported  in  silver,  £587,500  sterling. 

Copper  abounds  through  the  whole  Jai)anese  group,  and  some  of  it  is  said  to  be  not  surpassed 
by  any  in  the  world.  The  natives  refine  it  and  cast  it  into  cylinders  about  a  foot  long  and  an 
inch  thick.     The  coarser  kinds  they  cast  into  round  lumps  or  cakes. 

QuicJcsilver  is  said  to  be  abundant,  but  this,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  never  been  an  article  of 
export. 

Lead,  also,  is  found  to  be  plentiful,  but,  like  quicksilver,  it  has  not  been  sent  out  of  the 
Kingdom. 

Tin  has  also  been  discovered  in  small  quantities,  and  of  a  quality  so  fine  and  white  that  it 
almost  equals  silver  ;  but  of  the  extent  of  this  mineral  little  is  known,  as  the  Japanese  do  not 
attach  much  value  to  it,  and  therefore  have  not  sought  for  it. 

Ij-on  is  found  in  three  of  the  provinces,  and  probably  exists  in  others.  The  Japanese  know 
how  to  reduce  the  ore,  and  the  metal  they  obtain  is  of  superior  quality,  of  whicli  they  make 
steel  unsurpassed  in  excellency. 

Coal. — "They  have  no  want  of  coals  in  Japan,"  says  Ka^mpfer,  "they  being  dug  uj)  in  great 
quantities  in  the  province  of  Sikusen  and  in  most  of  the  northern  provinces."  Dr.  Siebold  also 
speaks  of  coal  as  being  in  common  use  throughout  the  country ;  and  on  visiting  one  of  the  mines 
he  saw  enough  to  convince  him  that  it  was  skillfully  worked.  For  domestic  purposes  tliey 
convert  the  coal  into  coke.  Viewed  in  the  light  of  commercial  intercourse  between  the  two 
hemispheres,  this  coal  is  worth  more  than  all  the  metallic  deposits  we  have  enumerated. 

Native  sulphur. — In  a  region  so  volcanic,  this  is,  as  might  be  expected,  an  abundant  mineral. 
In  some  places  it  lies  in  broad  deep  beds,  and  juay  be  dug  U])  and  removed  witli  as  niucli  ease  as 
sand.     A  considerable  revenue  is  derived  by  the  government  fimn  siiliilmr. 

P7-eciou.<i. stones. — No  diamonds  have  been  found,  but  agates,  earnelians,  and  jaspers  are  met  with, 
some  of  them  of  great  beauty.  But  tlie  wealth  of  tlie  kingdom  in  precious  stones  is  imperfectly 
known,  as  the  Japanese  are  not  lapidaries. 


INTRODUCTION.  61 

Pearls. — These  are  fislicil  up  on  nearly  all  jiarts  of  the  cwast,  and  are  frequently  laro'e  and 
beautiful.  The  Chinese  taught  the  natives  their  value,  hy  olfering-  them  verv  high  prices  for 
the  tinest  qualities. 

Mother  of  pearl,  corals,  ambergris  and  najjtha  are  also  to  be  enumerated  amono-  the  articles 
of  exjjort. 

Forest  and  fruit  trees. — The  most  common  forest  trees  are  the  fir  and  tlie  cyjiress ;  and  so 
sensible  are  the  Japanese  of  the  necessity  of  preserving  their  timber  trees,  that  neither  of  those 
above  named  can  be  cut  but  by  jjermission  of  the  local  magistrate ;  and  the  law  requires  that  for 
every  full  grown  tree  that  is  felled  a  young  one  must  be  planted.  The  cedar  grows  to  an 
immense  size ;  sometimes  more  than  eighteen  feet  in  circumference.  An  English  ship  at  Nao-asaki 
witliin  a  recent  period,  wanted  some  small  spars ;  they  were  furnished ;  all  were  cedar,  about 
ninety-six  feet  long.     This  tree  wovdd,  no  doubt,  prove  a  very  valuable  article  of  export. 

There  are  two  varieties  of  oak,  both  good  and  both  diiferent  from  the  oaks  of  Europe.  The 
acorns  of  one  kind  are  boiled  and  eaten  for  food,  and  are  said  to  be  both  palatable  and  nutritious. 

The  mulberry  grows  wild  in  great  abundance ;  but  it  is  so  useful  that  the  people  tranisplant 
and  cultivate  it.     Of  the  varnish  tree  we  have  already  sjjoken. 

The  camphor  tree  is  valuable  and  lives  to  a  great  age.  Siebold  visited  one  which  Charlevoix 
had  described  as  having  been  seen  by  him  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  years  before.  It  was 
healthy  and  covered  with  foliage,  with  a  circumference  of  fifty  feet.  The  country  people  make 
the  camphor  by  a  decoction  of  the  root  and  .stems  cut  into  small  pieces. 

The  chestnut  and  walnut  are  both  found,  and  the  former  yields  excellent  fruit.  There  is  also 
the  pepper  tree,  or  a  tree  which  bears  a  species  of  pepper. 

Of  fruit  trees,  there  are  the  orange,  the  lemon,  the  fig,  the  plum,  the  cherry,  and  the  apricot. 
The  plum  and  cherry,  however,  are  not  cultivated  as  much  for  their  fruit  as  for  their  flowers. 
The  vine  is  very  little  cultivated :  and  of  the  tea  plant  we  have  already  spoken. 

Having  thus  endeavored  to  furnish  the  reader  with  a  condensed  view  of  the  leadino"  features 
that  characterize  the  past  progress  and  present  condition  of  Japan,  we  would  at  once  proceed  to 
the  narrative  of  the  expedition ;  but  there  is  a  duty  which  we  owe  to  our  country  and  which 
we  will  now  endeavor  to  perform. 

Of  certain  events  which  have  trans})ired  since  the  successful  expedition  imder  Commodore 
Perry,  or  occurred  during  its  progress,  it  is  due  to  the  claims  of  truth  that  something  should  be 
said.  It  had  been  more  gratifying  to  us  to  be  silent  on  the  topics  to  which  we  are  about  to 
allude  ;  but  official  publications  by  other  nations,  as  well  as  by  some  individuals,  have  been  put 
forth,  the  obvious  purpose  of  which  is  to  deprive  our  country  and  her  officers  of  whatever  merit 
may  attach  to  the  fact  that  the  United  States  were  the  first,  by  peaceful  negotiations,  to  cause  an 
alteration  in  the  policy  of  excluding  foreigners  hitherto  pursued  by  Japan. 

On  the  24th  of  November,  1852,  Commodore  Perry  left  our  shores  on  his  mission  to  Japan. 
That  such  a  mission  had  been  resolved  on  by  our  government  was  announced  to  the  world  some 
twelve  months  before  the  time  of  its  leaving,  and  had  formed  tlie  subject  of  comment  in  more  than 
one  country  of  Europe.  The  general  opinion  abroad  was  that  the  mission  would,  like  the  many 
others  that  had  been  attempted  by  various  powers,  prove  fruitless.  Dr.  Von  Siebold,  in  par- 
ticular, whose  long  residence  in  Japan  was  supposed  to  give  great  importance  to  his  opinions, 
thus  wrote  to  a  friend  concerning  it :  "  My  mind  accompanies  the  cxj)cdition.  That  it  will  be 
successful  by  peaceful  means  I  doubt  very  much.     If /could  only  inspire  Commodore  Perry,  he 


62  INTRODUCTION. 

M^ould  triimiph,"  &e.     The  progress  of  the  expedition  was,  of  course,  watched  hy  foreign  powers 
with  great  interest. 

Commodore  Perry  cast  anchor  in  the  bay  of  Jeddo,  the  commercial  capital  of  Jajjan,  on  the 
8th  of  July,  1853.  On  the  22d  of  August,  1853,  a  Kussian  squadron,  under  the  command  of 
Admiral  Pontiatine,  anchored  in  tlie  hay  of  Nagasaki.  We  know  not  precisely  of  what  vessels 
this  expedition  was  composed  ;  hut  we  believe  that,  beside  the  frigate  Pallas  and  the  steamer 
Vosfoch,  the  Aurora,  of  48  guns,  and  the  corvette  Navarino,  of  22,  were  sent,  the  one  to  the 
Pacific,  and  tlie  other  ostensibly  to  Kamtschatka,  while  it  is  quite  certain  that  not  long  after  a 
Russian  squadron  of  several  vessels-of-war  was  at  Copenhagen,  the  officers  of  which  said  that 
they  were  destined  to  remain  five  years  in  the  waters  of  the  Japanese  archipelago.  An  imusually 
large  Eussian  naval  force  was  therefore  collected  in  the  Pacific,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Japan,  to 
be  there  on  the  expected  visit  of  Commodore  Perry.  There  were  not  wanting  those  who  sus- 
pected that  Russia  was  silently  pursuing  her  own  system  of  policy.  If  Commodore  Perry  unfor- 
tunately should  fail  in  his  peaceful  attempts,  and  be  brought  into  forcible  collision  with  the 
Japanese,  Russia  was  on  the  spot,  not  to  mediate,  but  to  tender  to  Japan  her  aid  as  an  ally  in 
the  conflict,  and  if  successful,  to  avail  herself  of  the  moment  of  confidence  quietly  to  get  a  foot- 
hold in  some  part  of  the  Kingdom,  with  the  intention,  at  the  proper  time,  of  absorbing  all. 
There  is  no  power  in  the  other  hemisphere  to  which  the  possession  of  Japan,  or  the  control  of  its 
affairs,  is  as  important  as  it  is  to  Russia.  She  is  on  one  side  of  the  islands,  the  United  States 
on  the  other.  The  Pacific  ocean  is  destined  to  be  the  theatre  of  immense  commercial  under- 
takings. Russia  is,  in  a  great  degree,  .shut  out  b}'  local  jjosition  from  easy  access  to  the  Atlantic  ; 
but  with  such  harbors  on  the  Pacific  as  Japan  would  give  her,  she  might  hope  to  become  the 
controlling  maritime  power  of  the  world.  Our  friendly  relations  and  influence  with  the  Japanese, 
therefore,  might  interfere  materially  with  the  ulterior  plans  of  Russia.  Hence  she  was  first 
in  the  field  to  watch  all  our  movements.  Thus,  we  say,  some  interpreted  her  conduct.  We  do 
not  mean  to  say  that  they  interpreted  it  correctly,  or  that  such  was  the  policy  Russia  had  resolved 
on.  But  i\\efact  is,  as  we  have  stated,  that  simultaneously  with  our  expedition  she  did  largely 
increase  her  naval  armament  in  the  waters  of  Japan.  Commodore  Perry  was  at  some  loss  to 
understand  precisely  the  policy  of  Russia.  In  a  letter  of  November  12th,  1853,  the  Russian 
admiral  made  a  distinct  proposition  of  joining  his  forces  to,  and  entering  into  full  co-operation 
with,  the  American  squadron.  This  may  have  been  promj^ted  by  an  expectation  of  our  success 
and  a  doubt  of  liis  own.  At  any  rate,  the  Commodore  civilly,  but  decidedly,  declined  the 
proposal,  and,  in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  assigned  most  satisfactory  reasons 
for  so  doing.  He  stated  that  it  was  "inconsistent  with  our  policy  of  abstaining  from  all 
alliances  with  foreign  powers ;  and  for  the  reason,  also,  that  his  co-operation  cannot  advance 
the  interest  of  the  United  States,  however  it  might  benefit  the  objects  of  tlie  Russian  Emperor, 
of  the  nature  of  whose  designs  I  (says  the  Commodore)  am  utterly  ignorant."  But  whatever 
were  her  secret  purposes  to  promote  her  own,  or  throw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  our  success, 
if  slie  had  any,  one  thing  is  certain,  for  that  success  we  are  not  indebted  in  the  sli(/htest  degree 
to  Russia,  hy  any  direct  act  of  hers  to  that  end.  Indirectly,  however,  she  may  ha\'e  fiuthered 
the  object.  We  are  in  possession  of  very  recent  information  from  Japan  tending  to  show  that 
the  ini]ierial  government  seems  to  be  distrustful  of  the  purposes  of  Russia.  The  movements 
of  that  nation  on  tlie  Amour  river  have  been  viewed  with  so  much  appreliension  that  the  Emperor 
some  time  ago  disijatched  a  special  agent  to  discover,  if  possible,  their  ulterior  purposes.     The 


INTRODUCTION.  03 

Japanese  have  resolved  tlmt  tlioy  will  raise  an  offieieut  army,  and  equip  a  navy,  not  composed 
of  junks,  but  of  vessels  built  after  the  European  model.  The  restrictions  on  sliip-building  have 
been  removed,  and  already,  since  our  treaty  was  sioned,  one  vessel  fur  commercial  purposes  has 
been  built  and  rigged  like  ours.  The  Jai)aucse  have  lieard,  too,  of  the  war  in  which  Eussia  is 
at  present  engaged.  The  information  produced  intense  excitement,  and  it  was  resolved  by  the 
imperial  council  that  treaties  similar  to  that  made  with  the  United  States  should  be  made  with 
all  nations  seeking  tliem.  This  opens  Japan  to  the  trade  of  the  tvorld.  They  knew,  too,  that 
the  British  Admiral  iStirling  was  seeking  the  Eussian  vessels  in  the  neighborhood  of  Japan,  and 
they  were  hence  the  more  willing  to  make  treaties  with  all,  as  the  means  of  securing  Japan  from 
aggression  by  any,  and  of  enabling  her  to  preserve,  as  she  wishes,  a  strict  neutrality. 

The  visit  of  Eussia,  however,  led  to  no  treaty.  The  squadron  left  Nagasaki  on  the  23d  of 
Kovember,  18.53,  and  returned  to  it  early  in  1854.  It  left  again,  after  several  fruitless  interviews 
with  the  Japanese  authorities,  on  the  5th  of  February,  and  was  absent  until  the  20th  of  April, 
when  it  reappeared  at  Nagasaki,  but  remained  until  the  26th  only,  when  it  took  its  final  departure. 

But  other  foreign  powers  have  contributed  as  little  to  the  success  of  our  negotiations  as  Eussia 
has.  On  the  Tth  of  September,  185-1,  Admiral  Stirling,  in  command  of  the  Engli.sh  squadron, 
arrived  at  Nagasaki,  one  purpose  of  his  visit  being  to  make  a  treaty,  in  which  he  succeeded. 
But  the  English  never  jiretended  that  they  facilitated  our  negotiations ;  they  may  possibly  have 
indirectly  derived  some  benefit  from  our  success  ;  but  we  will  not  undertake  to  assert  that  they 
did.  We  think  that  they  are  more  indebted  to  the  Japanese  apprehension  of  Eussia's  designs, 
and  to  the  fact  of  the  war  in  wliich  she  is  now  engaged,  than  to  anything  else.  We  may, 
indeed,  by  having  induced  the  first  departure  from  the  long  established  rule  to  exclude  all 
foreigners  but  the  Dutch  and  Chinese,  have  made  it  more  easy  to  commence  negotiation,  but  our 
aid  goes  not  beyond  this  accidental  assistance.  Of  the  precise  terms  of  the  English  treaty  it  is 
not  here  necessary  to  speak.  One  of  the  officers  of  Admiral  Stirling  thus  speaks  of  it  in  a  public 
communication  through  the  English  new'spapers :  "  The  treaty  now  made  with  Japan  contains 
nothing  about  commerce,  yet  it  opens  the  way  and  prepares  for  future  negotiation  on  this 
important  point."  "It  is  highly  probable  that  what  has  been  done  by  Sir  James  Stirling 
at  Nagasaki  may  exceed  in  durability  and  value  the  work  done  at  Yeddo  by  tlie  Americans, 
although  that  cost  a  special  mission,  and  was  heralded  to  the  world  with  a  very  loud  flourish  of 
trumpets  indeed."' 

To  this  pert  outbreak  of  transparent  envy,  we  have  only  to  say  we  earnestly  hope  that  when  a 
treaty  is  made  which  does  say  something  ''about  commerce,"  it  may  prove  botli  durable  and 
valuable  to  England ;  and  to  add  that  we  .should  be  sorry  to  think  such  flijipant  impertinence  as 
is  here  exhibited  is  a  common  characteristic  of  British  naval  officers.  From  the  brave  we  look 
for  "high  thoughts  seated  in  a  heart  of  courtesy."* 

But  the  Dutch  have  claimed,  and  that  by  an  official  document,  that  the}',  in  effect,  did  most 
of  our  work  for  us.  It  is  strange  that  a  nation  of  which  all  Christendom  has,  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years,  supposed  that  it  has  sought  uniformly  to  secure  to  itself  a  mono])oly  in  the  trade 
of  Japan,  should  venture,  when  their  monopoly  is  destroyed,  to  stand  forth  and  say,  in 
substance,  that  they  always  lamented  its  existence  and  labored  for  its  demolition.  Has  Christ- 
endom been  so  long  deceived?  We  fear  the  world  will  ask  embarrassing  questions.  It  will 
say:  "Did  not  the  Dutch  do  what  they  could  to  drive  out  the  Portuguese?     Did  not  they  assist 

•Since  tlie  above  was  wriUen,  intelligence  has  been  received  of  a  commercial  treaty  between  England  and  Japan. 


64  INTRODUCTION. 

in  the  1)oml)arilmcnt  at  Simabara,  and  contribute  to  tlie  cxtirjiation  of  tlie  native  f'liristians.  who 
were  supposed  to  sympathize  witli  the  Portuguese?  Did  tliey  not  manifest  hostility  toward 
their  Protestant  neighbors  of  the  English  factory  at  Firando,  established  by  Saris  and  conducted 
by  Codecs,  until  the  Englisli  left?  When,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II,  the  English  sought  to 
renew  the  trade  with  Japan,  was  it  not  the  Dutch  who  hastened  to  inform  the  imperial 
government  that  the  wife  of  Charles  was  the  daugliter  of  the  King  of  Portugal,  thus  arraying 
the  deep-seated  and  ancient  Japanese  hatred  of  the  Portuguese  against  the  English?  Wlien 
the  'Phfeton,'  under  Pellew,  visited  Nagasaki,  in  1808,  was  it  not  M.  Doeff,  the  Dutch  chief 
at  Dezima,  who  devised  and  counselled  the  plan  whereby  the  English  were  to  have  been 
murdered  to  a  man?  When  Java  was  in  possession  of  the  English,  and  Holland,  for  a  time, 
had  been  blotted  from  the  list  of  nations,  was  it  not  the  same  M.  Doetf,  who,  to  the  craft  of  the 
trader  added  the  cunning  of  the  diplomatist,  and,  by  treachery  to  the  Japanese  in  the  bribery  of 
their  officials,  contrived,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  to  pay  the  debts  of  Dezima  and  enrich 
himself  personally,  out  of  the  two  expeditions  sent  by  Sir  Stamford  Eaffles?" 

And  notv,  when  the  United  States  have,  without  seeing  a  Dutchman,  or  using  a  Dutch 
document,  successfully  negotiated  a  treaty,  Holland  stands  forth,  and  by  a  formal  official  report 
from  her  minister  of  colonies,  declares  that  she  will  now  "perform  the  agreeable  task  of  showing 
the  persevering  and  disinterested  efforts  which  the  Dutch  government  has  made"  to  cause  Japan 
to  open  her  ports  to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States.  A  brief  notice  of  this  extraordinary 
document  is  called  for  by  a  regard  to  the  truth  of  history. 

The  statement  of  the  Dutch  "minister  of  colonies,"  when  condensed,  is  substantially  this: 
That  in  the  year  1844,  about  the  time  of  Commodore  Biddle's  visit  to  Japan,  the  then  King  of 
Holland,  William  II,  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  in  which  attention  was  called  to 
the  introduction  of  steam  in  navigation,  the  consequent  increased  development  of  commerce  in 
the  Japanese  seas,  and  the  danger  likely  to  result  to  Japan  from  her  rigid  system  of  excluding 
foreigners  from  the  Kingdom.  It  recommended  friendly  and  commercial  relations  as  the  surest 
means  of  avoiding  collisions  ;  and  finally,  from  a  grateful  sense  of  the  long  continued  favor 
shown  to  the  Dutch  by  the  Japanese,  it  tendered  to  the  latter  tlie  "  disinterested  counsel  to 
relax  the  laws  against  foreigners,"  and  offered  to  send  an  envoy  to  give  fuller  ex])lanations  to 
Japan  of  what  she  should  do,  provided  the  Emperor  desired  it.  This  letter,  the  Dutch 
document  states,  contains  the  principles  which  have  formed  the  basis  of  all  Holland's  subsequent 
action,  so  far  as  other  powers  are  concerned. 

In  184.5,  the  Emperor  caused  an  answer  to  be  sent  to  the  letter,  in  which  it  was  politely,  but 
very  decidedly,  announced  that  Japan  had  no  wish  to  alter  her  ancient  laws  with  respect  to 
foreigners. 

With  this  tlie  Dutcli  remained  content ;  and,  so  far  from  pressing  the  subject  in  any  way,  in 
1846  they  became  the  medium  of  announcing  to  the  civilized  world  an  edict  of  Japan  forbidding 
foreigners  to  make  charts  and  drawings  of  the  Japanese  waters  and  coasts,  and  forbidding  ship- 
wrecked Japanese  sailors  to  return  to  their  country  in  any  ships  but  those  of  the  Netherlands  and 
China. 

Presently,  when,  in  18.")2,  it  became  certain  that  an  exi)edition  was  to  be  sent  from  the  United 
States,  under  Commodore  Perry,  the  Dutch  forthwith  sent  out  orders  to  their  governor  general 
in  the  Indies  to  address  the  governor  of  Nagasaki,  requesting  that  he  would  a])point  a  confi- 
dential agent  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  the  Dutch  chief  at  Dezima,  "about  the  means  that 


INTRODUCTION.  05 

the  latter  sliould  indicate  in  order  to  preserve  Japan  agmnst  the  dangers  thai  threatened  her." 
And  at  the  end  of  the  governor  general's  letter  was  an  intimation  to  the  Nagasaki  autliorities 
that  the  Duteh  might  he  forced  to  abandon  Japan  entirely  if  hostile  collisions  with  other  nations 
should  be  the  result  of  perseverance  in  her  system  of  exclusion.  This,  it  is  claimed,  was  a 
renewal  of  the  efibrt  to  open  Japan  on  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  letter  of  William  II.  in 
1844.  From  1844  to  1852  the  Dutch  made  no  effort  at  all,  on  the  ground,  as  the  document 
alleges,  that  it  was  expedient  to  wait  a  more  favorable  opportunity. 

In  1852,  the  Dezima  chief  was  furnished,  by  the  governor  general,  with  instructions  to  urge 
upon  the  Japanese  government  a  change  in  its  policy  of  exclusion,  not  particularly  with  reference 
to  the  Americans,  but  in  favor  of  aU  nations  who  hitherto  had  lived  in  peace  with  Japan.  At  the 
same  tiruje  powers  to  negotiate  with  Japan  were  sent  to  the  Dezima  chief,  and  the  draft  of  a 
treaty  was  furnished  him  by  his  government.  He  was  also  ordered  to  conform  to  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  governor  general  and  the  draft  of  the  treaty,  if  he  should  be  consulted  "in  the 
Japanese  American  affairs."     The  draft  of  the  treaty  was  substantially  this  : 

Article  I.  The  relations  now  existing  between  Jajjan  and  the  Netherlands  to  be  confirmed. 

Article  II.  The  port  of  Nagasaki  to  be  opened  to  other  nations  beside  the  Dutch  for  the 
following  purposes,  viz :  to  procure  provisions  and  navy  stores  ;  to  repair  vessels  ;  and  to  take 
care  of  sick  seamen. 

Article  III.  Other  nations  beside  the  Dutch  may  "even  be  admitted  to  trade  :"  provided  they 
conclude  a  treaty  ivifh  Japan  on  the  bases  expressed  in  the  next  article. 

Article  IV.   (a)  Trade  to  be  limited  to  the  port  of  Nagasaki. 

(b)  Every  nation  admitted  to  trade  to  have  its  own  consul. 

(c)  Japanese  government  to  indicate  to  foreign  merchants  a  quarter  in  Nagasaki  for  their 
residence. 

(d)  Trade  to  be  carried  on  with  the  privileged  Japanese  merchants  of  the  five  imperial  cities, 
Teddo,  Miako,  Ohosaka,  Sahai,  and  Nagasaki,  and  placed  under  the  care  of  the  governor  of 
Nagasaki. 

(e)  Agents  of  the  Japanese  princes  allowed  to  buy  foreign  wares,  and  to  pay  for  them  with 
the  products  of  their  principalities. 

(/)  Japanese  government  to  make  regulations  as  to  the  manner  of  carrying  on  traffic  ;  such 
regulations  to  be  enforced  by  the  police  of  Nagasaki. 

(g)  Japanese  government  to  issue  notes,  payable  at  the  imperial  treasury,  to  facilitate  trade 
with  foreigners. 

(/()  Foreign  traders  allowed  to  pay  out  and  receive  the  Japanese  copper  coin,  in  the  matter  of 
daily  household  expenses. 

(i)  Right  reserved  to  the  Japanese  government  of  imposing  a  moderate  tariff  of  duties  on 
foreign  importations. 

(j)  All  differences  arising  in  trade  to  be  settled  by  the  consul  of  the  foreign  trader  and  the 
governor  of  Nagasaki,  or  his  proxy. 

(k)  Crimes  committed  by  a  foreigner  to  be  tried  and  punished  by  the  nation  to  which  the 
criminal  belongs. 

{f)  The  Japanese  government  to  indicate  two  places  where  the  foreign  nations,  admitted  to 
trade,  may  establish  depots  for  coal.     One  shall  be  in  the  bay  of  "Good  Hope,"  in  Jesso,  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  Empire  ;  and  the  other  in  the  southern  part,  on  one  of  the  islands 
of  the  Linechop  archipelago. 
9  J 


66  INTRODUCTION. 

Article  V.  The  sUpuIations  above  mentioned  shall  he  submitted  to  every  foreign  power  that 
desires  to  make  a  treaty  uith  Jajmn,  and  shall  form  the  bases  of  such  treaty. 

Article  VI.  In  case  treaties  are  made  witli  foreign  powers  on  the  foregoing  bases,  the  Dutch 
shall  have  all  the  privileges  granted  to  the  most  favored  nation. 

This  draft  was  accompanied  by  a  document  from  his  Majesty  the  King  of  the  Netherlands, 
entitled  "Exjilanatory  note  to  the  draft  of  tlie  treaty  to  be  concluded  between  his  Majesty  the 
King  of  the  Netherlands  and  his  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan." 

This  commences  with  the  declaration  that  "  his  Majesty  appreciates  the  difficulties  which 
exist  in  the  Japanese  institutions,  in  satisfying  the  demands  of  foreign  powers  for  entering  into 
commercial  negotiations  with  that  Empire,  and  foresees  the  dangers  to  which  Japan  is  inevitably 
exposed,  if  the  government  of  that  Empire  does  not  listen  to  reasonable  demands  of  tliat  kind." 
It  then  iH'oceeds  to  state  that  "his  Majesty,  by  the  communications  of  his  subjects,  who  have 
long  navigated  to  Japan,  and  are  well  acquainted  with  the  aftairs  of  that  Empire,  esteems 
himself,  indeed,  better  able  than  any  other  prince  to  make  propositions  to  the  sovereign  of  that 
Empire,  in  order  to  mitigate  the  severe  laws,  against  foreigners."  "Therefore,  the  King  has 
taken  the  resolution  to  cause  to  be  drawn  up  and  presented  a  treaty  between  their  Majesties  the 
King  of  the  Netherlands  and  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  in  which,  in  respecting  the  laws  and  the  ancient 
customs  of  the  Empire  of  Japan,  is  indicated  the  way,  by  means  of  which,  for  the  future,  may 
be  maintained,  not  only  friendly  commercial  relations  with  the  subjects  of  his  Majesty  the  King 
of  the  Netherlands,  but  also  with  those  maritime  nations  who  desire  commerce  with  Japan,  or 
who,  having  peaceful  purposes,  are  thrown  by  accident  on  the  coasts  of  the  Emjiire."  "For 
the  elucidation  of  a  treaty  drawn  up  in  that  spirit,  his  Majesty  causes  the  following  lines  to  be 
written. ' '  Then  follows  a  separate  comment  on  each  of  the  articles  of  the  treaty,  and  particu- 
larly on  each  of  the  bases  enumerated  under  Art.  IV,  recommending  and  enforcing  them  all. 

These  documents  were  all  prepared  and  i^laced  in  the  hands  of  the  Dutch  officials  as  soon  as 
possible  after  the  government  of  the  Netherlands  became  certain  that  an  expedition  would  sail 
from  the  United  States,  and  some  months  before  Commodore  Perry  left  our  shores. 

In  anticipation  of  the  contemj^lated  enterprize,  the  government  of  the  United  States,  in  July, 
1852,  (at  which  time  the  Dutch  draft  of  a  treaty  had  been  sent  out  on  its  way  to  Dezima,) 
applied  respectfully  to  the  government  of  the  Netherlands,  announcing  officially  that  the 
American  squadron  would  be  sent,  that  its  visit  was  meant  to  be  friendly,  and  Ibat  its  object 
was,  if  possible,  to  obtain  from  Japan  some  mitigation  of  her  system  of  exclusion ;  it  asked, 
also,  that  instructions  might  be  given  to  the  Dezima  chief  to  afford,  if  it  should  be  desired  by  us, 
his  official  co-operation  in  furthering  the  accomj)lishment  of  our  object.  This  request  was 
answered  by  a  promise  that  such  instructions  should  be  given  ;  and,  by  request,  copies  were 
furnished  to  the  United  States  of  the  letter  of  William  U,  of  1844,  and  of  the  Emperor's  answer 
to  it  of  1845  ;  but  of  tlie  draft  of  a  Dutch  treaty  tlien  on  its  way  to  Japan,  or  of  any 
accompanying  instructions  to  the  Dutch  officials  in  the  east,  the  United  States,  of  course, 
heard  and  knew  nothing. 

Thus  affairs  stood  when  our  squadron  sailed  on  the  24tli  of  November,  1852.  Long  before  it 
arrived  in  the  Japanese  waters,  the  Dutch  chief  at  Dezima  had  been  endeavoring  to  carry  out 
his  instructions,  and  negotiate  ivith  the  Japanese  the  treaty  of  ichich  the  draft  had  been  sent  to  him. 
But  the  autlKjrities  of  Japan  persisted  in  their  refusal  to  appoint  a  person  of  consideration  as 
their  confidential  agent  to  negotiate  any  treaty  at  all.  In  this  state  of  affairs,  the  Dezima  chief, 
"  rightly  resolving  not  to  sacrifice  the  business  to  a  mere  matter  of  form,"  as  the  Dutch  document 


INTRODUCTION.  67 

expresses  it,  at  once  addressed  the  governor  of  Nagasaki,  ami  attempted  to  open  a  negotiation 
with  him.  He  laid  before  him  the  several  items  in  the  draft  of  the  treaty  with  which  he  had 
been  furnished,  accompanying  them  with  explanations,  and  set  forth  what  he  deemed  the  prin- 
ciples which  were  for  the  Japanese  interest,  and  which  should  predominate  in  the  negofiafions 
which  he  thought  might  result  from  the  anticipated  propositions  of  the  United  States ;  for  botli  he 
and  the  Japanese  knew  that  our  squadron  was  on  its  way.  He  concluded  his  letter  as  follows  : 
"  His  Majesty,  the  King  of  the  Netlierlands,  expects  tliat  the  peace  of  the  Japanese  Empire  can 
be  preserved,  if  the  government  of  Japan  will  answer  the  propositions  of  the  United  States  in 
the  manner  indicated;"  that  is,  on  the  bases  set  forth  in  the  Dutch  draft  of  a  treaty.  But 
the  Japanese  treated  this  attempt  as  they  had  all  the  previous  ones  from  tlie  Dezima  chief;  and 
its  only  effect  was  to  quicken  their  native  shrewdness,  and  jirompt  to  more  ninuerous  demands 
for  explanation,  and  more  thorough  investigations  into  the  subject. 

At  length,  in  June,  18.53,  the  American  squadron,  purposely  avoiding  Nagasaki,  made  its 
appearance  in  the  bay  of  Jeddo,  and  thus  was  in  Japan  before  the  Dutch  were  able  to  anticipate 
the  American  commissioner  in  making  a  treaty.  The  American  squadron  never  was  at  Nagasaki, 
and  our  representative  never  had  the  least  commuuication  with  the  Dutch  chief  at  Dezima. 

The  Russian  squadron  soon  after  entered  the  port  of  Nagasaki,  and  the  result  of  that  visit 
has  already  been  stated.     Eussia  made  no  treaty  with  Ji^pan. 

Commodore  Perry  signed  the  treaty  with  Japan  on  the  last  day  of  March,  1854;  and  the 
Dutch  government  dispatched  their  war  steamer  Soemhing  from  Batavia  for  Japan  on  the  25th 
of  July,  1854.  This  was  deemed  a  measure  of  expediency,  as  the  sight  of  the  American  and 
Russian  steamers  had  excited  the  liveliest  interest  in  the  Japanese.  The  Soemhing,  during  her 
stay,  was  visited  by  men  of  the  highest  rank,  and,  in  lact,  was  made  a  school  of  instruction  for 
a  large  number  of  Japanese.  Finally,  the  English  squadron,  imder  Admiral  Stirling,  came  in 
on  the  7th  of  Sei^tember,  1854,  and  deepened  the  impression  which  had  been  made  in  Japan  by 
the  spectacle  of  so  many  armed  ships  of  different  nations. 

The  document  before  us  concludes  by  claiming  great  merit  for  the  Dutch,  in  having  opened 
Japan  to  the  world.  It  thus  speaks :  "  The  Netherlands  have  understood  their  mission  when,  in 
consequence  of  the  course  of  events,  they  placed  themselves  at  the  head  to  operate,  in  the  interest 
of  all,  a  mitigation  of  the  system  of  exclusion  that  existed  relative  to  foreign  nations  in  Japan. 
The  letter  of  his  Majesty,  the  late  William  II,  is  thereof  an  irrefragable  proof."  "  The  United  ' 
States  of  North  America  have  obtained,  by  treaty,  the  opening  to  their  flag  of  two  ports  in  the 
Japanese  Empire  ;  and  one  other  power  seems  to  have  succeeded  in  a  similar  manner.  In  the 
face  of  such  results,  we  cannot  deny  or  undervalue  the  impression  and  effect  produced  by  the 
presence  of  powerful  fleets,  or  the  influence  exerted  by  the  simultaneous  and  serious  attempts  of 
different  nations.  But  we  wish  to  see  acknowledged  the  part  that  the  Netherlands  had  in  it  by 
their  advice  and  persuasion.  Indeed,  these  fleets  realized  the  predictions  of  your  Majesty's  royal 
father,  and  served  to  procure  a  more  ready  acceptance  of  his  disinterested  advice.  The  draft 
of  a  treaty  of  1852 — the  letter  of  the  chief  at  Dezima  of  the  2d  of  November,  1852 — the  com- 
munication of  the  governor  of  Nagasaki  of  the  9th  of  November,  1853 — finally,  the  comparing 
of  the  said  draft  of  a  treaty  with  the  convention  concluded  by  the  United  States — all  this 
presents  the  undeniable  fact,  that  the  measures  taken,  in  consequence  of  your  Majesty's  orders, 
have  powerfully  contrilnited  to  the  results  obtained  by  other  nations." 

"In  fact,  tlie  Netherlands  have  always  desired  an  opening  of  Japanese  ports,  in  the  general 
interest,  and  in  favor  of  commerce.     Attached  disinterestedly  to  that  policy,  the  Netherlands 


68  INTRODUCTION. 

have  souglit  no  privileges  for  themselves  in  Japan ;  but  they  have,  in  equity,  desired  and  obtained 
treatment  similar  to  that  of  others,  when  to  these  favors  were  granted." 

These  are  the  facts  as  set  forth  hy  the  Dutch,  and  this  the  extent  of  their  claims;  nor  would 
we  in  the  slightest  degree  detract  from  what  may  he  justly  their  due.  We  confess,  however,  that, 
to  us,  the  importance  as  well  as  effects  of  Dutch  co-operation  in  our  treaty  seem  to  be  somewhat 
exaggerated.  It  sometimes  happens  that  men  and  nations  cannot  work  to  the  production  of 
their  own  particular  ends  without  thereby  contributing,  whether  they  wish  it  or  not,  to  the 
accomplishment  of  similar  ends  sought  by  others.  The  success,  however,  of  others,  which  they 
never  sought,  and  which  is  but  an  accident  resulting  from  their  efforts  to  another  end,  can  scarcely 
be  claimed  as  a  ground  of  merit,  or  demand  very  loud  acknowledgments  from  those  who  may 
have  been  thus  casually  benefitted.  The  basis  of  a  claim,  quantum  meruit,  is  some  benefit 
pnrpo.sely  done  by  one  to  another,  or  some  loss  purposely  sustained  for  his  advantage.  We 
readily  concede  that  the  Dezima  chief,  with  the  draft  of  the  Dutch  treaty  in  his  possession, 
strove  faithfully  and  judiciously,  as  became  him,  to  induce  the  Japanese  authorities  to  accede 
to  the  terms  of  that  treaty  and  sign  it,  before  our  ambassador  could  reach  Japan.  Of  this  we 
have  no  right  to  complain.  We  concede  also  that  his  proceedings  brought  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  Japanese  what  the  nature  of  a  commercial  treaty  was,  and  furnished  them  also  with  some 
valuable  hints  as  to  some  of  its  provisions,  which  afforded  them  topics  of  reflection  and  investigation, 
and  prepared  them  for  the  consideration  of  our  treaty  when  it  should  be  proposed ;  but  it  will 
scarcely  be  pretended  that  the  Dutch  action  was  prompted  by  the  direct  design  of  aiding  the 
United  States;  and  still  less,  that  it  induced  the  Japanese  government  to  depart  from  its  long 
established  policy  of  exclusion.  The  Dutch  were  themselves  endeavoring  to  negotiate  a  treaty; 
and  such  a  departure  must  be  pre-supposed  before  it  was  expedient  to  pre-sent  the  terms  of  a 
treaty  at  all. 

But  further,  as  to  this  point  of  departing  from  their  settled  policy,  it  is  on  the  record,  that  the 
letter  of  the  King  of  Hollani!  himself  on  this  very  subject,  written  in  1844,  was  answered  by  the 
Japanese  government  in  1845,  with  a  most  explicit  declaration  that  they  tcould  not  abandon 
their  ancient  policy  and  usage.  At  this  time  then  (1845)  the  Dutch  seem  to  have  accomplished 
nothing ;  and  it  is  not  on  the  record  that  they  ever  renewed  their  effort  from  this  time  forward 
until  1852,  when  they  knew  the  American  expedition  luould  certainly  be  sent;  and  the  mode  of 
renewal  was  to  offer  to  Japan  a  treaty  which  they  had  prepared  to  suit  themselves,  and  which  was 
for  their  own  benefit.  For  it  will  be  remembered  that  by  that  treaty  no  foreign  nation  was  t® 
be  allowed  by  treaty  to  trade  with  Japan,  but  on  certain  bases,  laid  down  in  the  4th  article  of 
the  Dutch  draft.  Now  suppose  Japan  had  signed  the  treaty  proposed  to  her  by  Holland, 
what  would  have  necessarily  resulted?     The  following  consequences,  viz: 

1.  Tliat  tlie  Dutch  should  alone  dictate  what  kind  of  treaties  all  other  foreign  nations  might 
make  with  Japan. 

2.  That  Japan,  an  independent  power,  should  preclude  herself  from  the  right  of  making  any 
treaty  but  such  as  Holland  should  approve. 

3.  That  as  Holland  was  to  be  placed  on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nations  in  any  treaty 
Japan  might  nake,  the  Dutch,  in  addition  to  the  privileges  they  already  possessed  in  Japan, 
and  in  addition  to  any  others  they  might  obtain  hy  future  negotiation,  should  have  also  every 
privilege  of  every  kind  that  any  nation  might  cnance  to  get  by  treaty. 

Had  tlie  Dezima  chief  succeeded  in  negotiating  his  treaty  before  Commodore  Perry's  arrival, 
would  it  have  benefitted  the  United  States? 


INTRODUCTION.  69 

But  this  is  not  all.  We  are  constrained,  from  public  documents  of  the  Dutch  themselves,  to 
believe  tliat  they  never  cordially  furthered  our  efl'orts  to  effect  a  treaty  which  should  open  Japan. 
In  a  letter  from  the  Dutch  governor  general  of  the  Indies,  written  from  Java  on  the  22d 
September,  1852,  addressed  to  Commodore  Perry,  (then  on  his  way  to  Japan,)  the  commodore 
is  informed  that  a  dispatch  for  the  Dezima  cliief  is  enclosed,  which  the  commodore  may 
transmit  to  him, in  case  he  wishes  his  co-operation.  Now,  at  this  very  time,  the  governor  general 
well  knew  that  the  Dezima  chief  had  the  draft  of  a  treaty,  and  instructions  to  have  it  ratified 
if  possible ;  and  every  effort  was  being  made  to  have  it  thus  ratified  before,  Commodore  Perry 
could  arrive.  Had  it  been  thus  ratified,  we  have  seen  above  what  sort  of  co-operation  the  Dezima 
chief  would  have  rendered ;  it  would  have  been  to  allow  Japan  to  negotiate  just  such  a  treaty 
as  Holland  had  seen  fit  to  make  for  her  and  for  us.  But  further  still — the  last  clause  of  the 
governor  general's  letter  to  Commodore  Perry  is  suggestive  of  a  fact  pregnant  with  evidence  as 
to  the  cordiality  with  which  Holland  seconded  our  efforts.  "I  beg  to  remark,  in  view  of  the 
object  at  present  contemplated  by  both  our  governments,  that  in  case  the  Netherlands  chief  of 
the  factory  at  Dezima  should  have  succeeded  in  opening  negotiations  with  the  government  of 
Japan,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  any  proof  of  co-operation  between  America  and  Holland  would 
prejudice  these  negotiations,  as  yvu  are  aware  that  the  American  expedition  to  Japan  has  not  ahvays 
been  represented  to  be  of  a  wholly  friendly  and  peaceful  character."  Of  course,  these  latter  words, 
to  have  any  meaning,  must  imply  that  the  Japanese  had  doubts  of  the  friendly  nature  of  our 
visit.  Noio,  icho  told  the  Japanese  that  it  teas  unfriendly?  The  Dutch  were  the  only  Europeans 
with  whom  they  had  any  intercourse,  or  from  whom  they  could  hear  anything  about  it.  And 
from  the  Dutch  they  did  hear  it ;  for,  in  anticipation  of  the  American  movements,  instructions 
were  sent  by  the  Netherlands  to  their  governor  general  in  Batavia  to  write  to  Japan  and  invite 
negotiation  about  the  means  that  should  be  adopted  "'to  preserve  Jajian  from  the  dangers  that 
threatened  her."     The  Dutch,  therefore,  told  the  Japanese  to  look  for  danger  from  our  visit. 

Commodore  Perry  never  invoked  the  aid  of  the  Dutch,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his 
mission,  but  purposely  avoided  them ;  and  the  treaty  which  he  made  is  essentially  different 
from  that  which  the  Dutch  had  provided.  The  draft  from  the  Hague  made  Nagasaki  the  only 
port  open  to  foreign  ships  for  obtaining  supplies,  repairing  vessels,  and  recruiting  the  sick ;  and 
provided  that  foreigners  might  "even  be  admitted  to  trade,"  after  they  had  made  a  treaty  on 
the  Dutch  basis. 

The  two  ports  of  Simoda  and  Hakodadi,  with  a  considerable  space  around  each,  are,  by  the 
American  treaty,  thrown  open  for  trade ;  and  in  case  of  distress,  or  when  driven  by  stress  of 
weather,  all  the  ports  in  Japan  are  open  to  ships  of  the  United  States ;  and  as,  when  Holland 
shall  succeed  in  making  a  commercial  treaty  with  Japan,  we  cannot  but  hope  and  believe  she 
will  be  admitted  to  like  favors  with  ourselves,  we  have  been  inclined  to  think  that  the  Dutch 
are  far  more  indebted  to  us  for  releasing  them  from  their  imprisonment  of  two  centuries  and  a 
half  at  Dezima,  than  we  are  for  any  aid  they  have  rendered  us,  directly  or  indirectly,  in 
negotiating  our  treaty  with  Japan.  That  Holland  should  seek  to  advance  her  own  interest  is 
both  natural  and  proper  ;  when  other  nations  succeed  in  promoting  theirs,  it  is  scarcely  graceful 
or  dignified  to  deny  to  them  the  modicum  of  merit  which  may  attach  to  their  success. 

It  only  remains  to  say  a  word  about  the  singular  statements  of  Dr.  Yon  Siebold.  Tliis  individual 
was  the  physician  employed  by  the  Dutch  at  Dezima,  and  has  pnblislied,  more  largely  than  all 
his  predecessors  combined,  the  result  of  his  observations  during  his  residence.  Of  the  value  of 
his  publications  we  have  already  spoken.     During  his  continuance  in  the  Empire,  however,  a 


70       ^  ^"^    ^  INTRODUCTION. 

circumstance  is  said  to  have  occurred  involving  a  very  melancholy  catastrophe,  in  which  Von 
Siebold  was  an  unwilling  actor.  The  story  is  thus  related  by  a  modern  writer  on  Japan. 
Siebold  had  been  with  Colonel  Van  Sturler,  the  Dezima  chief,  to  Jeddo  ;  the  Japanese  astronomer, 
Takahasi  Lakusaimon,  had,  in  violation  of  the  law,  furnished  him  with  a  copy  of  a  recently 
made  map  of  Japan.  The  draughtsman  who  made  the  copy  having  become,  from  some  cause, 
offended  with  the  astronomer,  denoimced  him  to  the  authorities.  An  investigation  followed, 
Siebold's  correspondence  with  Takahasi  was  demanded,  and  the  topographical  and  geograpliical 
information  contained  therein,  added  to  the  fact  that  Siebold  was  not  by  birth  a  Hollander,  led 
to  the  suspicion  that  the  physician  of  Dezima  was  a  Bussian  spy.  This  caused  the  investigation 
to  become  more  rigorous  still,  and  severe  measures  were  threatened.  All  who  were  known  to 
be  fi-iends  and  correspondents  of  Siebold,  with  a  single  exception,  were  thrown  into  prison.  The 
excepted  individual  was  made  a  witness  for  the  government.  He  broke  his  oath  in  the  cause  of 
friendship,  and  privately  informed  Siebold  of  what  was  designed  against  him.  This  warning 
enabled  him  to  place  his  most  valuable  documents  in  security,  and  to  prepare  copies  for  the  use 
of  the  government  commissioners,  before  his  papers  were  seized  and  his  person  arrested  at 
Dezima.  Siebold  was  repeatedly  examined  by  the  governor  of  Nagasaki,  and  steadily  refused 
to  name  any  of  his  Japanese  accomplices  ;  and  requested  to  be  permitted  to  pass  the  residue  of 
his  life  in  a  Japanese  prison,  as  a  hostage,  for  the  innocence  of  his  friends,  and  as  a  penalty  for 
the  consequences  of  his  transgressions.  The  investigation  lasted  nearly  a  year.  Siebold  was 
banished  from  Japan;  and  Takahasi  and  the  draughtsman  who  accused  him  both  committed 
suicide.  Whether  this  story  be  true  or  not,  in  every  particular,  it  was,  at  least,  circulated  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  and  in  this  form  it  had  reached  the  United  States  before  our  expedition  sailed. 

After  Commodore  Perry  had  been  designated  as  commander,  Siebold  applied  for  employ- 
ment as  a  member  of  the  expedition,  and  so  anxious  was  he  to  go,  that  he  caused  great  and 
unusual  influence  to  be  exerted  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  wishes.  Commodore  Perry, 
for  several  reasons,  and  particularly  from  a  desire  not  to  compromit  himself,  or  hazard  the 
success  of  his  mission  by  taking  back  to  Japan  a  man  generally  believed  to  have  been  banished, 
resisted  all  influences,  even  the  highest,  and  persisted  in  his  positive  refusal  to  have  Siebold  in 
any  vessel  of  the  squadron. 

At  lengthy  our  treaty  was  made,  and  the  fact  was  announced  to  the  world.  Within  a  few 
months,  and  since  such  announcement,  has  appeared  a  pamphlet,  by  Siebold,  published  at  Bonn, 
and  bearing  the  following  title :  "Authentic  account  of  the  efforts  of  the  Netherlands  and  of  Russia 
toward  the  opening  of  Japan  to  the  navigation  and  commerce  of  all  nations."  We  regret  its 
publication  for  the  author's  sake.  It  subserves  no  scientific  end,  nor  does  it  add  a  single  fact 
concerning  Japan  to  what  the  author  has  already  communicated  in  his  previous  valuable 
writings.  It  is  evidently  the  product  of  mortified  and  irritated  vanity,  and  has  two  objects  in 
view  which  are  perfectly  obvious.  The  one  is  to  glorify  the  author,  the  other  to  disparage 
the  United  States  and  its  Japan  expedition.  Appreciating,  as  we  sincerely  do,  the  voluminous 
■writings  of  Dr.  Von  Siebold  concerning  Japan,  we  regret  exceedingly  the  egotism,  vanity,  and 
self-importance  exhibited  in  the  pursuit  of  the  one  object ;  while  we  are  not  disposed  to  overlook, 
without  rebuke,  the  misrepresentations  and  impertinence  displayed  in  the  accomplishment  of  the 
other.  The  text  and  spirit  of  the  whole  work  may  be  found  at  the  commencement,  on  the  tliird 
page  of  the  book,  in  the  following  statement :  "  We  have  now  to  thank  the  Mitssians,  and  not  the 
Americans,  for  the  opening  of  Japan."  When  we  remember  that,  up  to  a  very  late  period,  <Ae 
Jtussians  had  effected  no  treaty  at  all  with  Japan,  the  reader  may  possibly  incline  to  the  belief, 


INTRODUCTION.  71 

that  the  shrewd  Japanese  -were  not  far  from  the  truth,  when  they  suspected  Von  Siebold  to  be  a 
Bussian  spy,  and  banished  him. 

Of  his  intimate  connexion  with  Eussia  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  the  pamphlet  itself  shows  it ; 
and  though  in  the  revelations  it  makes,  its  purpose  is  to  glorify  the  author  and  show  his  great 
political  importance,  yet  his  boasts  of  services  rendered  to  Eussia,  his  published  extracts  from  the 
flattering  letter  of  a  Eussian  official  of  high  rank,  his  acknowledgment  of  a  summons  and  visit 
to  St.  Petersburgh,  and  his  declaration  that  Japan  knows  Eussia  to  be  the  most  powerful  nation 
in  the  world,  are  all  facts  indicative  of  the  author's  close  and  interested  relation  to  the  great 
northern  power.  Indeed,  it  has  been  said  by  some,  that  by  his  advice  the  Russian  squadron 
was  sent  to  checkmate  us  in  our  attempt  to  open  Japan.  If  this  be  so,  then,  his  extreme  desire 
to  go  in  our  squadron  may  have  been  produced  by  his  entire  conviction,  nay,  assured  knowledge, 
that  his  presence  alone  would  have  proved  fatal  to  the  success  of  oiir  mission. 

Of  the  inordinate  conceit  and  self-imjjortance  of  Von  Siebold  there  is,  unfortunately,  abundant 
evidence.  Thus,  he  informs  us,  that  he  it  was  who  induced  King  William  II,  in  1844,  to  write 
to  the  Emperor  of  Japan  :  and  states  that  the  original  of  the  King's  letter  was  deposited  with 
him  and  is  still  in  his  possession.  He  dwells,  at  length,  upon  the  vast  amount  of  valuable 
information  he  had  acquired  in  Japan,  upon  the  admirable  opportunities  he  enjoyed  for  that 
purpose,  and  more  than  insinuating  that  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  compared  with  him,  is  in 
almost  entire  ignorance,  he  contrives  to  make  the  pamphlet  an  advertisement  of  his  really 
valuable  works,  of  which  he  retains,  we  believe,  the  sale  in  his  own  hands  ;  at  least  we  know 
that  it  was  not  to  be  obtained  in  the  book  stores  of  Europe,  and  that  the  copy  procured  for  the 
Astor  library  was  purchased  by  the  accomplished  superintendent  from  Von  Siebold  himself. 

So,  too,  the  services  he  has  rendered  to  Eussia  lose  nothing  of  their  value  and  importance  in 
his  representations :  and  we  are  furnished  with  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  a  distinguished 
Eussian  statesman,  addressed  to  our  author,  the  publication  of  which  by  Von  Siebold  proves  that 
the  noble  correspondent  of  whom  he  boasts  could  not  have  enumerated  modesty  among  the 
personal  qualities  for  which  he  commends  the  learned  physician. 

We  are  also  told  of  his  intimacy  with  some  of  the  Japanese  nobility,  though  he  dared  not 
show  his  face  in  Japan,  nor  was  he  at  liberty  even  to  address  to  them  a  letter. 

A  letter  from  M.  Von  Siebold,  adcb'cssed  to  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  expedition,  whom  he 
ostentatiously  calls  in  his  pamphlet,  "  my  correspondent  on  board  of  the  Mississippi,"  is  now 
lying  before  us.     A  single  extract  will  illustrate  the  weakness  of  which  we  have  spoken : 

"I  see  with  much  pleasure  that  Commodore  Perry  knows  how  to  appreciate  my  profound 
knowledge  and  long  experience  of  Japanese  affairs.  I  was  very  sorry  not  to  have  been  called 
upon  to  trace  a  programme  for  the  Arherican  expedition  to  Japan.  I  would  have  produced  a 
plan  to  open  the  Japanese  Empire  to  the  world,  under  the  watchwords  '  humanity  and  patience.' 
I  do  not  transgress  the  bounds  of  modesty  when  I  say  that  /,  only,  am  able  to  trace  such  a  plan. 
The  Netherland  government  knows  my  views,  and  has  undertaken  to  support  the  peaceful 
intentions  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  toward  the  Japanese  government." 

"  Probably  all  overtures  will  be  declined,  or  they  will  try  to  delay,  as  long  as  possible,  giving 
a  final  answer.  The  Japanese  government  understands  perfectly  the  art  of  protracting  diplo- 
matic negotiations,  to  exhaust  patience ;  of  spinning  out  endlessly  the  thread  of  objections  against 
overtures  for  a  commercial  treaty.  They  will  recall  constantly  the  unalterable  nature  of  their 
laws  ;  will  urge  the  danger  of  breaches  of  etiquette  or  courtesy,  the  want  of  articles  for  exporta- 
tion, the  great  influx  of  foreigners.     It  will  also  be  pretended  that  the  Sioguu  is  not  allowed  to 


72  INTRODUCTION. 

enter  into  negotiations  with  foreign  nations  (other  tluui  the  Hollanders)  without  the  co-operation 
of  the  Mikado  ;  and  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  the  Slikado  will  decide  for  or  against  a  treaty 
according  to  the  will  of  the  Council  of  State.  All  these  are  only  pretexts,  and  the  sole  reason 
why  the  Japanese  object  to  more  intimate  relations  with  foreigners  is  the  fear  that  Christianity 
may  he  introduced  into  the  country,  and  so  the  Siogun  dynasty,  which  consolidated  itself  by  the 
extermination  of  Christianity,  may  he  put  in  jeopardy.  The  fanatic  Gutzlaff  and  Father  For- 
cade,  (now  in  Heaven,  I  hope,)  the  narrow-minded  missionaries,  have,  hy  their  conduct  of  late, 
contributed  to  excite  afresh  the  fears  of  the  Japanese  government,  who  saw  in  these  two  mission- 
aries the  whole  of  Christendom  marching  against  Japan. 

"  It  shows  a  want  of  caution,  in  that  the  letter  of  the  honorable  President  states  that  the  mes- 
sengers whom  he  has  sent  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan  are  not  missionaries.  Why  insert  this 
assurance,  calculated  to  excite  distrust  ?  It  is  a  matter  of  course  that  an  ambassador  is  not  a 
missionary ;  and  what  guarantee  can  be  given  to  the  Jajmnese  government  that  there  prevails 
no  intention  to  propagate  Christianity  in  Japan  ?  No  maritime  power  but  Holland  enjoys  her 
confidence.  Holland  only  can  make  a  movement  to  open  Japan  to  the  commerce  of  the  world. 
Holland  has  not  listened  to  my  advice,  and  will  repent  it." 

"  Please  to  pray  Commodore  Perry  not  to  allow  liis  patience  to  be  exhausted,  to  receive  quietly 
the  objections  of  the  Japanese  government ;  but  then  lie  must  declare  decidedlj'  that  America 
will  not  trouble  herself  about  the  present  religion  and  politics  of  Japan.  America  leaves  these 
untouched,  but  insists  on  a  commercial  treaty  to  be  effected  by  peaceiul  negotiation.  Probably 
the  proposals  will  not  be  listened  to  ;  but  beg  Commodore  Perry  not  to  make  hostile  demonstra- 
tions against  the  good,  faithful,  innocent  people  of  Japan,  but  to  intimate  to  the  Japanese  gov- 
ernment that  it  is  in  his  power  to  destroy  their  cities,  ships,  and  men,  but  that  to  do  so  would  give 
him  pain  ;  that  he  will  therefore  give  them  a  year  to  consider  his  proposals,  because  he  would  not 
by  force  of  arms  seek  to  obtain  conditions  which  might  as  well  be  secured  by  friendly  measures." 

"  Then,  if  notice  is  given  to  me  in  proper  time,  I  would  still  be  willing  to  submit  a  plan  by 
whicli  the  United  States  government  may  attain  its  purposes." 

With  reference  to  this  letter,  in  the  pamphlet  before  us  M.  Von  Siebold  states  that  by  means 
of  his  "  correspondent  on  board  the  Mississippi"  he  did  not  fail  "to  advise  Commodore  Perry  to 
follow  a  peaceful  plan,  which  counsel  seems  to  have  borne  good  fruit." 

It  is  very  remarkable  how  strikingly  facts  in  the  history  of  our  negotiation  have  contradicted 
the  confident  predictions  of  this  gentleman,  who  professed  such  "profound  knowledge  and  long 
experience  of  Japanese  affairs." 

The  Dutch,  he  states,  were  the  only  jieople  who  could  establish  a  commercial  treaty  with  Japan, 
and  they  had  undertaken  to  sustain  our  effort.  The  facts  are,  that  they  were  not  able  to  make 
a  treaty  for  themselves  until  long  after  ours  was  consummated  ;  that  their  support  of  our  efforts 
consisted,  as  we  have  shown,  in  the  attempt  to  make  a  treaty  for  themselves  before  our  arrival, 
committing  the  Japanese  to  agree  to  no  treaty  with  any  foreign  power  but  such  as  they 
prescribed ;  and  that  from  the  arrival  to  the  departure  of  our  ships  in  no  mode,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  did  tliey  have  any  communication  with  the  Dutch,  nor  was  the  aid  of  the  latter 
either  invoked  or  employed  in  the  slightest  degree  in  the  negotiation  of  our  treaty. 

M.  Von  Siebold  predicted  that  our  overtures  would  be  declined,  or  that  a  final  answer  would 
be  delayed  as  long  as  possible.  The /nc/s  are,  that  our  overtures  were  not  declined,  and  that, 
under  tlie  circumstances  of  the  death  of  the  Emperor  and  other  events,  tlie  delay  was  not  unrea- 
sonably long.     The  squadron  returned  to  Yeddo  bay  on  the  13th  of  February,  and  all  the 


INTRODUCTION.  73 

terms  of  the  treaty  were  substantially  agreed  on  by  the  23d  of  March,  and  it  was  formally  signed 
on  the  31st  of  that  month.  So  that  about  six  weeks  elaj)sed  from  the  commencement  of  the 
negotiation  to  its  close  in  a  treaty. 

il.  Von  Siebold  predicted  that  various  pretexts  would  be  resorted  to  by  the  Japanese  to  pro- 
tract the  negotiation.  Singularly  enough,  the  fact  is,  that  of  the  six  anticipated  objections 
specified  by  Von  Siebold  not  one  was  urged  in  the  negotiation  as  insurmountable,  and  five  were 
not  mentioned  at  all.     The  onlj'  one  named  was  the  unalterable  nature  of  the  Japanese  laws. 

And  as  to  the  complacency  with  which  M.  Von  Siebold  congratulates  himself  on  the  "good 
fruit ' '  resulting  from  his  counsel,  we  have  only  to  remark  that  we  are  very  sorry  his  good  advice 
did  not  arrive  in  time  to  afibrd  the  Commodore  any  aid,  inasmuch  as  his  course  had  been  fully 
decided  on  and  in  part  followed  without  the  slightest  reference  to  it.  In  fact,  Commodore  Perry 
never  saw  M.  Von  Siehokl's  letter  at  all. 

Of  the  disposition  to  disparage  the  United  States  and  its  expedition  to  Japan,  the  jjroofs  are 
quite  as  unequivocal  as  those  we  have  given  above  of  self-conceit  and  arrogance.  Our  country 
is  more  than  once  brought  into  disadvantageous  comparison  with  Russia ;  is  accused  of  being 
influenced  by  the  most  selfish  motives  ;  of  seeking  her  own  advantage  without  the  slightest 
regard  to  those  of  Japan  or  of  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world  ;  and  in  this  respect  her  conduct  is 
contrasted  with  that  of  Holland,  which  is  affirmed  to  Jiave  been  always  prompted  by  a  most 
liberal  desire  to  open  Japan  to  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Russia,  also,  is  said  to  be  bene- 
volently pursuing  the  same  end,  and  also  to  be  seeking  the  free  exercise  of  Christian  worship  for 
all  Russian  subjects  in  Japan.  With  Russia's  zeal  for  the  protection  of  Cliristians  in  Japan  we 
have  nothing  to  do  ;  we  may  remark,  however,  it  is  a  little  curious  that  Russia  should  not  be 
warned  to  avoid  the  subject  of  Christianity  in  Japan,  while  Commodore  Perry  is  so  decidedly 
advised,  by  M.  Von  Siebold,  carefully  to  proclaim  that  he  is  no  Christian  missionary ;  and  is 
informed  that  the  dread  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity  is  the  only  real  obstacle  to  his  success. 

The  chief  magistrate  of  our  country  is  also  rebuked  for  a  want  of  the  usual  diplomatic  form, 
and  of  the  dignified  tone,  so  necessary  to  be  used  toward  the  sovereign  of  a  country  so  much 
accustomed  to  etiquette. 

Piqued  at  Commodore  Perry's  success  in  the  bay  of  Yedo,  when  M.  Von  Siebold  had  predicted 
that  he  would  be  obliged  to  go  to  Nagasaki,  and  that  his  proposals  would  not  be  listened  to 
anywhere  else,  if,  indeed,  they  would  be  listened  to  at  all,  he  sneeringly  attributes  his  success 
to  what  he  imputes  as  a,  fault,  viz :  that  Commodore  Perry  informed  the  Japanese  that  the  mere 
request  to  go  to  Nagasaki  would,  if  repeated,  be  construed  into  an  insult  to  the  United  States. 
And,  finally,  though  we  have  succeeded,  it  is  to  be  of  but  little  value  to  us,  inasmuch  as  Russia 
and  the  Netherlands  can  better  supply  Japan's  wants  than  we  can,  and  their  political  and  com- 
mercial regulations  are  such  as  the  Siogoon  can  sympathize  with,  while  ours  are  not. 

Of  the  selfishness  of  our  motives  we  readily  admit  that  we  sought  commercial  intercourse  with 
Japan,  because  we  supposed  it  would  be  advantageous.  Such,  we  suppose,  is  the  motive  of  all 
intelligent  nations  in  establishing  friendly  relations  with  others.  We  can  only  smile  at  the 
simplicity  of  those  who  expect  to  deceive  the  world  by  professions  of  pure,  disinterested  friend- 
ship from  one  nation  toward  another,  irrespective  of  all  considerations  of  national  benefit.  We 
think  that  every  nation  which  has  sought  intercourse  with  Japan  has  supposed  that  such  inter- 
course would  prove  advantageous  to  the  seeker  ;  nor  are  we  aware  that  there  is  anything  very 
criminal  or  selfish  in  the  desire  that  advantage  may  result  from  tlie  communicatiou.  But  it  is 
quite  possible  to  believe  that  benefit  to  both  nations  may  result  from  the  intercourse  we  would 
10  J 


74  INTRODUCTION, 

establish,  and  such  benefit  may  be  honestly  desired,  even  while  we  seek  otir  own  interest.  This 
is  not  selfishness.  But  turther,  we  beg  distinctly  to  state  the  fact  that  Commodore  Perry  did 
express  to  the  Japanese  commissioners  the  desire  that  other  nations  might  have  the  benefits  of 
our  treaty,  or  of  one  similar  to  it,  and  received  for  reply  that  there  were  many  commercial 
nations  on  the  globe  ;  and  that  if  they  wished  to  have  a  treaty  they  should  do  as  we  had  done, 
visit  Japan  and  seek  to  make  one. 

That  our  late  President  (Mr.  Fillmore)  should  have  been  wanting  in  the  courtly  proprieties  of 
diplomatic  etiquette,  and  prove  himself  ignorant  of  the  dignified  language  in  which  it  became  him 
to  address  a  sovereign,  is  certainly  very  lamentable.  But  we  are  comforted  by  the  reflection  that 
his  Japanese  majesty  was  not  offended  by  the  manly,  yet  respectful,  frankness  of  our  republican 
chief ;  that  the  Emperor  seems  perfectly  to  have  understood  what  he  said,  (which  is  something 
unusual  in  diplomacy ;)  and  that,  through  his  commissioners,  he  responded  in  a  very  friendly 
and  cordial  manner  to  the  propositions  made  by  our  President.  At  all  events,  ive  made  a  treaty 
ivitli  Japan  satisfactory  to  ioth  governments.  Our  rude  ignorance  of  propriety  was  thus  kindly 
overlooked  ;  and  we,  therefore,  hope  that  M.  Von  Siebold,  the  self-constituted  court  chamberlain 
of  Japan,  will  henceforth  generously  forbear  to  speak  of  the  shortcomings  of  such  a  semi-civilized 
people  and  government  as  ours.  It  may  indicate  our  barbarism,  but  we  would  rather  be  clowns 
than  calumniators. 

We  plead  guilty,  too,  to  the  charge  that  Commodore  Perry  went  to  the  bay  of  Yedo  and 
refused  to  go  to  Nagasaki ;  and  that  he  added  to  this  enormity  the  very  plain  declaration  that 
"the  Americans  will  never  submit  to  the  restrictions  which  have  been  imposed  upon  the  Dutch 
and  Chinese,  and  any  further  allusion  to  such  restraints  will  be  considered  ofiensive  ;"  to  which 
we  will  add  that  the  Japanese  commissioners  put  in  writing,  as  one  of  the  points  agreed  upon 
between  them  and  Commodore  Perry,  that  "the  citizens  of  the  United  States  will  not  submit  to 
degradations  like  those  imposed  upon  the  Dutch  and  Chinese."  And  Commodore  Perry's  coun- 
trymen expected  him  to  say  precisely  what  he  did  say,  and  are  quite  satisfied  with  the  result. 

It  only  remains  to  be  added  that,  until  since  the  return  of  our  expedition,  neither  the  Dutch 
nor  Russians  were  able  to  effect  a  treaty.  England  and  the  United  States  alone  succeeded  ;  and 
England  readily  admits  that,  in  point  of  time,  ours  was  the  Jl7-st.  This  is  all  we  have  ever 
said  ;  and  we  conclude  with  the  wish  that  all  the  powers  of  Europe,  seeking  commercial  treaties 
with  Japan,  may  succeed  as  well  as  England  and  ourselves,  and  that  most  interesting  Empire 
thus  be  opened  to,  and  enriched  by,  free  communication  with  the  civilized  world. 


CHAPTEK   I. 


PROBABILITIES    OP    A    SfCCESSFGL    MISSION    FROM    THE    UNITED    STATES    TO    JAPAN. SUCH    A    MISSION    PROPOSED    TO     THE    GOVERN- 
MENT    BY    COMMODORE     PERRY. EXPEDITION    RESOLVED     ON. VESSELS     SELECTED     FOR    THE     SQUADRON. VEXATI0C5     DELAY 

IN    THEIR    EQtJIPMENT. COMMODORE    PERRY    SENT    IX    THE    MISSISSIPPI    TO     THE    GULF    OP    ST.    LAWRENCE. APPLICATIONS    OF 

SCIENTIFIC     MEN     TO     JOIN     THE     EXPEDITION     REFDSED.^-CADSES     OF     SUCH     REFUSAL. DR.     TON    SIEBOLD. — TISIT     OF     THE 

PRESIDENT     AND      SECRETARY      OF     THE     NATY     TO      ANNAPOLIS      TO      TAKE     LEAVE      OF     THE      EXPEDITION. FAILURE      OF     THE 

MACHINERY  OF  THE  STEAMSHIP  PRINCETON  ON  THE  PASSAGE  DOWN  CHESAPEAKE  BAY. SUBSTITUTION  OF  STEAMER  POW- 
HATAN IN  PLACE  OF  THE  PRINCETON. — FINAL  DEPARTURE  OF  COMMODORE  PERRY  ON  THE  MISSION  WITH  THE  MISSISSIPPI 
ALONE. 


HE  treaty  which  closed  the  war  of  the  United  States  with 
Mexico  transferred  to  the  former  the  territory  of  California. 
Its  position  on  the  Pacific  could  not  but  suggest  the  thought 
of  an  extended  field  for  commercial  enterprise ;  and  with  our 
territory  spreading  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  placed  midway 
between  Europe  and  Asia,  it  seemed  that  we  might  with 
propriety  apply  to  ourselves  the  name  by  which  China  had 
loved  to  designate  herself,  and  deem  that  we  were,  in  truth, 
"the  Middle  Kingdom."  If  the  shortest  route  between 
,  Eastern  Asia  and  Western  Europe  be  (in  this  age  of  steam) 
across  our  continent,  then  was  it  obvious  enough  that  our 
continent  must,  in  some  degree  at  least,  become  a  highway 
for  the  world.  And  when,  soon  after  our  acquisition  of 
California,  it  was  discovered  that  the  harvest  there  was  gold,  nothing  was  more  natural  than 
that  such  discovery  should  give  additional  interest  to  the  obvious  reflections  suggested  by  our 
geographical  position. 

Direct  trade  from  our  western  coast  with  Asia  became,  therefore,  a  familiar  thought ;  the 
agency  of  steam  was,  of  course,  involved,  and  fuel  for  its  production  was  indispensable.  Hence 
arose  inquiries  for  that  great  mineral  agent  of  civilization,  coal.  Where  was  it  to  be  obtained 
on  the  long  route  from  California  to  Asia?  Another  inquiry  presented  itself:  With  what  far- 
distant  eastern  nations  should  we  trade?  China  was  in  some  measure  opened  to  us  ;  but 
there  was,  beside,  a  terra  incognita  in  Japan  which,  while  it  stimulated  curiosity,  held  out 
also  temptations   which   invited  commercial  enterprise.     True,  we  knew  not  much  about   its 


76  EXPEDITIONTOJAPAN. 

internal  regulations  ;  we  knew  that  it  had,  for  centuries,  isolated  itself,  as  it  were,  from  the 
world,  and  persisted  in  a  system  of  excluding  foreigners  from  intercourse  ;  that  hut  one  European 
nation  was  allowed  to  approach  for  purposes  of  trade,  and  that  repeated  efforts  made  by  others 
for  a  similar  privilege  had  uniformly  failed  of  success.  But  we  knew,  too,  that  it  possessed 
valuable  productions,  and  ought  to  be  brought  into  communication  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 
By  some,  indeed,  the  proposition  was  boldly  avowed  that  Japan  had  no  right  thus  to  cut  herself 
off  from  the  community  of  nations;  and  that  what  she  would  not  yield  to  national  comity  should 
be  wrested  from  her  by  force. 

It  was,  perhaps,  but  natural  that  the  minds  of  our  naval  officers  should  be  drawn  strongly  to 
a  consideration  of  the  subject  of  intercourse  with  Japan.  Not  simply  to  the  desirableness  or 
probable  advantages  of  such  intercourse,  for  on  those  points  all  men's  minds  readily  reached  the 
same  conclusion  ;  but  on  the  means  by  which  the  wished  for  end  might  be  best  attained.  And 
this  part  of  the  subject  required  some  study  and  calm  reflection,  aided  by  such  experience  and 
knowledge  of  men  of  all  latitudes  as  a  naval  officer  would  be  apt  to  acquire  in  many  years 
of  active  service  on  shipboard. 

Commodore  Perry,  in  common  with  other  members  of  his  profession  and  with  the  rest  of  his 
countrymen,  had  his  thoughts  directed  to  the  subject,  with  especial  reference  to  the  probabilities  of 
accomplishing  the  end  in  view.     He  knew  that  there  must  be  causes  for  a  state  of  things 
80  singular  as  was  presented  in  the  complete  voluntary  isolation  of  a  whole  people  ;  and  his  first 
object  was,  therefore,  to  obtain  a  correct  history  of  the  past  career  of  Japan.     For  this  purpose 
he  mastered  all  that  he  could  derive  from  books,  and  found  that  the  exclusive  system  of  Japan 
was  not  the  result  of  any  national  idiosyncracy,  but  was  caused  by  peculiar  circumstances,  long 
since  passed,  and  was_,  in  fact,  in  direct  opposition  to  what  liistory  proved  to  be  the  natural 
temperament  and  disposition  of  the  Japanese  people.     He  also  found,  in  a  careful  examination  of 
the  repeated  efibrts  of  other  nations  to  break  down  the  barrier  that  shut  them  out,  what  he 
supposed  to  be  the  secret  of  their  failures.     Peculiar  circumstances  in  the  then  political  condition 
of  the  power  seeking  admission  ;  the  rivalry  of  different  nations  striving  to  thwart  each  other  ; 
the  indiscretion,  not  to  say  arrogance,  of  some  of  those  entrusted  with  the  mission,  who  sought 
to  bully  a  brave  people  into  acquiescence  with  their  wishes ;  a  misconception  of  the  true  char- 
acter of  the  Japanese,  who  readily  distinguish  between  obsequious  servility  and  a  manly  spirit 
of  conciliation,  founded  on  the  principle  of  doing  what  is  kind  and  just,  but  submitting,  not  for 
an  instant,  to  what  is  insulting  or  wrong ;  all  these  seemed  to  him  to  be  elements  of  failure 
clearly  to  be  traced,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  in  the  efforts  that  had  been  made.     Beside,  a 
disadvantage  under  which  the  European  nations  labored  was  that  Japan  had  known  something 
concerning  all  of  them  for  many  years,  and,  indeed,  had  been  more  or  less  brouglit  into  contact 
with  them.     Thus  Portugal  had  given  early  and  unpardonable  offence  in  encouraging  domestic 
treason  ;  England  (who  once  had  foothold)  had  abandoned  it ;  one  of  her  kings  had  married  a 
Portuguese  princess  ;  one  of  her  officers  (Pellew)  had  committed  what  they  deemed  an  insolent 
outrage  in  her  waters  ;  Russia  had  taken  possession  of  some  of  her  islands,  had  excited  sus- 
picions of  ulterior  designs  by  fortifying  on  another  "annexed"  territory,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Amour,  and,  as  the  Japanese  Emperor  said,  "had  an  inclination  for  Japan  ;"  while  Holland  had 
so  quietly  submitted  to  degradation,  imprisonment  and  insult  for  two  hundred  years,  that  the 
Japanese  unquestionably  formed  their  opinion  of  European  foreigners,  in  some  measure,  from 
the  Dutch. 


MISSION     TO    JAPAN     PROPOSED   BY    COMMODORE     PERRY.  77 

The  United  States  occupied  a  different  position  from  all  the  above  named  powers,  for  they 
had  not  been  brought  into  such  contact  with  Japan  as  awakened  unpleasant  associations.  The 
only  effort  we  had  made  toward  opening  friendly  relations,  (and  it  scarcely  deserves  the  name,) 
was  in  sending  two  ships  under  Commodore  Biddle,  which  remained  at  anchor  some  eio-ht  or 
ten  days,  accomplished  nothing,  and  quietly  left  when  the  Japanese  desired  it. 

Commodore  Perry,  after  careful  examination,  believed  that,  under  all  the  circumstances,  there 
was  a  favorable  opportunity  for  our  country  to  establish  commercial  relations  with  Japan,  and 
avowed  his  belief  to  several  of  his  brother  officers,  as  well  as  to  some  of  the  dignitaries  of  the 
government,  and  eminent  citizens,  long  before  the  subject  was  publicly  discussed,  and  the 
expedition  resolved  on.  There  were  doubtless  others  (and  among  them  probably  some  of  high 
station  in  the  government)  whose  minds  had  been  led  to  a  similar  conclusion,  and  who,  like 
Commodore  Perry,  anticipated  popular  opinion  on  the  subject  of  an  expedition.  Indeed, 
instructions  had  been  sent  out  to  Commodore  Aulick,  then  on  the  East  India  station,  directing 
him  to  proceed  to  Japan ;  and  the  State  Department,  tlien  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Webster, 
had  sought  information  concerning  Japan  from  the  officer  who  commanded  the  Preble  on  her 
visit.  Commander  Glynn,  who  very  strong-ly  felt  and  urged  the  importance  of  establishing, 
if  possible,  a  friendly  communication  between  that  Kingdom  and  our  own  country.  We  believe, 
however,  we  do  no  wrong  to  any  one,  when  we  sa}'  that  the  thought  of  making  an  immediate 
effort  was  urged  by  Commodore  Perry;  and,  at  all  events,  on  the  recal  of  Commodore  Aulick, 
he  formally  proposed  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  the  expedition,  which  was  finally 
sent.  The  proposition  was  favorably  received,  and  it  was  determined  that  a  sqiiadron  should  be 
dispatched,  under  his  command,  on  the  peaceful  mission  of  endeavoring  to  open  a  friendly 
commercial  intercourse  with  the  Japanese.* 

The  expedition  having  been  resolved  on,  the  following  vessels  were  selected  to  compose  the 
squadron,  viz :  The  Mississippi  steamer,  which  had  been  the  flag  ship  of  Commodore  Perry  in 
the  Gulf  during  the  Mexican  war,  and  was  deservedly  his  favorite  vessel ;  the  Princeton  and 
Alleghany  steamers ;  the  Vermont,  74 ;  and  the  sloops-of-war  Vandalia  and  Macedonian.  The 
steamship  Susquehanna,  and  sloops-of-war  Saratoga  and  Plymouth  were  already  on  the  East 
India  station,  and  were  to  form  part  of  the  squadron.  The  armed  storeships  Supply,  Lexington, 
and  Southampton,  were  also  attached  to  the  expedition.  The  liveliest  interest  in  the  under- 
taking was  manifested  by  the  President,  (Mr.  Fillmore,)  b}'  Mr.  Webster,  and  his  successors  in 
the  State  Department,  (Messrs.  Conrad  and  Everett,)  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  (Mr. 
Kennedy,)  and  indeed  by  all  the  members  of  the  Cabinet.  The  most  liberal  equipment  was 
authorized,  and  the  commander  of  the  expedition  was  invested  with  extraordinary  powers, 
diplomatic  as  well  as  naval,  because  much  was  necessarily  confided  to  his  prudence  and  discretion. 
The  instructions  from  the  department  designated  the  East  India  and  China  seas  and  Japan  as 
the  field  of  service ;  but  the  great  objects  of  the  expedition  were  to  procure  friendly  admission 
to  Japan  for  purposes  of  trade,  and  to  establish,  at  proper  points,  permanent  depots  of  coal  for 
our  steamers  crossing  the  Pacific. 

Orders  were  given  to  fit  the  squadron  for  sea  with  as  little  delay  as  jjossible;  yet  such  was 
the  mismanagement  in  the  equipment  of  the  vessels,  that  more  than  once  the  public  were  led  to 


*  The  subject  of  establishing  commercial  relations  with  the  East  occupied  the  minds  of  so  many  of  our  countrymen,  that  it 
is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say,  with  certainty,  with  whom  its  discussion  originated.  It  is,  however,  due  to  one  gentleman, 
(Aaron  H.  Palmer,  csc|.,  of  New  York,)  to  say  that  he  was.  at  least,  among  the  earliest  to  call  attention  to  its  importance. 


78  EXPEDITIONTOJAPAN. 

suppose  that  the  enterprise  had  been  abandoned  simply  from  the  delay  in  its  departure.  More 
than  nine  months  had  passed  beyond  the  time  when  the  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Construction 
and  Equipment  had  promised  that  the  Princeton  should  be  ready,  before  that  vessel  was  reported 
as  completed;  and  when  thus  reported,  she  was  found,  on  trial,  to  be  iitterly  inefficient  for  the 
intended  service,  owing  to  the  imperfection  of  her  boilers.  Some  new,  and  in  this  country 
untried,  plan  had  been  adopted  in  their  construction  or  arrangement,  and  the  experiment  cost 
the  expedition  the  loss  of  a  year.  The  Princeton  never  formed  part  of  the  squadron,  as  the 
Powhatan  was  substituted  for  her. 

Amid  these  vexatious  delays,  however,  the  Commodore  was  not  idle.  While  he  was  waiting 
for  the  completion  of  the  Princeton,  the  misunderstanding  arose  concerning  the  fisheries  in  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  it  became  necessary  to  dispatch  an  armed  vessel  to  that  region.  The 
Mississippi  was  ready  for  sea,  and  Commodore  Perry  was  ordered  to  repair  in  her  to  the  fishing 
grounds,  and  assist  in  amicably  adjusting  the  respective  rights  of  the  English  and  American 
fishermen.  Having  performed  this  duty  satisfactorily  to  the  government,  he  returned  to  New 
York,  earnestly  hoping  that  he  should  find  removed  all  obstacles  to  his  speedy  dej^arture  on  his 
mission  to  the  East.  » 

As  soon  as  it  was  publicly  announced  that  the  United  States  had  resolved  on  sending  an 
expedition  to  Japan,  applications  came  from  all  quarters  of  the  civilized  world  for  permission  to 
take  part  in  the  service.  Literary  and  scientific  men,  European  as  well  as  native,  and  travellers 
by  profession,  eagerly  sought  to  accompany  the  expedition;  and  extraordinary  influences,  in 
some  instances,  were  brought  to  bear  upon  our  government  inducing  it  to  second  some  of  the 
applications  thus  made;  but  Commodore  Perry  resolutely  persisted  in  an  unqualified  refusal  to 
all  such  requests. 

And  here  it  may  be  well  to  explain  the  grounds  of  such  refusal.  The  duties  confided  to  the 
commander  were  of  a  peculiar  nature,  and  required  the  most  prudent  and  delicate  management 
on  his  part.  He  had  his  own  views  of  what  he  had  to  accomplish  and  of  the  best  mode  of 
doing  it ;  and  an  essential  element  to  success  was  the  possession  of  absolute  authority  for  the 
time  being.  It  was  indispensable  that  the  most  exact  order  and  discipline  should  be  main- 
tained. To  efiect  this,  strict  military  control  would  be  necessary;  but  civilians  could  not  be 
expected  to  submit  patiently  to  the  restraints  of  naval  discipline,  to  the  confinement  on  ship 
board,  and  to  the  sanitary  regulations  necessary  to  preserve  health  in  crowded  ships. 

But,  further,  after  the  accommodation  of  the  proper  officers  of  the  vessels  there  would  be  but 
little  room  left  for  that  of  scientific  men,  who  were  accustomed  to  the  comforts  and  conveniem  es 
of  life  on  shore,  with  abundant  space  for  their  books  and  instruments ;  and  beside,  they  would 
severely  feel  the  disappointment  of  not  being  able  to  go  and  come  at  their  pleasure,  when 
curiosity  and  their  scientific  researches  might  make  it  desirable,  to  say  nothing  of  the  embar- 
rassments they  might  cause  to  the  commander  when  they  did  land,  by  collisions  with  the 
jicdjilc,  arising  from  inadvertence  or  experience. 

l>ut  paramount  as  a  ground  of  refusal  was  the  fact  that  the  object  of  the  expedition  was  not 
scientific,  but  naval  and  diplomatic  ;  to  attempt  both  would  probably  be  to  succeed  in  neither. 
If  one,  the  last  named,  were  prosecuted  to  a  favorable  result,  the  door  would  then  be  opened  for 
success  in  the  other.  At  any  rate,  the  commander  thought  it  would  be  best  to  do  one  thing  at 
a  time,  and  that  the  one  thing  confided  to  him  for  performance,  must  take  precedence  of  every 
thing  else. 


PR.     VON     SIEBOLD'S     REJECTION.  79 

Another  matter,  of  no  little  delicacy  in  its  adjustment,  was  likely  to  arise  from  the  presence 
of  scientific  gentlemen  not  suhject  to  the  strict  discipline  of  the  navy.  The  Commodore's 
instructions  required  of  him  to  prohibit  those  under  his  command  from  making  any  communi- 
cations to  the  newspapers  and  other  public  prints  touching  the  movements  of  the  squadron  or 
the  discijiline  and  internal  regulations  of  the  vessels  composing  it ;  and  even  private  letters  to 
friends  were  to  avoid  these  topics.  All  journals  and  private  notes  kept  by  members  of  the 
expedition  were  to  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the  government  until  permission  should  be 
given  from  the  Navy  Department  to  publish  them.  The  object  of  these  regulations  was  to 
withhold  information  from  other  powers  which,  if  communicated,  might  jeopard  the  success  of 
our  mission.  It  was  known  that  other  nations,  particularly  Eussia,  had  ordered  ships  to  Japan 
as  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the  United  States  had  sent  there  a  squadron.  Now,  the  cor- 
respondence of  scientific  gentleman  with  their  friends  and  families  was  a  delicate  siibject  to  be 
discussed  between  them  and  the  commander.  The  latter  would  neither  demand  to  see  their 
letters  nor  prescribe  the  topics  on  which  they  might-  write.  It  was,  therefore,  best  to  avoid 
embarrassment  by  preventing  the  possibility  of  its  occurrence. 

Some  professional  feeling  also  influenced  the  determination  of  the  Commodore.  He  supposed 
that  it  was  desirable  to  cherish  a  taste  for  scientific  observation  and  study  among  the  officers  of 
the  navy,  many  of  whom  are  already  not  without  reputation  in  science.  If  an  opportunity 
were  afforded  them,  and  facilities  furnished  for  observation,  it  would  make  them  students  of 
science  ;  and  though  they  might  not  always,  in  their  early  eflbrts,  be  able  to  account 
philosophically  for  what  they  saw,  yet  they  could  record  facts  which  others  might  explain  ;  and, 
as  they  would  never  forget  the  facts  or  the  explanations,  they  would  thus  be  adding  to  their 
stores  of  scientific  knowledge.  Many  of  the  officers  of  our  army  ar,e  scientific  men ;  there  is 
no  reason  why  our  naval  officers  should  not  be  so  also. 

These  were  the  general  causes  which  led  the  Commodore  to  the  determination  we  have 
mentioned,  without  reference  to  persons.  It  is  proper,  however,  to  add,  that,  with  respect  to 
one  individual,  who  manifested  extraordinary  desire  to  be  of  the  expedition,  and  who  has 
published  untruths  concerning  it  since  its  return,  (Dr.  Von  Siebold,)  Commodore  Perry  refused 
on  personal  grounds.  From  information  received  from  abroad,  he  suspected  him  of  being  a 
Russian  spy,  and  he  knew  that  he  had  been  banished  from  Japan,  where,  by  a  violation  of 
law,  he  had  forfeited  his  life. 

On  the  Commodore's  return  from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  he  found  that  the  vessels  under 
his  command  were  by  no  means  ready  for  sea  ;  and,  leaving  New  York,  he  proceeded  in  the 
Mississippi  to  Annapolis.  He  was  not  long  in  making  the  discovery  that,  unless  he  sailed 
alone  and  trusted  to  the  chances  of  being  joined  at  uncertain  periods  by  the  vessels  assigned  to 
his  command,  and  then  under  equipment,  he  might  be  detained  in  the  United  States  several 
months  longer.  He  therefore,  with  the  approbation  of  the  Navy  Department,  determined  to 
proceed  on  his  voyage  in  the  Mississippi  without  further  delay  ;  with  the  understanding  that  he 
should  be  followed,  as  soon  as  possible,  by  the  other  vessels  of  the  squadron. 

Before  leaving  Annapolis,  President  Fillmore,  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  many 
other  persons  of  distinction,  both  ladies  and  gentlemen,  visited  the  ship  and  bade  farewell  to 
the  Commodore  and  his  officers.  As  the  Mississippi  and  Princeton  steamed  down  the 
Chesapeake  bay,  the  discovery  was  made  of  the  entire  unfitness  of  the  last  named  vessel  to  make 
the  contemplated  voyage.     Her  machinery  failed,  and  it  wa.s  on  the  arrival  at  Norfolk    that 


80 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


the  Powhatan  (which  had  then  just  arrived  from  the  West  Indies)  "was  substituted  for  the 
Princeton. 

The  Commodore,  tired  of  delays,  was  not  disposed  to  wait  any  longer  for  a  consort,  and, 
accordingly,  on  the  24th  of  November,  1852,  the  Mississippi  cdone  took  her  departure  from 
Norfolk,  on  the  mission  to  Japan,  with  the  intention  of  touching  on  the  outward  passage, 
for  supplies  of  coal  and  refreshments,  at  Madeira,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Mauritius,  and 
Singapore. 


VOTAGB    FROM     THE    CHESAPEAKE     TO     MADEIRA. 


81 


m    >♦■    ■ 


CHAPTER  II. 


TOTACE    FROM  THE   CAPES   OF   THE  CHESAPEAKE  TO  MADEIRA. — VIEW    OF    THE    ISLAND. — FUNCHAL. — HOSPITALITY    OF    THE   INHAB- 
ITANTS.  SALUBRITY     OF     THE    CLIMATE. EXPORTS     OF     THE     ISLAND. NOVEL     MODE     OF     CONVETANXE. DEPARTURE     FROM 

MADEIRA    AND    ARRIVAL    AT    THE     CANARIES. EARLY    FAILURE    OF    NORTHEAST    TRADES  EXTRAORDINARY    SWELL    FROM    THE 

NORTHWEST. GENERAL    ORDER    AS    TO    PRIVATE    JOURNALS    AND    COMMUNICATIONS     TO    PUBLIC     PRINTS. GENERAL    ORDER    AS 

TO    SCIENTIFIC    INVESTIGATIONS    BY    OFFICERS. THE    "hARMATTAN,"    CONSIDERATION     OF    HYPOTHESES    AS    TO    ITS    ORIGIN. 

SOUTHEAST    TRADES. SHIP    STEERED    FOR    ST.  HELENA. OBSERVATIONS    ON    THE    CURRENTS. CHAPLAIn's    OBSERVATIONS    ON 

THE    ZODIACAL     LIGHTS. ARRIVAL    AT    ST.    HELENA. DESCRIPTION     OF     THE    ISLAND.— JAMESTOWN. LONGWOOD. TOMB    OF 

NAPOLEON. THE    CALCULATING    HOSPITALITY    OF    THE    INHABITANTS    OF    THE    ISLAND. ADVENTURE    OF    LIEUTENANT . 

FORTIFICATIONS     OF    THE    ISLAND. THEIR    SUFFICIENCY    AGAINST     SAILING    VESSELS. PROBABLE    INSUFFICIENCY    AGAINST    AM 

APPROACH    FROM    THE    WEST    BY    STEAM. DEPARTURE    FROM    ST.    HELENA. 


N  leaving  the  capes  of  the  Chesapeake,  the  wind  for  ten 
days  was  strong  from  the  southward  ;  it  then  changed 
to  N.N.E.,  making  a  heavy  "  wallowing"  sea;  and  then, 
hauling  to  the  westward,  hlew  with  such  violence  as  to  render 
the  ship  uncomfortable.  She,  however,  sustained  the  high 
opinion  the  Commodore  entertained  of  her  good  qualities, 
behaving  (as  she  always  had  done)  most  admirably,  and 
averaging  more  than  seven  knots  during  the  whole  passage. 
Though  unusually  deep  in  the  water,  but  eight  of  her  twelve 
furnaces  were  put  in  requisition,  and  her  daily  consumption 
of  Cumberland  coal  was  about  twenty-six  tons. 

After  crossing  the  Gulf  stream  a  southwestern  current 
per  liuur  was  experienced  ;  and  this  continued  until  the  ship  was  within  a 
thousand  miles  of  Madeira,  when  it  ceased  entirely.  No  other  current  was  observed  during  the 
remainder  of  the  passage  to  the  island. 

The  land  was  made  on  the  evening  of  December  11th,  seventeen  days  after  leaving  Norfolk. 
On  making  the  northern  extremity  of  the  island,  "Point  Atristow,"  the  wind  was  blowing  a 
gale  from  the  W.S.W.,  which  occasioned  a  heavy  "rolling"  sea.  The  ship  was,  therefore, 
run  along  the  northern  end  of  the  island  with  the  view  of  finding  smoother  water,  the  more 
conveniently  to  bend  the  cables. 

In  coa.sting  the  i.sland,  several  very  pretty  villages  were  obseivi'd  occupying  sheltered  nooks, 
usually  at  the  bottom  of  some  ravine,  and  near  an  indentation  of  tiie  coast,   which   offered 
11  J 


of  about 


knoi 


82 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


indifferent  anchorage  to  the  small  vessels  employed  in  transporting  the  produce  of  the  island  to 
the  shipping  port,  "Fiinchal." 

What  added  to  the  beauty  of  the  scenery  and  roused  the  admiration  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
artists  of  the  cxi)edition  was,  that,  as  the  rainy  season  had  just  passed,  the  torrents  could  he 
seen  from  the  ship  rushing  down  the  sides  of  the  mountains  and  forming  in  their  descent  many 
beautiful  cascades. 


-  "~     -_jf<A/>  ltd. 


View  of  Kunchal,   Mutieira. 


Knowing  that  the  wind,  for  the  last  few  days,  nuist  have  thrown  into  the  bay  of  Funchal  a 
heavy  swell,  rendering  anchorage  there  unsafe,  it  was  determined  to  run  under  the  lee  of  the 
"  Deserters,"  and  there  wait  a  favorable  moment  for  anchoring  in  the  roads.  But  on  rounding 
the  southeastern  point  of  the  island  it  was  found  that  the  wind  had  considerably  abated,  and 
had  hauled  to  the  northward  of  west,  making  it  safe  to  proceed  immediately  to  the  anchorage  ; 
and  accordingly,  just  at  dark,  on  the  12tli,  the  ship  came  to  anchor  in  thirty-three  fathoms, 
the  castle  back  of  the  town  just  open  with  the  Loo  rock. 

The  vice  consul  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Beyman,  with  several  coal  agents  were  soon  along- 
side, and  arrangements  were  promptly  made  to  send  on  board  all  the  coal  and  water  that  might 
be  required,  so  that  the  vessel  would  be  ready  to  sail  on  the  next  Wednesday  night.  Accord- 
ingly, at  daylight  the  next  morning,  (Monday,  the  13th,)  lighters  containing  coal  and  water 
were  seen  coming  off,  and  by  Wednesday,  at  four  o'clock,  p.  m.,  between  four  and  five  hundred 
tons  of  coal,  and  ten  thousand  gallons  of  water,  with  many  other  articles,  had  been  received  on 
board.  It  may  here  be  remarked,  tliat  the  coal  agents  were  very  desirous  that  the  vessel  should 
be  anchored  much  nearer  the  town,  in  about  ten  fathoms,  and  in  a  position  where  she  would  bo 


HOSPITALITY     OF     THE     INHABITANTS. 


83 


sheltered  from  the  -westerly  winds  by  the  Loo  rock  ;  but  iipon  an  observation  of  the  locality, 
the  Commodore  was  satisfied  that  in  blowing  weather  it  would  be  difficult  even  for  a  steamer  to 
get  safely  out  from  such  an  anchorage,  and  he  therefore  positively  forbade  the  removal  of  the 
vessel  to  the  spot  indicated.  The  anchorage  anywhere  in  Funchal  bay  is  unsafe  in  the  winter 
season,  and  vessels  lying  in  the  road,  when  expecting  a  gale  from  S.E.  around  to  W.S.W. 
generally  put  to  sea,  and  remain  out  until  the  return  of  fine  weather.  In  fact,  Funchal,  which 
lies  on  the  south  side  of  the  island,  has  only  an  open  roadstead,  with  a  very  rocky  and  uneven 
anchorage.  The  whole  island  is  a  mass  of  basalt.  From  November  to  February  gales  prevail 
from  the  southeast  and  southwest,  rendering  the  roadstead  very  dangerous. 


adelra. 


Funchal  still  retains  its  character  for  hospitality,  and  by  no  one  was  this  virtue  more 
gracefully  exercised  towards  the  members  of  the  expedition  than  by  Mr.  J.  H.  March,  who  for  more 
than  thirty  years  has  filled  the  office  of  consul  of  the  United  States,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of 


84 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


his  large  fortune  takes  delight  in  making  welcome  to  his  houses,  hoth  in  town  and  country, 
such  of  his  countrymen  as  are  deserving  of  his  attentions. 

The  town  consists  of  a  Avide  street  along  the  sea  shore,  containing  several  good  buildino's. 
From  this,  numerous  small  streets  extend  hack  at  right  angles,  for  a  considerable  distance  up  the 
slope  of  the  hill.  Tlie  population  amounts  to  some  twenty  thousand.  The  commerce  of  the 
island  is  considerable,  and  most  of  it  is  with  England.  Its  exports  have  been  said  to  amount 
to  the  value  of  £500,000  per  annum.  Wine  is  the  principal  commodity.  When  the  island 
was  first  settled  by  the  Portuguese,  sugar  was  cultivated  to  a  considerable  extent,  but  this  was 
discontinued  after  the  West  Indies  were  brought  under  culture,  and  wine  became  the  staple. 

The  salubrity  of  the  climate  has  made  Funchal  a  resort  for  invalids  and  hence  it  is  not 
difficult  to  find  in  it  agreeable  and  refined  society.  The  greater  number  of  those  who  visit  the 
island  are  English,  and  the  known  love  of  Englishmen  for  exercise  in  the  open  air  has  led  to 
the  introduction  of  some  novel  modes  of  afibrding  to  invalids  the  benefit  of  locomotion. 

r  -  -^     --'""■  "-      -^  ._  As  the  streets  of  the  city  are  paved  in 

~!7Ss^i£^--^.-  '-_  ^  such  manner  as  to  forbid  the  use  of  wheel 

carriages,  sedan  chairs  and  hammocks 
were,  until  very  recently,  used  not  only 
for  invalids,  but  by  all  persons  making 
■|?  visits.  The  inconvenience  of  these  ve- 
f\  hides  has  led  to  a  substitute,  which  con- 
sists of  nothing  more  than  the  ordinary 
sledge  used  for  transporting  casks  of  wine 
as*,,s5^  and  other  heavy  articles  through  the 
streets,  surmounted  by  a  gaily  decorated 
carriage  body,  and  drawn  by  a  yoke  of 
oxen.  This  is  now  the  fashionable  conveyance,  and  in  such  an  one  did  the  Commodore,  with 
his  flag  captain  and  aid,  make  all  his  official  visits.  There  are  stands  in  the  streets,  as  for  our 
cabs  and  carriages,  where  these  vehicles  may  be  found  with  the  oxen  yoked,  and  all  things 
prepared  for  immediate  transportation. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  there  are  no  other  modes  of  conveyance  ;  horseback 
riding  may  be  seen,  and  the  fair  equestrian  makes  her  ap])earance  without  an  attendant  cavalier 
or  groom,  but  with  a  footman,  who  keeps  pace  with  the  easy  gait  of  the  horse,  and  protects  him 
from  the  annoyance  of  flies  and  other  insects.  Asses  are  common,  and  are  probably  the  best 
beasts  of  burden  on  such  roads  as  the  island  possesses. 

Wliile  the  ship  was  at  Madeira,  the  Commodore,  who  had  reflected  much  and  anxiously  on 
the  important  mission  with  which  he  had  been  entrusted,  thought  it  best  to  bring  distinctly 
before  the  department  the  views  he  entertained  of  the  steps  he  ought  to  undertake,  more 
particularly  as  so  much  was  necessarily  confided  to  his  discretion.  He  accordingly  addressed  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  an  official  communication,  which  is  here  presented,  not  only  as 
afibrding  a  record  of  his  matured  opinions  on  the  important  work  before  him,  but  also  as 
furnishing  the  reader  with  the  means  of  ascertaining,  as  he  i)rocec(ls  in  the  narrative,  how  far 
the  Commodore's  anticipations  were  fulfilled,  and  Imw  nearly  he  was  enabled  to  folluw  out  his 
original  intentions. 


VIEWS     OF    COMMODORE     PERRY     ON     THE     MISSION.  85 

Commodore  Fei-ry  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

United  States  Steam  Frigate  Mississippi, 

Madeira,  December  14,  1852. 

Sir:  Since  leaving  the  United  States  I  have  had  leisure  to  reflect  more  fully  upon  the 
jjrohable  result  of  my  visit  to  Jajian,  and  though  there  is  still  some  doubt  in  my  mind  as  to  the 
chances  of  immediate  success  in  bringing  that  strange  government  to  any  practicable  negotia- 
tion, yet  I  feel  confident  that  in  the  end  the  great  object  in  view  will  be  effected. 

As  a  preliminary  step,  and  one  of  easy  accomplishment,  one  or  more  ports  of  refuge  and 
supply  to  our  whaling  and  other  ships  must  at  once  be  secured ;  and  should  the  Japanese 
government  object  to  the  granting  of  such  ports  upon  the  main  land,  and  if  they  cannot  be 
occupied  without  resort  to  force  and  bloodshed^  then  it  will  be  desirable  in  the  beginning,  and 
indeed,  necessary,  that  the  squadron  should  establish  places  of  rendezvous  at  one  or  two  of  the 
islands  south  of  Japan,  having  a  good  harbor,  and  possessing  facilities  for  obtaining  water  and 
supplies,  and  seek  by  kindness  and  gentle  treatment  to  conciliate  the  inhabitants  so  as  to  bring 
about  their  friendly  intercourse. 

The  islands  called  the  Lew  Chew  group  are  said  to  be  dependencies  of  Japan,  as  conquered 
by  that  power  centuries  ago,  but  their  actual  sovereignty  is  disputed  by  the  government  of 
China. 

These  islands  come  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  prince  of  Satsuma,  the  most  powerful  of  the 
princes  of  the  Empire,  and  the  same  who  caused  the  unarmed  American  ship  Morrison,  on  a  visit 
of  mercy,  to  be  decoyed  into  one  of  his  ports  and  then  fired  upon  from  the  batteries  hastily 
erected.  He  exercises  his  rights  more  from  the  influence  of  the  fear  of  the  simple  islanders  than 
from  any  power  to  coerce  their  obedience ;  disarmed,  as  they  long  have  been,  from  motives  of 
policy,  they  have  no  means,  even  if  they  had  the  inclination,  to  rebel  against  the  grinding 
oppression  of  their  rulers. 

Kow,  it  strikes  me,  that  the  occupation  of  the  principal  jjorts  of  those  islands  for  the  accom- 
modation of  our  ships  of  war,  and  for  the  safe  resort  of  merchant  vessels  of  whatever  nation, 
would  be  a  measure  not  only  justified  by  the  strictest  rules  of  moral  law,  but  what  is  also  to  be 
considered,  by  the  laws  of  stern  necessity;  and  the  argument  may  be  further  strengthened  by  the 
certain  consequences  of  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  natives,  although  the  vices 
attendant  upon  civilization  may  be  entailed  upon  them.     ' 

In  my  former  commands  upon  the  coast  of  Africa  and  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  it  fell  to 
my  lot  to  subjugate  many  towns  and  communities,  I  found  no  difliculty  in  conciliating  the  good 
will  and  confidence  of  the  conquered  people,  by  administering  the  unrestricted  power  I  held 
rather  to  their  comfort  and  protection  than  to  their  annoyance  ;  and  when  the  naval  forces  left, 
they  carried  with  them  the  gratitude  and  good  wishes  of  their  former  enemies  ;  and  so  I  believe 
that  the  people  of  the  islands  spoken  of,  if  treated  with  strict  justice  and  gentle  kindness,  will 
render  confidence  for  confidence,  and  after  a  while  the  Japanese  will  learn  to  consider  us  their 
friends. 

In  establishing  those  ports  of  refuge  it  will  be  desirable  to  provide  the  means  of  supply  to  the 
vessels  that  may  resort  to  them,  and  hence  the  necessity  of  encouraging  the  natives  in  the 
cultivation  of  fruits,  vegetables,  &c.  ;  and  to  carry  out,  in  part,  this  object,  garden  seeds  have 
been  provided  ;  but  to  pursue  the  purpose  still  furtiicr,  I  have  thought  that  if  a  few  of  the  more 
simple  agricultural  implements  of  our  own  country  were  sent  to  me  fur  use,  and  for  presents, 


86  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

they  would  contribute  most  essentially  to  the  end  in  view  ;  such,  for  instance,  as  the  common 
cultivator,  the  plough  and  harrow,  spades,  hoes  of  various  kinds,  the  threshing  and  winnowing 
machines,  and  especially  those  inventions  for  separating  the  cotton  from  its  seed,  and  rice  from 
its  husks. 

And  with  reference,  also,  to  the  subject  of  my  letter  to  Mr.  Folsome,  charge  at  the  Hague,  a 
copy  of  which  has  been  enclosed  to  the  Department  of  State,  it  would  be  good  policy  to 
counteract  the  discreditable  machinations  of  the  Dutch,  by  circulating  printed  publications 
representing  the  true  condition  of  the  various  governments  of  the  world,  and  especially  to  set 
forth  the  extraordinary  prosperity  of  the  United  States  under  their  genial  laws. 

To  effect  this  object,  I  am  already  provided  with  works  for  presentation,  descriptive  of  the 
civil  and  political  condition  of  the  United  States,  such  as  the  census  tables,  post-office  and 
railroad  reports,  reports  of  the  Indian  and  Land  offices,  military  and  naval  registers,  also  with 
the  magnificent  publications  of  the  State  of  New  York,  &c. 

And  I  have  thought  that  a  small  printing  press,  with  type  and  materials,  would  go  far  to 
facilitate  our  plans,  by  giving  us  the  means  of  putting  forth  information  calculated  to  disabuse 
the  Japanese  of  the  misrepresentations  of  the  Dutch. 

The  government  of  Japan  keeps  in  employment  linguists  in  all  modern  languages  ;  and  such 
is  their  curiosity,  that  these  publications,  if  admitted  at  all,  will  soon  be  translated. 

Having  thus,  at  least  in  anticipation,  established  harbors  of  resort,  and  organized  certain 
rules  of  equity  to  govern  our  intercourse  with  the  natives  in  the  payment  for  labor,  supplies, 
&c.,  and  having  depots  of  provisions  and  coal  near  at  hand,  we  shall  be  able  to  act  with 
more  effect  in  bringing  about  some  friendly  understanding  with  the  imperial  government. 
At  all  events,  steamers,  or  whatever  vessels  that  may  be  passing  to  and  from  California  and 
China,  will  find  safe  harbors  in  their  way,  and  it  may  reasonably  be  expected  that  in  the  course 
of  time  the  intercourse  thus  brought  about  will  lead  to  a  better  understanding  of  our  pacific 
intentions.  ' 

It  may  be  said  that  my  anticipations  are  too  sanguine.  Perhaps  they  are,  but  I  feel  a 
strong  confidence  of  success.  Indeed,  success  may  be  commanded  by  our  government,  and  it 
should  be,  under  whatever  circumstances,  accomplished.  The  honor  of  the  nation  calls  for  it, 
and  the  interest  of  commerce  demands  it.  When  we  look  at  the  possessions  in  the  east  of  our 
great  maritime  rival,  England,  and  of  the  constant  and  rapid  increase  of  their  fortified  ports, 
we  should  be  admonished  of  the  necessity  of  prompt  measures  on  our  part. 

By  reference  to  the  map  of  the  world,  it  will  be  seen  tbat  Great  Britain  is  already  in  posses- 
sion of  the  most  important  points  in  the  East  India  and  China  seas,  and  especially  with  reference 
to  the  China  seas. 

With  Singapore  commanding  the  southwestern,  while  Hong  Kong  covers  the  northeastern 
entrance,  and  with  the  island  of  Labuan  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Borneo,  an  intermediate  point, 
she  will  have  the  power  of  shutting  up  at  will  and  controlling  the  enormous  trade  of  those 
seas,  amounting,  it  is  said,  in  value  to  300,000  tons  of  shipping,  carrying  cargoes  certainly  not 
under  £15,000,000  sterling.* 

Fortunately  the  Japanese  and  many  other  islands  of  the  Pacific  are  still  left  untouched  by 
this  "  annexing"  government ;  and,  as  some  of  them  lay  in  the  route  of  a  commerce  which  is 
destined  to  become  of  great  importance  to  the  United  States,  no  time  should  be  lost  in  adopting 

'  See  Governor  Crawford's  opinion,  in  "  The  Expedition  to  Borneo  by  Her  Majesty's  .Ship  Dido,"  chapter  24,  published  by 
Harper  Brothers,  New  York,  1846. 


A  R  R  I  V  A  L     A  T     T  II  E     0  A  X  A  R  I  E  3 .  87 

active  measures  to  secure  a  sufficient  number  of  ports  of  refuge.     And  hence  I  shall  look  with 
much  anxiety  for  tlic  arrival  of  the  Powhatan  and  the  other  vessels  to  be  sent  to  me. 

I  liave  thus  exhibited,  in  this  crude  and  informal  communication,  my  views  upon  a  subject 
which  is  exciting  extraordinary  attention  throughout  the  world,  and  I  trust  the  department 
will  approve  the  course  I  propose  to  pursue. 

With  great  respect,  I  am,  sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

M.  C.  PERRY, 

Commanding  East  India  Squadron. 
Hon.  John  P.  Kexxedt, 

Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Washington. 

The  answer  to  this  communication  did  not,  of  course,  reach  the  Commodore  for  many  months  • 
but  as  it  preserves  the  continuity  of  the  transaction,  as  well  as  shows  the  spirit  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  its  confidence  in  the  Commodore,  it  is  inserted  in  the  note  below.* 

On  the  evening  of  Wednesday,  December  15,  the  Mississippi  weighed  anchor  and  proceeded 
to  sea,  under  steam,  shaping  her  course  to  pass  to  the  westward  of  Palma,  one  of  the  Canaries. 
This  island  was  made  at  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  ITth,  and  after  reachino-  the  lee  of 
Hierro  or  Ferro,  the  southwesternmost  of  the  group,  the  immersed  floats  or  paddle  boards  on 
each  side  of  the  vessel  were  removed,  the  fires  were  extinguished  and  the  ship  left  entirely 
dependent  upon  her  sails. 

This  change  was  made  from  an  expectation  that  the  ship  would  soon  be  under  the  impulse  ot 
the  northeast  trade  winds.  At  the  time  the  floats  were  removed  there  was  a  moderate  breeze 
from  E.S.E.,  which  it  was  supposed  would  gradually  settle  into  the  northeast  trades  ;  but,  much 
to  the  surprise  of  the  officers  of  the  ship,  it  liauled  more  to  the  southward,  and  eventually 
came  from  the  S.S.W.  Such  was  the  obscurity  of  the  weather  at  the  Canaries  that  Teneriffe 
was  not  seen  at  all,  and  but  an  indistinct  view  was  obtained  of  Gomera.     This  was  the  more 


*  .Mr.  Ererelt  to  Commodore  Perry. 

Department  of  State,  Washington,  February  15,  1853. 

Sir  :  Your  dispatch  of  the  14th  of  December  has  been  referred  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  this  department,  and  by  me 
submitted  to  the  President. 

The  President  concurs  with  you  in  the  opinion  that  it  is  highly  desirable,  probably  necessary  for  the  safety  of  the  expedition 
under  your  command,  that  you  should  secure  one  or  more  ports  of  refuge  of  easy  access.  If  you  find  that  these  cannot  be 
obtained  in  the  Japanese  islands  without  resort  to  force,  it  will  be  necessary  that  you  should  seek  them  elsewhere.  The 
President  agrees  with  you  in  thinking  that  you  are  most  likely  to  succeed  in  this  object  in  the  Lew  Chew  island.s.  Thcv  are 
from  their  position,  well  adapted  to  the  purpose  ;  and  the  friendly  and  peaceful  character  of  the  natives  encourages  the  hope 
that  your  visit  will  be  welcomed  by  them. 

In  establishing  yourself  at  one  or  two  convenient  points  in  those  islands,  with  the  consent  of  the  natives,  vou  will  yourself 
pursue  the  most  friendly  and  conciliatory  course,  and  enjoin  the  same  conduct  on  all  under  your  command.  Take  no  supplies 
from  them  except  by  fair  purchase,  for  a  satisfaclory  consideration.  Forbid,  and  at  all  hazards  prevent  plunder  and  acts  of 
violence  on  the  part  of  your  men  toward  these  simple  and  unwarlike  people,  for  such  they  are  described  to  bo.  Let  them  from 
the  first  see  that  your  coming  among  them  is  a  benefit,  and  not  an  evil  to  them.  .Make  no  use  of  force,  except  in  tlic  last  resort 
for  defence,  if  attacked,  and  self-(  reservation. 

The  President  approves  the  idea  suggested  by  you  of  encouraging  the  natives  to  turn  their  attention  to  agriculture,  and  has 
given  orderK  to  have  the  implements  of  husbandry  mentioned  by  you  sent  out  by  the  Vermont.  He  has  also  directed  a  small 
printing  press,  with  type  and  materials  for  printing  of  all  kinds,  to  be  sent  out  by  the  Vermont. 

The  President  is  gratified  to  perceive  that  you  ar?  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the  enterprise  confided  to  your  direction, 
the  success  of  which  will  mainly  depend  upon  your  prudence  and  address.  It  will  attract  a  large  shar :  of  the  attention  of  the 
civilized  world  :  and  the  President  feels  great  confidence  that  the  measures  adopted  by  you  will  reflect  credit  on  your  own 
wisdom  and  discretion,  and  do  honor  to  your  country. 

I  am,  sir,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

EDWARD  EVERETT 
Commodore  M.  C.  Pkrrt, 

Commanding  the  United  States  naval  forces  in  the  Chi ,  4 


88  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

remarkable,  because,  as  Baron  Humboldt  has  remarked,  altbough  tbe  peak  of  Teneriffe  is 
seldom  seen  at  a  great  distance  in  the  warm,  dry  months  of  July  and  August,  yet  in  January 
and  February,  when  the  sky  is  slightly  clouded,  and  immediately  before  or  after  a  heavy  rain,  it 
is  seen  at  very  cxtraordinar}'  distances.  Tliis  arises  irom  the  fact  that  when  a  certain  quantity 
of  water  is  uniformly  diffused  through  the  atmosphere  its  transparency  is  thereby  greatly 
increased. 

There  was  a  circumstance  which  the  Commodore  had  observed  ever  since  the  ship  left 
Norfolk,  a  month  before,  and  which  surprised  him  not  a  little.  He  found  an  extraordinary 
swell  coming  from  the  northwest,  and  which  never  intermitted  for  a  moment  until  the  ship  was 
fairly  within  the  trades  ;  and  even  then  its  influence  could  be  felt  in  the  disturbance  of  the 
usually  regular  sea  produced  by  the  periodical  winds,  and  by  the  production  of  a  disagreeable 
cross  movement  of  the  waves.  It  was  difficult  to  account  for  this  swell  so  long  continued  ;  it 
was  quite  certain  the  ship  had  experienced  no  violence  of  wind  sufficient  to  produce  it  in  the 
region  which  she  had  traversed,  and  since  the  18th  the  winds  had  been  quite  moderate.  The 
conjecture  of  the  Commodore  was  that  there  must  have  been  in  the  higher  latitudes  a  succession 
of  northwesterly  gales,  which  had  prevailed  long  enough  to  set  in  motion  an  ocean  wave  which 
was  never  subdued  until  it  came  in  contact  with  the  steady,  though  more  quiet,  tropical  swell. 

This  swell,  too,  possibly  had  an  effect  in  throwing  further  south  than  usual  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  trades.  From  the  time  of  removing  the  floats  up  to  the  20th  the  wind 
continued  from  the  southward  and  westward  ;  it  then  hauled  to  the  northward  and  westward, 
and  finally  into  the  northeast ;  and  it  was  not  until  about  this  period,  about  8  p.  m.  of  the 
20th,  in  latitude  25°  44'  north,  longitude  20°  23'  west,  that  the  ship  could  be  considered  fairly 
to  have  entered  the  trades.  This  is  a  point  unusually  far  south  for  the  northern  boundary  of 
these  winds  at  this  season ;  for  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  the  northern  and  southern  boundaries 
of  the  zone  of  the  trade  winds  are  variable.  The  southeast  has  its  northern  boundary  furthest 
to  the  north  during  our  summer  ;  the  northeast  is  then  weakest.  In  our  winter  this  state  of 
things  is  exactly  reversed.  In  our  autumn  the  zone  of  the  trades  reaches  its  greatest  northern 
declination  ;  and  in  our  spring  it  is  at  its  utmost  southern  limit. 

On  the  22d  of  December,  the  Commodore  issued  a  general  order,  promulgating  the  directions 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  forbidding  communications  to  the  public  prints  at  home  touching 
the  movements  of  the  squadron,  and  prohibiting  also  such  infomation  through  the  mediimi  of 
private  letters  to  friends.  The  Secretary  also  required  that  private  notes  and  journals  kept  by 
any  members  of  the  expedition  should  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the  government  until  their 
publication  should  be  expressly  permitted  by  the  Navy  Department. 

A  second  general  order,  issued  the  next  day,  was  as  follows  : 

"  Entertaining  the  opinion  that  the  talents  and  acquirements  of  the  officers  of  the  squadron, 
if  properh  directed  and  brought  into  action,  will  be  found  equal  to  a  plain  and  practical 
examination  and  elucidation  of  the  various  objects  i)ertaining  to  the  arts  and  sciences  that  may 
come  under  their  observation  during  the  present  cruise,  and  being  aware  of  the  limited 
accommodations  of  the  vessels  under  my  command,  I  have  invariably  objected  to  the  em^jloy- 
ment  of  persons  drawn  from  civil  life  to  conduct  those  departments  more  immediately  connected 
with  science. 

"Therefore  I  have  to  request  and  direct,  that  each  officer  of  the  respective  .ships  will  eni])loy 
such  portions  of  his  time  as  can  be  spared  from  his  regular  duties  and  proper  hours  of  relaxation, 
in  contributing  to  the  general  mass  of  information  whicli  it  is  desirable  to  collect;  and  in  order 


THE      "HARM  ATT  AN."  89 

to  simplify  and  metliodise  these  researches,  a  paper  is  subjoined  particularising  the  various 
departments  in  reference  to  which  information  is  more  especially  wanted ;  so  that  each  officer 
may  select  one  or  more  of  those  departments  most  congenial  to  liis  tastes  and  inclinations. 

"All  captains  and  commanders  are  required  to  render  every  facility  consistent  witli  tlie  proper 
duties  of  their  respective  vessels  to  those  officers  who  may  manifest  a  zealous  co-operation  in  the 
pursuits  herein  specified;  and  it  is  to  be  plainly  understood  that  I  do  not  officially  require  the 
officers  to  perform  any  involuntary  duty.  I  shall  exact  that  only  which  may  come  within  the 
legitimate  sphere  of  my  authority,  leaving  to  the  officers  themselves  to  engage,  as  far  as  tliey 
may  see  fit  only,  in  those  investigations  which,  in  an  official  point  of  view,  may  be  considered 
as  on  their  parts  gratuitous. 

"It  will  always  give  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  bring  to  notice  the  labors  of  each  and  every 
individual  who  may  contribute  to  the  general  work."  * 

During  the  21st,  22d,  and  23d  of  December,  the  wind  continued  from  the  northward  and 
eastward ;  about  noon  of  the  23d  it  inclined  to  the  southward  of  east,  hauling  around  at  night, 
however,  more  to  the  north;  and  on  the  24th,  when  the  ship  was  abreast  of  Brava  and  Fogo, 
it  stood  at  E.N.E. 

The  haze,  however,  was  such  that  nothing  more  than  a  glimpse  could  be  obtained  of  Fogo ; 
and  the  winds  are  thus  particularly  referred  to  above  because  of  their  possible  connexion,  at 
this  time,  with  the  haze.  They  are  physical  facts,  and  therefore  ought  to  be  recorded.  This 
haze  is  common  to  these  latitudes,  and  is  by  many  supposed  to  be  caused  by  what  is  called  the 
"Harmattan."  This  is  the  name  given  to  a  wind  which,  passing  over  Africa,  takes  up  in  its 
sweep,  as  is  supposed,  an  impalpable  dust,  and  carries  it  far  away  to  the  westward.  The 
Commodore  himself  had  remarked  the  haze  or  dust,  on  former  cruises,  more  than  five  hundred 
miles  west  of  the  Cape  de  Verd  islands.  When  commanding  a  squadron,  in  1844,  on  the 
western  coast  of  Africa,  he  had  carefully  noted  several  facts  connected  with  this  wind,  certainly 
the  most  remarkable  on  that  coast.  A  thousand  incredible  stories  are  told  of  its  singular  effects. 
It  is  said,  for  instance,  that  its  dry  and  subtle  properties  will  check  or  cure  various  diseases, 
heal  up  the  most  inveterate  ulcers,  destroy  cabinet  work,  break  window  glass,  and  stop  the 
motion  of  timepieces.  But  apart  from  these  strange  stories,  it  must  still  be  said  that  the  effects 
of  this  wind  are  extraordinary.  In  some  respects  it  resembles  the  Sirocco,  and  also  the 
Levanter  of  the  Grecian  archipelago. 

It  commences  about  the  middle  of  December,  and  continues  until  the  latter  end  of  March. 
Like  the  Sirocco,  it  has  been  supposed  to  take  its  rise  in  the  deserts  of  Africa  ;  but,  unlike  the 
Sirocco,  instead  of  producing  a  burning  and  oppressive  temperature,  it  is  a  chilling  wind.  Its 
direction  is  always  from  the  land,  and  it  sometimes  increases  to  a  strong  breeze;  it  does  not, 
however,  blow  steadily  during  its  season,  but  frequently  intermits,  when  land  or  sea  breezes 
take  its  place. 

At  the  Cape  de  Verds  and  the  Gambia,  the  "Harmattan"  appears  to  form  a  junction  with 
the  northeast  trades  prevailing  there  at  a  certain  season,  and  to  blow  witli  little  interruption 
from  January  until  April. 

•The  subjects  suggested  by  the  Commodurc,  in  liis  order,  embraced  hydrography,  meteoroli'gy,  naval  architecture  in  its 
adaptation  to  war  and  commerce,  military  afTairs,  geology,  geography,  terrchtrial  iiiagmtism,  pliilulogy  and  ethiiol'igy,  artistic 
matters,  costumes,  &c,,  religions,  diseases  and  sanitary  laws,  agriculture,  statistics  ot'  supplies,  botany,  entomology, 
ornithology,  zoology,  conchology,  iciithiology,  and  the  magnetic  telegrap.'i ;  and  wc  trust  the  appendices  to  this  narrative  will 
show  that  the  commander  did  not  misjudge  either  as  to  the  attainments  or  zeal  of  his  otHcers. 

12  J 


90  EXPEDITIONTOJAPAN. 

Tlic  hypothesis  of  some  is,  that  in  passing  over  the  deserts  and  lands  of  Africa  the 
"Harmattan"  takes  up  an  immense  quantity  of  sand  and  dust,  sufficient  to  form  a  floating 
mass,  producing:  an  atmospliere  so  hazy  as  frequently  to  obscure  the  sim,  and  prevent  a  sight  of 
the  land  at  the  distance  of  five  miles  only.  There  is  no  doubt  of  the  wind,  the  dust,  and  the 
hazy  atmosphere,  and  possibly  the  latter  may  be  occasioned  entirely  by  the  dust.  At  the  season 
of  the  ' '  Harmattan ' '  this  peculiar  atmosphere  may  always  be  seen  at-  the  Cape  de  Verd  islands, 
four  hundred  miles  from  the  continent,  and  is  constantly  falling  in  quantities  sufficient  to  cover 
the  sails,  rigging,  and  deck  of  a  ship.  It  is  also  said  to  have  been  met  with  seven  hundred 
miles  further  westward. 

Recent  investigations,  however,  certainly  create  some  doubt  as  to  the  source  whence  the 
dust  is  derived.  It  was  natural  enough,  as  it  was  found  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  to  refer  its  origin 
to  the  nearest  known  desert  land ;  but  the  microscope,  in  the  hands  of  Ehrenberg,  would  seem 
to  intimate  the  possibility  of  a  more  distant  origin.  This  dust,  from  the  Cape  de  Verds,  is 
found,  upon  examination,  to  consist  of  infusoria  and  organisms,  the  habitat  of  which  is  not 
Africa,  but  South  America,  and  in  the  southeast  trade  wind  region  of  that  country.  It  is, 
therefore,  possible  that  the  southeast  trades  maj'  have  brought  the  dust,  great  as  is  the  distance, 
from  South  America.  But  if  such  be  the  fact,  it  must  be  confessed  that  there  are  agencies  in 
the  philosophy  of  the  winds,  producing  atmospheric  phenomena,  which  are  not  yet  sufficiently 
understood  by  us  to  justify  positive  assertion.  A  greater  accumulation  of  facts  is  wanted. 
That  stated  by  Ehrenberg  is  very  important,  and  quite  sufficient  to  create  doubt  of  the  correct- 
ness of  the  ordinary  hypothesis. 

Until  the  30th  of  December  the  northeast  trades  continued,  the  ship  having  then  reached 
6°  8'  north  latitude,  and  16°  34'  west  longitude,  when,  in  a  squall  from  the  eastward,  the  wind 
changed  to  the  southward,  and  so  continued,  though  somewhat  variable,  until  January  2, 1853, 
in  latitude  1°  44'  north,  and  longitude  11°  3'7'  west,  when  the  southeast  trade  was  met,  bringing 
with  it  a  swell,  which  retarded  tlie  ship's  progress  considerably.  Before  this,  however,  on  the 
29th  of  December,  as  the  northeast  trades  had  become  light  and  unsteady,  with  occasional 
calms,  the  floats  were  replaced  on  the  wheels,  and  the  ship  was  put  under  steam,  using  the  two 
after  boilers  only.  With  light  winds  and  a  smooth  sea,  these  proved  sufficient  to  make  a 
progress  of  seven  knots  an  hoTir ;  but  when  the  southeast  trades  fairly  set  in,  accompanied  as 
they  were  by  a  head  sea,  the  speed  was  diminished  to  four  and  a  half  or  five  knots.  The  use 
of  two  additional  boilers,  however,  soon  brought  the  ship  up  to  seven,  at  a  daily  consumption 
of  twenty-six  tons  of  coal. 

It  had  been  the  purpose  of  the  Commodore,  on  leaving  Madeira,  to  make  the  entire  run  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  without  stopping ;  as  it  was  sujiposed  that  with  a  proper  use  of  the  sails, 
and  the  supply  of  coal  on  board,  this  might  readily  be  done;  but  the  northeast  trades  having 
ceased  at  a  point  much  further  north  than  usual  at  this  season,  and  the  southeast  winds  having 
also  set  in  at  a  correspondingly  early  period,  he  ordered  the  ship  so  to  be  steered  as  that  she 
might  touch  at  St.  Helena,  should  it  be  deemed  desirable  so  to  do,  as  a  measure  of  prudence,  to 
procure  an  additional  supply  of  coal. 

In  the  observations  made  upon  the  currents  since  leaving  Norfolk,  the  Commodore  was  of 
opinion  that  such  as  he  encountered  were  caused  merely  by  the  winds  acting  on  the  surface  of 
the  ocean;  and  as  a  general  rule,  though  not  perhaps  universally  true,  it  may  be  remarked 
that  the  current  will  be  found  setting  in  the  direction  of  the  prevailing   winds;    at   least 


A  K  U  I  V  A  L      A  T     ST.      n  E  I,  K  N  A  .  91 

such  lias  been  the  opinion  foriued  from  the  long  observation  and  experience  at  sea  of  the 
Commodore.  There  may  be,  however,  and  probably  are,  currents  other  than  those  partial  ones 
created  on  the  surface  by  the  winds.  These  are  caused  by  a  difference  in  the  s]iecitic  gravity  of 
the  sea  water  at  dilferent  places  and  depths.  Tliis  difference  disturbs  the  eciuilibriura,  and  the 
effort  of  the  water  to  regain  it  must  cause  a  current. 

There  is,  consequently,  on  and  under  the  surface  a  system  of  currents  and  counter  currents 
constantly  operating  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  They  are  far  from  being  yet  perfectly  known 
and  understood,  but  the  principle  on  which  they  must  exist  is  the  law  of  hydrostatics,  that  when 
two  fluids  on  the  same  level  differ  in  specific  gravity,  the  one  will  not  balance  the  other,  both 
must  move ;  that  motion  is  a  current. 

Various  interesting  experiments  have  been  made  on  the  subject  of  submarine  currents,  counter 
to  those  on  the  surface,  and  their  existence  would  seem  to  be  conclusively  proved ;  their  direction, 
however,  cannot  always  be  ascertained.  Practical  seamen  have  also  endeavored  to  find  out  the 
depth  of  surface  currents ;  this  depth  is  not  always  the  same,  but  there  is,  if  not  impossibility, 
yet  great  difficulty,  at  times,  in  ascertaining  the  depth  with  accuracy. 

On  Monday,  January  3,  1853,  the  ship  crossed  the  equator  in  longitude  11°  01'  west,  and 
from  that  time  up  to  the  7th  had  a  moderately  freeh  breeze  directly  ahead.  The  effect  of  this 
wind,  instead  of  affording  refreshment  by  the  motion  of  the  vessel  meeting  it,  (her  course  was 
due  south,)  was  to  render  the  officers'  apartments,  especially  the  cabin,  and,  indeed,  all  the  after 
part  of  the  shiji,  particularly  uncomfortable,  as  the  wind  brought  much  of  the  heat  and  smoke 
directly  aft.  The  tcind,  however,  does  not  always  retard  the  progress  of  the  vessel,  though  it 
may  be  directly  ahead ;  for  it  must  be  remembered  that,  in  a  steamer,  motion  is  not  so  much 
retarded  by  adverse  winds  as  by  the  head  sea  which  the  wind  produces.  Indeed,  a  steamer  will 
sometimes  go  faster  against  a  moderately  fi-esh  breeze,  provided  she  be  on  a  smooth  sea,  for  the 
wind  drawing  from  forward  increases  the  draught  of  the  furnaces. 

After  crossing  the  equator  a  current  of  about  one  and  a  half  mile  per  hour  was  observed, 
setting  in  the  direction  of  the  wind,  north  30°  west. 

The  chaplain,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jones,  employed  himself  with  great  care  and  assiduity,  while 
passing  through  the  equatorial  latitudes,  in  observing  and  noting  the  zodiacal  lights.  They 
were  very  brilliant,  and  so  remarkable  that  they  proved  an  object  of  great  interest  to  all  on 
board.  He  preserved  with  great  care  the  result  of  all  his  observations,  in  the  hope  of  their 
future  usefulness  to  the  cause  of  science. 

On  the  10th  of  January,  at  noon,  the  ship  arrived  at  Jamestown,  island  of  St.  Helena. 

Here,  as  a  measure  rather  of  prudence  than  necessity,  she  took  on  board  an  additional  supply 
of  coal.     Water  and  fresh  provisions  for  the  crew  were  also  procured. 

St.  Helena  was  discovered  in  1502  by  the  Portuguese.  It  was  afterwards  taken  possession  of 
by  the  Dutch,  who,  in  1651,  abandoned  it  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  English  East  India 
Company  then  took  possession  of  it,  and  it  became  a  stojjping  place  for  their  ships  between 
England  and  India.  The  Dutch  took  it  from  the  company  in  1772,  but  it  again  fell  into  their 
hands  in  the  following  year.  From  that  time  up  to  1833  it  remained  in  the  com]iany's 
posstssion,  when  it  was  transferred  to  the  cniwn.  The  base  of  the  island  is  basalt,  and  lava 
and  scoria  are  scattered  about  its  surface.  It  is  evidently  volcanic,  and  seen  from  a  distance  it 
aj)])ears  like  a  pile  of  barren  rocks  rising  from  the  ocean  in  the  form  of  a  ]>yraniid. 

On  a  nearer  ajiproach  the  island    is  seen  to  be  encomi)assed  by  rugged  and  almost  |>crpcii- 


92  EXPEDITIONTOJAPAN. 

diciilar  cliffs  from  six  to  twelve  hundred  feet  high.  These  are  broken  in  several  places  by 
chasms  which  open  to  the  sea  shore,  and  form  narrow  valleys  winding  up  to  the  table  land 
above.  In  the  centre  of  the  island  is  an  elevation  known  as  Diana's  jieak,  2,693  feet  above  the 
sea  level.  A  calcareous  ridge  runs  across  the  island  from  east  to  west,  and  divides  it  into  two 
unequal  parts,  the  larger  and  better  of  which  is  on  the  north  side,  containing,  among  other 
spots  of  interest,  Jamestown,  Longwood,  the  Briars  and  Plantation  house,  the  governor's 
summer's  residence.  The  whole  circumference  of  the  island  is  about  twenty-eight  miles.  At 
the  termination  of  James'  valley  on  the  sea  stands  Jamestown,  the  only  town  and  jaort  of  the 
island,  with  a  population  of  about  twenty-five  hundred.  It  is  built  on  both  sides  of  a  well 
paved  street  which  runs  nearly  a  mile  up  the  valley.  A  strong  water  battery  commands  the 
bay.  Ascending  James'  valley,  the  traveller  arrives  on  the  plain  or  table  land  of  Longwood, 
■which  consists  of  fifteen  hundred  acres  of  good  land,  elevated  about  2,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and 
slopes  gently  toward  the  southeast.  Though  the  island  looks  so  barren  from  the  sea,  yet  the 
interior  is  covered  with  a  rich  verdure,  and  is  watered  Ly  numerous  springs  which  irrigate  a 
very  fertile  soil.  The  fruits  and  flowers  of  Europe  and  Asia  are  successfully  cultivated,  while 
horned  cattle,  sheep,  and  goats  thrive  on  the  rich  pastures.  Barley,  oats,  Indian  corn, 
potatoes,  and  most  of  the  common  vegetables  are  easily  produced.  Fresh  beef,  mutton  and 
poultry  may  at  all  times  be  procured,  and  fish  are  abundant. 

The  climate  is  one  of  the  most  salubrious  under  the  tropics.  At  Plantation  house  the 
thermometer  ranges  from  61°  to  '73°  within  doors,  and  sometimes,  between  June  and  Septem- 
ber, (the  winter  season,)  falls  to  52°  in  the  open  air.  At  Longwood  the  thermometer  is 
generally  a  little  lower,  and  at  Jamestown  a  little  higher,  than  it  is  at  Plantation  house.  The 
summer  rains  fall  in  January  or  February,  and  the  winter  rains  in  July  or  August. 

The  East  India  Company,  while  in  possession  of  the  island,  constructed  excellent  roads, 
which  are  kept  in  admirable  order  by  the  present  government  ;  they  are  inclined  planes, 
adapted  as  well  for  wheel  carriages  and  artillery  as  for  horses  and  foot  passengers  ;  and  as  one 
rides  through  the  country  the  appearance  of  the  cultivated  fields,  kept  constantly  green  by  the 
rains  which  fall  in  light  showers  from  the  clouds,  driven  over  the  island  by  the  southeast 
trades,  forms  a  striking  and  agreeable  contrast  to  the  barren  Clio's  which  shelter  the  valleys. 
During  the  winter  months,  indeed,  the  rains  are  commonly  very  copious,  and  sometimes  fall  in 
such  torrents  as  seriously  to  injure  the  cultivated  grounds,  and  make  ibr  a  time  the  roads 
impassable. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  so  far  as  physical  comfort  is  involved,  St.  Helena  is  not  the  worst  of 
prisons  ;  and  if  it  provoked  indignant  remonstrance  from  the  illustrious  captive  who  laid  his 
bones  there,  his  comiilaints  were  promjjted  not  so  nmch  by  the  aspects  of  nature  around,  which 
never  insulted  hira,  as  by  the  petty  indignities  off'ered  him  by  little  minds,  and  the  irksomeness 
of  restraint  to  a  chafed  spirit,  wliich,  in  its  isolation,  i'elt  deeply  the  contrast  between  its  now 
enforced  solitude  and  its  former  mingling  and  ruling  in  the  crowd  of  men,  wielding  as  if  by 
magic  the  destinies  of  Europe.  To  him  a  iiemisjjhere  for  his  theatre  and  nations  for  his  play- 
things had  become  in  some  sort  a  necessity.  His  own  spirit  forged  his  heaviest  chains  on  St. 
Helena. 

But  it  was  the  memory  of  that  captive  that  gave  to  the  ofliccrs  of  the  ship  the  chief  interest 
of  the  island,  and  every  one  ace  )rdingly  made  it  his  first  object  to  visit  Longwood  and  the  spot 
where  the  ashes  of  Najjoleon  lif  d  once  rested. 


LONG  WOOD. TOMB     OF     NAPOLEON. 


93 


In  viewing  the  miserable  building  where,  for  more  than  five  years,  this  extraordinary  man 
resided,  and  where  he  breathed  liis  last,  it  is  difficult  to  suppress  a  deep  feeling  of  the 
instability  of  earthly  glory.  The  palaces  of  France  and  the  farm  house  of  Longwood,  Xapoleon 
in  his  splendor  and  Xapoleon  on  his  death  bed,  are  suggestive  of  reflections  which  will  tempt  the 
thoughtful  silently  to  moralize.  But,  humble  as  was  this  residence  of  the  dethroned  Emperor, 
it  had  been  the  abode  of  fallen  greatness,  and  that  should  have  protected  it  from  desecration. 
Longwood  has  been  permitted  to  fall  into  decay,  and  the  apartments  which  the  Emperor  once 
occupied  are  now  but  a  common  stable.  The  property  has  been  rented  by  the  crown  to  a 
farmer  of  the  island,  and  he  seems  to  have  been  permitted  to  make  what  use  he  pleased  of  the 
tenements  upon  it. 


OU  ir   :-.     1.     .-^"uil,  St.  Helena. 

Without  here  questioning  the  necessity,  a-  a  measure  of  state  policy,  for  confining  the  great 
and  ambitious  disturber  of  the  peace  of  Eurojic  in  a  place  whence  escape  was  impossible ; 
admitting  the  force  of  all  the  arguments  by  which  the  act  at  the  time  was  justified  to  the 
world,  yet  one  cannot  look  on  Longwood  without  feeling  that  there  was  more  of  annoyance  and 
insult  in  executing  the  purposes  of  the  English  government  than  was  necessary,  or  than  the 
government  proliably  intended.  At  this  day  there  are  many  Englishmen  who  think  that 
England  was  singularly  unfortunate  in  the  choice  of  her  jailors. 

A  view  of  the  grounds  forcibly  suggests  tliis  thougiit.  Surrounded  as  the  prescribed  limits 
were  by  successive  lines  of  sentinels,  with  a  regiment  encamped  within  musket  shot  ot  the 
dwelling,  with  every  avenue  to  it  closely  guarded  by  pickets  of  soldiers,  and  with  the  clifls 
which  bound  the  ground  toward  the  sea  perfectly  inaccessible,  it  is  impossible  not  to  see  at  a 


y4  E  X  r  E  D I T I  o  n    t  o    j  a  pan. 

glance,  that  there  was  not  the  remotest  chance  of  escape.  Miglit  there  not  then  have  heen 
some  rehixatiou  of  minute  and  indelicate  personal  supervision,  at  least  in  tlie  day  time,  when 
the  island  was  surrounded  by  British  cruisers,  and  the  numerous  forts  fully  garrisoned  ?  Was 
it  necessary  for  security  to  make  the  captive  feel  incessantly  that  he  was  watched  ? 

The  British  ministry  had  enjoined  the  safe  custody  of  the  prisoner  ;  unfortunately  they  left 
it  to  the  jailors  to  settle  all  the  details  of  the  mode  of  keeping  him. 

The  tomb  in  whtch  Napoleon  was  placed  has  lost  some  of  its  interest  from  the  removal  of  his 
body  to  France.  He  died  on  the  1st  of  May,  1821.  On  the  4th  of  October,  1840,  liis  remains 
were  embarked  on  the  French  frigate  Belle  Poule,  which  had  been  sent,  under  the  command  of 
the  Prince  de  Joinville,  for  the  purpose  of  transporting  them  to  France. 

The  inhabitants  of  St.  Helena  seem  to  be  industrious,  but  the  general  opinion  of  the  officers 
of  the  ship,  founded  on  their  experience,  was,  that  in  their  rambles  over  the  world,  they  had 
never  met  with  more  polite  and  unscrupulous  extortioners.  It  is  said  to  be  the  practice  of 
householders  to  entertain  unsuspecting  strangers  with  great  seeming  kindness,  and  then  to 
mulct  them  most  unmercifully  for  the  supposed  hospitality.  This  may  be  slander,  but  an 
incident  occurred  while  the  ship  Avas  at  Jamestown,  which  leaves  no  doubt  that  proffered 
favors  are  sometimes  done  with  the  expectation  of  receiving  for  them — a  "consideration."  One 
of  the  lieutenants  of  the  ship  was  the  victim  of  excessive  civility.  Contemplating  a  visit  to 
Lougwood,  he  had  engaged  a  horse  at  the  livery  stable,  which,  on  landing,  he  found  saddled 
and  waiting  for  him  according  to  appointment.  He  was  about  mounting,  when  a  citizen  of 
Jamestown,  whom  he  had  casually  met  the  day  before,  stepped  up  and  told  him  that  he  had  a 
horse,  much  superior  to  that  he  was  about  to  mount,  which  was  altogether  at  his  service,  and 
that  he  would  send  tor  it.  Consequently  the  hired  liorse  was  dismissed,  with  a  compensation 
to  the  disappointed  attendant,  and  that  of  the  polite  friend  was  acce})ted,  unfortunately, 
however,  proving  to  be  inferior  to  the  one  dismissed.  However,  he  was  used  for  a  few  hours, 
and  returned  with  a  douceur  to  tlie  servant  who  received  him. 

The  same  evening  the  owner  of  the  horse  visited  the  ship,  when  the  lieutenant  was  profuse 
of  civility  and  thanks,  and  after  entertaining  him,  pressed  upon  him  the  acceptance  of  some 
little  presents,  quite  equal  in  value  to  the  hire  of  the  horse.  These  gifts  were  received  in  such 
manner  as  induced  the  ofiicer  to  think  there  was  still  something  more  wanting,  when  he  said, 
"Will  you  allow  me  to  pay  for  the  use  of  your  horse?"  and  was  answered:  "Well,  I  am  glad 
you  were  pleased  with  the  animal,  and  you  need  only  pay  me  the  usual  charge  of  three  dollars." 
It  was  immediately  handed  to  him,  when  he  coolly  offered  his  services  at  any  future  time,  and 
said,  with  a  peculiarly  knowing  look :  "If,  when  you  again  visit  the  island,  you  will  place  yourself 
under  my  guidance,  I  will  jiut  you  through  all  charges  at  half  price."  Then  politely  wishing 
a  good  voyage  to  all  on  board,  he  passed  into  the  boat,  with  the  neck  of  a  wine  bottle  protruding 
from  one  pocket,  and  a  liberal  supply  of  Havanas  filling  the  other,  the  oflerings  of  his  grateful 
friend,  the  lieutenant. 

At  the  time  of  Bonaparte's  residence,  the  island  was  strongly  fortified  and  fully  garrisoned, 
and  indeed  was  deemed  impregnable.  But  this  was  before  the  introduction  of  armed  steamers 
into  the  navies  of  the  world.  T!ie  island  is  strongly  fortified  on  tlic  north  side,  while  the  south, 
exposed  to  tlie  whole  strength  of  tliu  trade  winds,  is  on  that  account  almost  inaccessible.  But 
tlie  batteries  were  constructed  to  prevent  the  approach  of  sailing  vessels,  and  this  they  might 
])r()l)ably  accomplish,  as  they  are  on  the  high  cliffs  commanding  the  only  ways  by  wliich  sailing 
voHSi'is  can  ajiiMiiach 


ST.     HELENA.  —  I  N  S  I"  F  F  1  E  N  C  Y     0  F     I  T  S     P  E  K  E  N  C  E  S.  95 

Sailing  vessels  approaching  the  Jamestown  anchorage  arc  obliged,  by  reason  of  the  lee  currents, 
to  ]»ass  to  the  easfn-ard  of  the  island,  and  haul  close  around  Sugar-loaf  point;  and  as  soon  as 
they  luff  under  the  lee  of  this  they  become  partially  becalmed,  and  are  at  once  exposed  to  the 
guns  of  a  very  heavy  battery,  called  "Prince  Rupert's  Line;"  and  from  thence  all  the  way  to 
the  anchorage  is  a  succession  of  forts,  well  provided  witl^  lieavy  artillery.  On  tlie  icestward 
the  fortifications  are  less  strong,  because,  as  the  current  is  constantly  setting  in  that  direction, 
it  is  exceedingly  difficult,  and  at  times  impossible,  for  a  sailing  vessel  to  beat  up  to  the  town ; 
hence  there  are  but  two  small  batteries  on  that  side,  which  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  silence. 
But  it  is  easy  to  see  how,  with  the  aid  of  steam,  a  moderate  land  and  naval  force  might  now 
attack  the  island  with  strong  probabilities  of  success.  But  the  approach  should  be  from  the 
■west.  Just  under  the  lee  of  "West  Point,"  the  western  extremity  of  the  island,  the  water  i.s 
always  smooth,  and  by  the  aid  of  steam,  the  forces  might  all  be  concentrated  there. 

A  close  line  of  battle  ahead  might  be  formed,  securing  the  armed  sailing  vessels  as  closely  as 
possible  to  the  steamers,  the  armed  ships  in  tow,  and  the  troop  ships  lashed  to  the  port  quarters 
of  the  steamers.  The  land  troops  might  be  formed  into  two  divisions,  and  supplied  with  light 
artillery,  for  forcing  the  gates  of  the  town,  and  for  covering  the  advance  of  the  attacking  columns 
up  the  steep  roads  which  lead  into  the  country  and  to  the  rear  of  the  batteries  on  the  cliffs.  The 
boats  should  be  lowered  and  secured  to  the  port  sides  of  the  troop  ships,  ready  for  receiving  and 
landing  the  soldiers,  the  two  divisions  of  which  should  be  destined  for  different  points. 

These  arrangements  having  been  made,  and  the  ships  cleared  for  action,  with  springs  from 
both  quarters,  so  as  to  spring  to  starboard  or  port,  as  might  be  necessary,  the  whole  flotilla 
might  be  moved  close  to  West  Point,  and  thence  trace  the  shore  along  at  the  distance  of  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile,  avoiding  the  shoal  called  "Long  Ledge"  on  the  charts,  and  keeping  as 
close  as  possible  under  "Ladder  Hill,"  on  which  there  is  a  heavy  battery,  until  it  opened  the 
town  and  anchored  with  springs  in  line  of  battle,  and  extending  along  the  whole  front  of  the 
road.  On  giving  the  starboard  broadside,  the  ships  might  be  sprung  to  port  or  starboard,  as 
winds  or  currents  made  necessary,  remembering,  however,  that  vessels  do  not  always  swing  to 
the  wind  in  this  road. 

Meantime  one  division  of  the  troops  might  keep  to  the  eastward,  and  land  at  the  quay,  and 
thence  marching  along  the  causeway,  force  the  gates  with  their  artillery ;  while  the  other, 
avoiding  the  line  of  fire  of  the  ships,  might  pass  to  the  westward  of  it,  and  tracing  the  shore 
under  "Ladder  Hill,"  laud  at  the  west  flank  of  the  water  battery  which  covers  the  town  front. 
The  town  once  gained,  the  troops  might  at  once  secure  the  summits  of  the  roads  leading  into  the 
country,  as  guns  temporarily  mounted  on  the  adjoining  hills  would  effectually  command  the 
town  and  harbor. 

The  only  real  obstacle  to  a  force  thus  approaching  from  the  west,  by  steam,  would  be  the  strong 
water  battery,  commanding  the  whole  extent  of  the  little  bay  which  forms  the  harbor.  This, 
of  course,  would  have  to  be  silenced  before  there  would  be  any  chance  of  cajituring  the  place; 
but,  then,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  fire  of  the  whole  attacking  force  could  be  concentrated 
on  this  spot,  if  it  approached  from  the  west  by  steam.  In  such  an  approach,  it  could  keep  close 
to  the  shore,  which  is  bold ;  and  such  is  the  elevated  position  of  the  principal  forts,  that  their 
guns  could  not  be  sufficiently  depressed  to  bear  upon  steamers  coming  from  the  westward. 

These  remarks  were  made  by  the  Commodore,  simply  as  illustrating  the  great  changes 
wrought  by  the  introduction  of  steam  into  naval  warfare.     lu  the  absence  of  a  resisting  naval 


96 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


force,  the  capture  of  the  island,  in  the  mode  above  indicated,  would  certainly  not  he  very 
difficult.  When  the  island  was  fortified,  engineering  skill  accomplished  all  that  was  required 
in  the  existing  condition  of  things.  To  a  force  a])proaching  by  sailing  vessels,  it  probably 
■would  now  prove  impregnable,  for  wind  and  tide  were  valuable  auxiliaries,  which  were  taken 
into  account  in  planning  the  works ;  but  a  new  motive  power  makes  its  appearance,  which  is 
quite  regardless  of  these  natural  auxiliaries,  and  new  systems  of  defence  are  at  once  made 
necessary.  This  is  but  one  of  the  changes  wrought  by  this  mighty  agent,  which  seems  destined 
to  do  so  much  in  revolutionizing  the  condition  of  the  world. 

On  Tuesday,  January  11th,  at  6  p.  m.,  the  Mississippi  weighed  anchor  and  took  her  departure 
from  Jamestown. 


PASSAGE  TO  THE  CAPE. FUEL  FOR  STEAMERS. 


97 


CHAPTER  III. 


PASSAGE    TO    THE    CAPE. FCEL     FOR    STEAMERS. TABLE     ROCK     AND    CAPE     TOWN. DESCRIPTION     OF     CAPE     TOWN. CLIMATE. 

ANNOYANCE    FROM    DCST. VIOLENCE     OF    WINDS     AND    DIFFICDLTT    OF    HOLDING    TO    ANCHORAGE. SUPPLIES    AT    THE    CAPE. 

CAFFRE    WAR    AND    ITS    EFFECTS. MODE    OF    TRANSPORTING    PRODUCE    ON    LAND. VINEYARDS    OF    CONSTANTIA. EFFECTS    OF 

EMANCIPATION   OF    SLAVES    ON    AGRICULTURAL    LABOR. MODE    OF    CULTIVATING    THE   VINE. POPULATION   OF    CAPE    COLONY. 

BUSHMEN. THE     CAFFRES. PHYSICAL     CHARACTERISTICS. — FINGOES. MILITARY      ORGANIZATION     OF     CAFFRES. CONDITION 

OF    THE    EMANCIPATED    SLAVES. DEPARTURE     FROM    TABLE    BAY. PASSAGE    TO,    AND    ARRIVAL    AT,    MAURITIUS. HARBOR    OF 

PORT    LOUIS. DANGERS    OF    THE    HARBOR. SKILL    OF    PORT    OFFICERS    IN    MOORING    VESSELS. 

FTER  leaving  St.  Helena  the  ship  was  put  on  her  course  for 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Prudential  considerations  alone 
induced  the  Commodore  to  touch  at  St.  Helena.  His 
opinion  was  that  the  hest  and  most  expeditious  route  for 
a  steamer,  going  from  Madeira  to  the  Cape,  (provided  she 
can  carry  a  sufficiency  of  coal,)  is  to  he  found  by  steering 
from  the  Cape  de  Verd  islands  direct  toward  Cape  Palmas 
on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  thence  tracing  the  shore  down 
to  Table  Bay. 

On  leaving  Jamestown  the  ship  encountered  the  trade, 
deviating  very  little  from  the  southeast,  and  blowing  alter- 
nately moderate  and  fresh.  It  was  observable,  however, 
that  it  was  always  stronger  at  night  than  in  the  day  time,  and  brought  with  it  a  short  head 
sea,  which  greatly  retarded  the  progress  of  the  vessel.  It  would  have  been  easy  to  increase 
the  steam  power  ;  but  experience  had  shown  that  about  twenty-six  tons  of  coal  per  diem 
enabled  the  ship  to  accomplish  the  greatest  distance  with  the  most  economical  expenditure  ; 
and  considering  the  extreme  difficulty  of  procuring  fuel  in  that  region,  its  enormous  cost,  and 
the  labor  and  delay  incident  to  its  shipment,  the  Commodore  deemed  it  most  expedient  rather 
to  protract  the  passage  than  allow  extravagance  in  the  use  of  an  article  so  essential  to  the 
movements  of  the  vessel.  A  current  of  one  and  a  quarter  knots  was  foimd  setting  in  the 
direction  of  the  wind,  and  this,  as  a  retarding  cause,  was  to  be  added  to  the  force  of  the  trade. 
As  to  the  possibility  of  obtaining  a  supply  of  fuel  in  this  part  of  the  world,  it  may  be 
remarked  that  at  St.  Paul  de  Loango  the  English  maintain  a  depot  of  coal  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  African  steam  cruisers,  and  this  would  be  a  convenient  point  to  which  to  send 
a  coal  vessel  from  the  United  States.  Within  a  few  years  a  depot  of  coal  has  been  established 
13  J 


98  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

by  an  English  company  at  Port  Grand,  Island  of  St.  Vincent,  of  the  Cape  de  Verde  group, 
and  it  is  said  that  a  reasonable  supply  can  always  be  obtained  there  by  transient  steamers. 

Steamers  from  the  United  States  might  proceed  direct  to  St.  Vincent's,  provided  tliere  be 
certainty  of  obtaining  coal  at  that  place,  and  thence  proceed  to  the  Cape  by  Cape  Palmas,  via 
Loango ;  but  it  is  much  better  that  cargoes  of  coal  should  be  sent  ahead  of  steamers  leaving 
the  United  States,  as  the  only  security  for  a  certain  supply. 

As  to  the  route  from  England,  that  which  is  prescribed  for  her  mail  steamers  bound  round 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  is  to  touch  at  St.  Vincent,  and  thence  proceed  to  the  Cape,  via 
Ascension  Island,  replenishing  their  coal  at  all  their  stopping  places.  In  pursuing  this  route, 
(which  they  are  compelled  to  do  to  leave  a  mail  at  Ascension  for  the  African  squadron,)  they 
are  obliged  to  contend  with  the  entire  range  of  the  southeast  trades,  which  are  directly  ahead^ 
blowing  most  of  the  time  quite  strongly,  and  always  producing  a  lee  current  of  from  one  to 
one  and  a  quarter  knots.  By  taking  the  route  along  the  African  coast  a  steamer  has  the 
advantage  of  the  sea  and  land  breezes,  and  the  favorable  current  usually  setting  to  the  south. 

On  the  24th  of  January,  at  nine  in  the  morning,  the  ship  made  the  land  in  the  vicinity  of 
Saldanha  bay,  and  at  two  p.  m.  Table  Mountain  was  in  sight.  After  passing  outside  of  Dassen 
Island,  and  through  the  channel  between  the  main  land  and  Kobben's  Island,  at  half  past 
eight  p.  m.  the  ship  came  to  anchor  in  Table  Bay  in  seven  fathoms,  and  the  following  day 
moved  further  in  toward  the  town. 

This  port  is  easy  of  access  either  by  night  or  clay,  if  the  two  lights  can  be  distinctly  seen, 
so  that  the  distance  from  Green  Point  can  be  accurately  estimated.  This  is  important,  as  by 
bordering  upon  that  point  too  closely  there  is  danger  of  a  ledge  of  rocks  near  the  Cape  shore, 
and  by  keeping  too  far  to  the  northward,  the  Vfhale  Kock,  at  the  southern  end  of  Robben'a 
Island,  may  bring  a  vessel  up.  Particular  instructions  for  entering  Table  Bay  at  night  will  be 
foiind  in  the  Appendix. 

The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  first  discovered  by  Bartholomew  Diaz,  a  Portuguese,  in  1493. 
During  an  exploration  of  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Africa,  this  navigator  was  driven  out  to  sea  by 
a  storm,  and  the  first  land  he  made,  after  the  subsidence  of  the  gale,  was  Algoa  Bay ;  he 
having  thus  doubled  the  Cape  without  his  knowledge.  Diaz  gave  the  name  of  Cabo 
Tormentoso  (the  Cape  of  Storms)  to  the  Cape,  which  was  afterwards  changed  to  that  of  Good 
Hope  by  the  king  of  Portugal,  as  he  rightly  thought  the  discovery  auspicious  of  a  favorable 
result  to  the  great  prospect  entertained  by  the  Portuguese  navigators  of  reaching  India.  In 
1497,  Vasco  de  Gama,  another  Portuguese  navigator,  doubled  the  Cape  on  his  voyage  to  the 
Indian  seas. 

The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  forms  the  southern  extremity  of  a  narrow  peninsula  about  thirty 
miles  in  length,  with  the  Atlantic  ocean  on  the  west,  False  Bay  on  the  east,  and  Table  Bay  on 
the  north.  Cape  Town  is  situated  on  Table  Bay,  and  was  originally  founded  by  the  Dutch  in 
1650,  but  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English  in  1795  ;  and,  it  having  been  restored  to  its  original 
possessors  after  the  peace  of  Amiens,  was  finally  retaken  by  the  Britisli  in  1806,  in  whose 
possession  it  now  remains. 

The  town  is  well  built  witli  substantial  houses  of  stone  and  brick,  and  wide,  regular  streets. 
The  general  aspect  of  the  place,  with  its  well  constructed  public  buildings  and  private  resi- 
dences, and  its  park,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  government  house,  shaded  by  oaks  of  magnifi- 
cent growth,  is  exceedingly  agreeable. 


CAPE     OF     GOOD     HOPE.  99 

The  heat,  however,  in  consequence  of  the  position  of  the  town,  which  is  faced  by  the  noonday 
sun  and  walled  in  behind  by  naked  mountains,  is  excessive.  This,  added  to  the  dust,  caused 
those  who  went  on  shore  to  keep  much  within  doors,  so  that  Cape  Town  was  found  by  the 
oflScers  of  the  expedition  but  a  dull  and  stupid  place.  The  streets  are  unpaved,  and,  conse- 
quently, when  the  southeast  gales,  which  prevail  in  midsummer,  blow,  the  dust  is  raised  in 
clouds  and  deposited  in  drifts  of  sand  along  the  sidewalks  several  inches  in  depth,  which  keeps 
the  street  sweepers  in  constant  occupation,  who  may  be  seen  continually  at  work  collecting  the 
dirt  in  heaps,  to  be  carried  away  by  the  dirt  carts.  So  general  is  the  experience  of  this 
nuisance  from  the  dust  that  the  male,  as  well  as  the  female  inhabitants,  of  all  classes,  are  in  the 
practice  of  wearing  veils  attached  to  their  hats.  The  northeastern  winds,  which  prove  in 
raising  the  dust  of  such  discomfort  to  the  residents  of  Cape  Town,  prevail  during  midsummer, 
and  their  approach  is  always  indicated  by  the  appearance  of  a  dense  white  cloud,  which  settles 
upon  the  summit  of  Table  Mountain,  therefore  called  the  Table  Cloth,  and  remains  there  until 
the  gale  subsides.  These  winds  blow  with  great  violence,  sweeping  along  the  land  east  of  Table 
Mountain.  If  it  were  not  for  the  perfect  smoothness  of  the  water  in  Table  Bay,  vessels  would 
not  be  able  to  hold  to  their  anchors  during  these  southeasterly  gales,  of  which  two  were  exi^erienccd 
in  the  course  of  seven  days,  while  the  Mississippi  was  lying  at  Cape  Town.  Such  is  the  severity 
of  these  winds  that  all  business  in  the  harbor  is  suspended  during  their  height. 

The  town  seemed  to  be  in  a  highly  prosperous  condition,  business  of  every  kind  was  flourish- 
ing, and  there  was  a  general  appearance  of  affluence  among  the  government  officials,  and  the 
high  rents,  among  other  indications,  show  the  prosperous  condition  of  trade.  Handsome 
equipages  are  constantly  seen  in  the  streets,  and  the  prosperity  is  so  universal  that  even  the 
lowest  classes  are  hardly  known  to  suffer  from  want.  The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  is  of  great 
commercial  importance  to  Great  Britain  as  a  convenient  rendezvous  for  her  cruisers  stationed  in 
the  neighborhood,  and  as  a  stopping  place  for  vessels  bound  to  and  from  the  Indian  Ocean. 
Excellent  water,  fresh  provisions,  fruit  and  other  necessaries  can  be  obtained  in  any  quantity 
and  at  reasonable  prices.  Wood  is  scarce,  but  almost  every  description  of  article  usually  needed 
by  vessels  may  be  procured  from  the  numerous  well  stocked  stores  and  warehouses  at  Cape 
Town.  Live  stock  can  be  readily  obtained,  bullocks  at  £6  per  head  and  sheep  at  15  shillings. 
The  Mississippi  was  supplied  with  twelve  of  the  former  and  eighteen  of  the  latter  at  these  prices. 

Since  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  British  colonies  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  Cape 
have  suffered,  and  although  the  commerce  of  some  few  of  the  colonial  ports  contiiiues  thriving, 
as,  for  example,  that  of  Cape  Town,  the  interior  of  the  country  has  declined  in  prosperity,  there 
being  at  present  but  few  examples  of  prosperous  farming,  in  consequence  of  a  want  of  laborers. 
The  agricultural  condition  of  the  country  has  also  suffered  from  the  effects  of  the  war  carried 
on  between  the  Briti.sh  colonists  and  the  Caffres,  which,  although  it  has  enriched  the  merchants 
and  tradesmen  by  the  large  expenditure  of  public  money,  has  impoverished  the  farmers  by 
depriving  them  of  the  necessary  laborers,  and  by  unsettling  the  tranquillity  of  the  country. 
The  consequence  has  been  that  many  of  the  farms  have  been  allowed  to  run  to  waste,  and  though 
the  soil  is  cai)able  of  producing  Indian  corn,  wheat,  barley,  oats,  and  several  other  descriptions 
of  grain,  such  has  been  the  unfavorable  influence  of  the  cause  alluded  to  that  the  home 
consumption  of  tliese  products  is  not  fully  provided  for.  Tlicre  are,  however,  some  articles 
produced  for  exportation,  among  whicli  may  be  enumerated  wine,  hides,- tallow  and  wnol.  The 
farming  is  chiefly  of  a  grazing  character,  and  vast  herds  of  cattle,  sheep,  horses  and  mules  are 


100 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


raised.  At  Cape  Town  horses  can  be  obtained  at  a  price  varying  from  thirty  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty  doUars,  and  mules  from  thirty  to  seventy-five  dollars.  The  cattle,  which  are  indi- 
genous to  the  country,  somewhat  resemble  the  buflalo  in  appearance,  and  the  sheep  are  of  the 
broad  tailed  species,  which  are  highly  esteemed  for  the  excellence  of  their  meat.  The  large 
teams  of  oxen  passing  to  and  from  the  city  are  characteristic  objects  at  Cape  Town.  These  teams 
are  composed  often  of  seven,  eight,  or  even  nine  yoke,  and  are  guided  by  two  teamsters,  one  .seated  in 
front  of  a  wagon,  not  unlike  the  wagons  generally  in  use  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  urges  the 
animals  along  by  his  voice  and  a  long  lash,  while  the  other  precedes  the  team,  holding  a  halter 
fastened  to  the  horns  of  the  two  leaders,  with  which  he  guides  them.  The  arrangement  of  the 
team  for  an  excursion  of  greater  length  is  somewhat  different,  as  then  horsemen  accompany  it. 
The  wagon,  however,  is  the  same.  The  ox  of  the  Cape  is  a  serviceable  animal,  which  has  a 
good  deal  of  the  general  aspect  of  the  buffalo,  with  long  horns,  a  compact  body  and  tapering 
rump. 


■itu\tlUl;    Hi   tUUlll    AlliCii. 


The  Commodore,  accompanied  hj  some  of  his  officers,  took  occasion  to  visit  one  of  the  cele- 
brated vineyards  of  Constantia,  having  provided  himself  with  a  barouche  drawn  by  four 
beautiful  stallions,  driven  four-in-hand  by  a  negro  boy,  who  evinced  much  skill  in  handling  the 
reins.  The  drive  was  through  a  picturesque  country,  with  pretty  villas  scattered  about,  and 
approached  by  beautiful  avenues  formed  of  the  oak  and  the  fir,  which  trees  are  raised  from  the 
seed,  and  lerally  cultivated  in  the  colony,  not  only  for  ornamental  purposes,  but  for  fuel. 
Subst'  edges  were  also  observed,  formed  of  the  young  oak,  of  only  three  year's  growth 


HOTTENTOT  S C  A  F  F  R  E  S E  I  N  G  O  E  S  .  101 

from  the  acorn.     Tlie  vineyard  visited  was  of  limited  extent  and  the  culture  of  a  character  that 
somewhat  disappointed  the  expectations  of  the  visitors. 

The  proprietor  accounted  for  the  inferior  condition  of  his  vineyard  on  the  score  of  hoin<' 
unahle  to  provide  himself  with  the  necessary  supply  of  laborers,  and  remarked  that  lie  should 
be  obliged  to  abandon  the  cultivation  of  the  grape  altogether  had  he  not  supplied  himself  with 
an  American  cultivator,  which  he  had  recently  imported  from  the  United  States,  and  which 
simple  plough,  as  he  stated,  drawn  by  a  single  horse,  actually  accomplished  the  labor  of  fifty 
men,  according  to  the  usual  mode  of  working  and  cultivating  the  vine  with  a  hoe.  The  grape 
is  cultivated  at  Constantia,  as  in  Sicily,  by  trimming  the  vine  close  to  the  ground,  and  not 
permitting  it  to  grow  higher  than  a  gooseberry  bush.  The  richness  of  the  wine  is  dependent 
upon  the  condition  of  the  grape  when  it  goes  to  the  press.  Although  the  grape  begins  to  ripen 
in  the  early  part  of  February,  it  is  not  gathered  until  the  middle  of  March,  when  the  fruit  has 
assumed  almost  the  appearance  of  the  dried  raisin,  in  which  condition  it  is  pressed.  The  prices 
of  these  Constantia  wines  vary  from  two  to  six  dollars  a  gallon,  according  to  their  quality. 

The  census  of  1848  gives  200,546  as  the  population  of  Cape  Colony.  Of  these  76,827  whites 
and  101,176  colored  inhabitants  make  up  the  whole  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  various 
parts  of  the  colony,  with  the  exception  of  Cape  Town,  which  contains  a  pojiulation  of  22,543. 
There  are  but  few  of  the  aboriginal  Hottentots  of  pure  race  to  be  found,  as  their  blood  has  been 
intermingled  with  that  of  the  Dutch,  the  Negro,  or  the  Malay.  The  first  European  discoverer 
of  the  southern  promontory  of  Africa  found  it  tolerably  well  peopled,  and  the  natives,  in  some 
respects,  in  better  condition  than  many  of  the  more  northern  tribes.  They  were  in  jjossession 
of  herds  of  cattle  and  sheep,  and  led  a  pastoral  life.  They  were  a  comparatively  happy  people, 
divided  into  tribes  under  a  patriarchal  government,  and  wandered  about  with  their  flocks  and 
herds,  taking  with  them  their  moveable  huts,  constructed  of  boughs  and  poles,  which  were 
conveyed  from  pasture  to  pasture  on  the  backs  of  oxen.  Their  tribes,  however,  have  been 
mostly  exterminated  by  the  cruelty  of  the  Europeans,  although  a  wretched  remnant  have 
survived  and  live  as  miserable  outcasts  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  desert  and  the  forest,  and  are 
known  as  Bushmen.  They  are  still  savage  in  character,  and  disgusting  in  their  persons  and 
habits,  having  received  but  little  benefit  from  the  civilization  of  their  white  conquerors,  who 
have  always  pursued  them  with  a  cruel  wantonness,  "though  we,  as  Americans,"  remarks 
Commodore  Perry,  "have  no  right  to  rail  at  other  nations  for  the  wrong  they  have  inflicted 
upon  the  aborigines  of  countries  seized  upon  by  them,  for  though  hardly  equal  to  the  English 
in  the  disgusting  hypocrisy  with  which  they  excuse  their  acts,  we  are  not  far  behind  them  in 
the  frauds  and  cruelties  committed  upon  our  native  tribes." 

The  warlike  Caffres  still  retain  their  characteristic  wildness,  and  pursue  their  predatory  life. 
They  are  in  many  respects  inferior  to  the  ordinary  African,  and  have  some  of  the  peculiarities 
of  the  Egyptian  races.  They  are  of  greater  height  and  strength  than  the  inferior  negro;  their 
color  is  browner,  and  though  their  hair  is  black  and  woolly  they  have  fuller  beards.  Their 
noses  are  more  prominent,  but  they  have  the  thick  negro  lip,  and  with  the  jiromiuent  cheek  bone 
of  the  Hottentots  they  possess  the  high  European  forehead.  Tiie  Fiugoes,  though  traced  in 
origin  to  some  scattered  tribes  of  the  Cafl'res,  differ  from  them  in  some  degree,  and  although 
spirited  and  brave  in  battle,  are  of  a  less  savage  nature,  and  have  the  cluiracter  of  being  a 
comparatively  good  natured  people.     The  Fingoes  are  pastoral  like  the  Caffres,  but  more  given 


102 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


to  the  culture  of  the  Land,  in  which  the  men  engage  as  well  as  the  women,  although  this  kind 
of  labor  is  confined  among  the  Caffres  to  the  females  alone.     On  the  return  of  the  Commodore 


/mm"  ' 

Caffre  Chief. 


from  Constantia,  he  stopped  to  pay  a  visit  to  a  captive  chief  and  his  wife,  whom  the  fortune  of 
war  had  thrown  into  the  hands  of  the  Europeans.  The  chief  was  confined  in  a  sort  of  country 
jail,  at  no  great  distance  from  the  town.  The  keeper  of  the  prison  very  civilly  allowed  free 
communication  with  the  prince,  a  remarkably  fine  looking  negro,  about  twenty-five  years  cf  age, 
who  had  been  accompanied  to  imprisonment  by  his  favorite  wife  and  confidential  lieutenant, 
who  also  had  a  similar  companion  to  cheer  his  captivity.  These  women  were  counterparts  of  the 
men  in  good  looks.  Subsequently,  Mr.  Brown,  one  of  the  artists  of  the  expedition,  visited  the 
prison  and  secured  excellent  likenesses  of  the  prince  and  his  wife. 


.^^ 


Afrlrsn  Chlof,  dornlo. 


Wife  of  Soyolo. 


CAFFRE     WAR.  103 

The  war  carried  on  by  the  English  with  the  Hottentots  and  Caffres,  which  has  continued  so 
long,  costing  an  immense  amount  of  Mood  and  treasure,  is  still  prolonged  by  the  obstinacy  of 
the  blacks.  The  whole  frontier  has  been  already  devastated,  and  although  there  is  some  hoiie 
of  bringing  about  a  peace,  no  one  believes  that  any  treaty  that  may  be  made  will  be  respected 
longer  by  the  negroes  than  may  suit  their  convenience.  In  the  last  battle,  at  the  date  of  the 
visit  of  the  Mississippi,  in  which  the  English  force,  headed  by  General  Cathcart  himself,  was 
victorious,  it  is  said  that  the  Caifre  chief  brought  into  action  six  thoiisand  foot  and  two  thousand 
horse.  These  numbers  are  probably  exaggerated,  but  it  is  well  known  that  the  blacks  have 
acquired  a  tolerable  organization,  and  that  they  are  well  supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition. 
They  have  hitherto  had  an  abundance  of  provision,  obtained  from  their  own  herds  or  from 
those  stolen  from  the  whites,  but  report  says  that,  owing  to  the  carelessness  and  waste  always 
attendant  upon  the  military  movements  of  savages,  the  supply  of  food  is  running  short  with 
them.  The  English  declare  that  the  Caffres  have  been  instructed  in  the  art  of  war  by  numerous 
deserters  from  the  British  army  and  by  a  French  missionary  settled  among  them,  who  passed 
his  early  life  in  the  army.  Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  disastrous  effects  of  the  war 
upon  the  agricultural  and  other  resources  of  the  country. 

The  principal  white  inhabitants  of  Cape  Town  are  the  government  officials,  army  officers,  and 
merchants  and  tradesmen.  The  laboring  class  is  composed  of  the  mixed  races,  the  Malays, 
Coolies,  and  the  negroes.  The  emancipated  negroes  and  their  descendants  are  very  much  in 
character  and  condition  like  the  free  blacks  in  the  United  States,  though  by  no  means  as  intelli- 
gent and  good  looking.  They  are  perfectly  independent  of  all  restraint,  so  long  as  they  do  not 
violate  the  laws.  They  work  when  it  suits  them,  and  at  their  own  prices,  and  break  off  from 
their  labor  if  spoken  to  in  a  manner  which  they  deem  offensive.  Their  ordinary  charge  for 
labor  is  $1  25  for  a  day  of  ten  hours. 

The  Mississippi  having  taken  on  board  from  the  ship  Faneuil  Hall  a  supply  of  coal,  and 
a  good  supply  of  bullocks  and  sheep,  and  having  filled  the  water  tanks,  left  Table  Bay  at 
eleven  o'clock,  a.  m.,  on  the  3d  February.  On  getting  fairly  out  of  the  harbor,  the  wind  was 
found  to  be  blowing  strong  from  the  westward,  with  a  heavy  swell  setting  in  from  that  quarter. 
In  seven  hours  after  leaving  Table  Bay  the  steamer  was  off  the  pitch  of  the  Cape,  whence, 
having  Cape  Hanglip  full  in  sight,  her  course  was  directed  southeast,  in  order  to  reach  the 
parallel  of  thirty-seven  degrees  of  latitude,  to  avoid  the  southeast  gales  which  prevail  near  the 
Cape,  and  cause  a  strong  current  to  the  northward  and  westward,  and  to  meet  the  variables 
which  are  found  south  of  the  border  of  the  southeast  trades. 

For  the  first  three  days  after  leaving  the  Cape  the  wind  blew  from  the  northwest  to  the  south- 
west until  the  steamer  reached  the  latitude  of  36°  16'  S.,  and  the  longitude  of  23°  40'  E.,  when 
it  changed  to  the  northward  and  eastward,  rather  northwardly,  and  so  remained  to  the  latitude 
of  35°  06',  and  longitude  44°  03'.  At  this  latter  point  the  wind  gradually  hauled  to  the  south- 
ward, allowing  the  course  of  the  ship  to  be  inclined  more  to  the  northward,  until  the  southeast 
trades  were  met.  The  Commodore,  however,  fearing  that  the  wind  might  back  again  to  the 
eastward,  was  careful  not  to  make  too  much  northing,  lest  he  might  fall  to  the  leeward  of  Mau- 
ritius, thus  losing  the  benefit  of  a  fair  wind,  which  not  only  increases  the  rate  of  going  of  a 
steamer,  as  of  a  sailing  vessel,  but  also  saves  the  fuel  of  the  former.  From  the  11th  to  tlie  14th 
of  February,  inclusive,  the  wind  continued  from  the  southward  and  eastward,  and  at  the  latter 
date  the  ship  reached  latitude  29°  34',  and  longitude  55°  22,  from  which  period  to  her  arrival 


104  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

at  Port  Louis  on  the  18th  the  wind  hung  to  the  northward  and  eastward,  the  trades  having 
entirely  failed.  The  weather  throughout  the  jjassage  was  fine,  the  harometer  varying  from 
ly^  80'  to  29°  95',  the  thermometer  from  74°  to  84°,  the  currents  setting  witli  tlie  wind,  and 
running  at  about  three-quarters  of  a  knot  per  hour. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  the  opinion  of  Horsburgh,  to  the  effect  that 
the  best  route  for  a  sailing  ship  bound  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  Mauritius  is  that  in 
which  nearly  the  whole,  if  not  all,  the  easting  is  made  between  the  parallels  of  3.5°  and  38°  of 
latitude,  and  the  southeast  trades  are  struck  between  the  latitude  of  27°  and  the  longitude  of 
55°  or  57°.  This  course  brings  vessels  well  to  the  windward,  and  enables  them  to  fetch  the 
island  of  Mauritius  without  difficulty,  provided  the  trade  winds  do  not  haul  nortli  of  E.  by  N. 
In  the  passage  of  the  Mississippi  the  wind  actually  hauled  as  far  as  N.N.E.,  an  occurrence  not 
usual  at  the  season,  when  northerly  and  northwesterly  winds  frequently  prevail  from  Madagascar 
toward  and  beyond  the  island  of  Bourbon,  (or,  as  it  is  now  termed,  Keunion,)  and  Mauritius. 

The  question  has  been  agitated  as  to  whether  it  is  advisable  for  steamers  to  make  this  curve 
in  their  route  to  Mauritius,  or  to  steam  directly  from  the  Cape  to  the  island,  passing  close  round 
Cape  Aghilus.  The  Commodore  is  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that,  unless  the  steamer  be  one  of 
first-rate  speed,  it  would  be  unwise  to  take  the  direct  route,  in  which  she  would  have  to  contend 
against  a  strong  trade  wind  and  its  consequent  current.  The  difierence  between  the  two  routes 
is  about  240  miles,  which  would  hardly  seem  to  compensate  for  the  loss  occasioned  by  head 
winds  and  currents,  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  advantage  of  the  cooler  and  more  agree- 
able weather  of  the  southern  passage.  The  mail,  and  indeed  all  the  European  steamers,  have 
usually  taken  the  latter  route  ;  and  the  Susquehanna,  which  attempted  the  direct  course, 
although  a  faster  steamer  than  the  Mississippi,  had  a  passage  of  seventeen  days,  while  the 
Mississippi,  of  inferior  powers  and  speed,  made  the  run  by  the  other  course  in  fifteen  days. 

The  Mississippi,  in  doubling  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  midsummer,  escaped  any  very  heavy 
blow,  although  hardly  a  week  passes  without  a  gale  from  some  quarter.  Horsburgh  remarks, 
in  regard  to  the  weather,  that  "  in  the  storms  off  the  Cape  Bank  and  to  the  eastward,  the  sea 
is  turbulent,  and  then  generally  accompanied  with  a  black  overcast  sky  ;  when  they  are  about 
to  commence,  and  during  their  continuance,  numbers  of  albatross,  petrels,  and  other  oceanic 
birds,  are  seen  flying  about,  although  in  moderate  weather  few  are  perceived,  for  at  this  time 
they  rest  on  the  surface  of  the  sea  to  fish,  which  they  cannot  do  in  a  storm." 

Nothinf^  was  observed  of  a  remarkable  character  in  a  meteorological  point  of  view.  The 
temperature  of  the  air  and  water  gave  similar  indications  to  those  in  corresponding  northern 
latitudes.  The  barometer  gave  due  notice  of  all  the  various  changes  of  weather,  and  proved  of 
great  utility.  There  is  a  peculiarity  in  the  action  of  this  instrument  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Cape,  and  in  that  part  of  the  route  across  the  Indian  Ocean  as  far  as  the  Equator,  of  which 
Horsburgh  thus  remarks  :  "In  the  vicinity  of  the  Cape  Bank,  and  in  most  parts  of  the 
southern  hemisphere,  the  mercury  rises  with  northerly  and  falls  with  southerly  winds  ;  these 
latter  proceeding  from  a  warmer  atmosphere  are  much  rarefied,  consequently  the  mercury  falls 
in  the  barometer,  whereas  northerly  winds  coming  from  the  frozen  regions  near  the  pole  are 
more  dense,  and  cause  the  mercury  to  rise.  This  ought  to  be  kept  in  remembrance,  for,  when 
the  wind  is  from  southeast,"  continues  Horsburgh,  "  I  have  several  times  observed  tlic  mercury 
to  fall  considerably  before  it  changed  to  the  north,  and  expected  a  gale,  but  the  fall  resulted 
only  from  the  warmer  air  coming  in  contact  with  and  repelling  the  former." 


ROUTE      FROM      THE      CAPE      TO      MAURITIUS.  105 

In  the  course  of  the  passage  the  Mississippi  spoke  her  Britannic  Majesty's  steamer  Styx, 
thirteen  days  from  Simon's  Bay,  bonnd  to  ]\Ianritius.  She  was  under  sail,  her  engine  havin" 
been  disconnected,  and  the  wheels,  with  all  tlieir  buckets,  allowed  to  revolve  by  the  movement 
of  the  vessel  through  the  water.  She  made  tolerable  way,  but  drifted  much  to  leeward.  The 
Engli.sh  war  steamers  frequently,  by  a  simple  arrangement,  disconnect  their  engines  for  the 
purpose  of  saving  fuel.  This  process  of  connecting  and  disconnecting  is  accomplished  in  a  few 
minutes.  .  In  American  naval  steamers  it  is  almost  impossible  to  disconnect  the  engines,  and 
the  only  practicable  mode  of  using  the  sails  exclusively  is  by  the  removal  of  tlie  immersed  floats- 
This  requires  moderate  weather  for  its  accomplishment,  and  the  time  necessary  for  doing  it  is 
about  two  hours,  and  double  that  time  is  required  for  the  readjustment  of  the  floats  or  buckets. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  with  mortification  that  our  navy  is  in  many  respects  very  backward 
in  availing  itself  of  some  of  those  improvements  in  steam  vessels  which  have  been  already 
adopted  by  other  nations,  and  even  by  private  enterprise.  Since  the  construction  of  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Missouri,  the  two  first  ocean  war  steamers  introduced  into  our  naval  service, 
and  for  a  time  esteemed  the  finest  in  the  world,  there  has  been  less  progress  in  the  building  of 
such  vessels  than  our  position  as  a  nation  would  seem  to  demand.  Most  of  the  maritime 
power§  of  Europe  and  many  companies,  and  even  private  individuals,  have  put  afloat  such  vessels 
as  it  must  be  acknowledged  but  few  of  our  steamers  could  fairly  compete  with  in  excellence  oi 
construction  and  equipnaent.  The  San  Jacinto,  Saranac,  Fulton,  and  the  Princeton,  may  be 
pointed  to  in  illustration  of  these  remarks. 

At  half-past  nine  o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  the  18th  of  February,  the  Mauritius  was  first 
seen  from  the  deck,  bearing  N.N.E.,  and  at  noon  the  Mississippi  was  nearly  abreast  of  Cape 
Bravant,  having  passed  in  sight  of  Grand  Port,  the  scene  of  the  memorable  action  in  August, 
1810,  between  an  English  squadron,  under  the  command  of  Captains  Pyne  and  Willoughby, 
and  a  French  force,  under  Commodore  Duperie.  In  this  engagement  the  English  were  worsted, 
having  lost  nearly  all  their  vessels.  The  battle  was  fought  within  the  coral  shoals  which  form 
the  harbor  of  Grand  Port,  the  batteries  on  the  shore  taking  part  in  the  action,  which  was 
prolonged  several  days. 

Early  in  the  evening,  the  pilot  having  boarded  the  Mississippi  near  the  mouth  of  the  harbor, 
anchored  and  secured  the  steamer  for  the  night  at  the  outer,  which  are  termed  the  Admiral's 
moorings.  Next  morning  the  pilot  returned  to  the  ship,  bringing  with  him  several  launches, 
manned  by  natives  of  Malabar^  who,  with  the  assistance  of  the  crew  of  the  Mississippi, 
completed  her  moorings,  which  was  a  process  requiring  much  time  and  labor.  All  vessels 
entering  the  harbor  of  Port  Louis  are  secured  by  frigates'  chains  attached  to  mooring 
anchors,  and  brought  on  board,  one  at  each  bow  and  one  at  each  quarter.  This  operation 
is  entirely  under  the  direction  of  the  pilots,  who  with  their  launches,  warps,  and  numerous 
hands,  are  constantly  occupied  in  mooring  and  unmooring  the  various  vessels  as  they  enter  or 
leave  the  harbor.  Vessels  are  moored  head  and  stern,  with  their  bows  to  the  southeast,  the 
direction  from  which  the  hurricanes  usually  come.  As  these  generally  blow  directly  out  of  the 
harbor,  they  are  accompanied  with  very  little  sea  ;  but  such  is  often  the  violence  of  the  wind, 
that  the  strong  moorings  give  way,  and  the  most  destructive  results  ensue,  the  vessels  being 
dashed  against  each  other,  and  the  shores  strewn  with  wrecks.  It  is  rarely  that  these  gales 
blow  into  the  harbor,  but  when  they  do,  a  tremendous  sea  is  thrown  into  the  little  port,  and 
the  strongest  moored  and  best  found  vessels  can  hardly  escape  disaster. 
14  J 


106 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


Every  possible  prccautiou  has  been  taken  by  tlic  government  to  provide  against  the  destructive 
effects  of  these  furious  storms,  and  the  authorities  are  vigorously  seconded  in  their  efforts  by 
the  intelligence  and  indefatigable  attention  of  Lieutenant  Edward  Kelly,  of  the  royal  navy, 
the  harbor  master,  who  is  ever  on  the  alert  to  meet  the  wants  of  vessels,  giving  warning  of  the 
appearance  of  an  approaching  gale,  and  suggesting  such  measures  as  may  the  better  guard 
them  against  accident.  Such  was  the  favorable  impression  made  upon  the  Commodore  by  the 
perfect  state  of  the  port  regulations,  that  he  Avas  induced  to  address  a  note  to  Lieutenant  Kelly, 
expressing  his  satisfaction,  and  thanking  him  for  the  facilities  wliich  had  been  rendered  to  the 
Mississippi. 

Our  Light-house  Board  might  gather  from  the  example  of  these  excellent  regulations  some 
useful  hints;  but  it  is  feared  that  tliat  Tiranch  of  administration,  like  too  many  others,  is  so 
much  exposed  to  ignorant  legislation,  that  any  disposition  'it  may  have  toward  reform  and 
progress  would  be  hindered  by  imwise  interference. 


Cipc  of  Good  UulJC. 


MAURITIUS,      ITS      DISCOVERY. 


107 


CHAPTER  IV 


MlrRITICS,  ITS  DISCOVERT. GEOLOGICAL  FORMATIOM  AXD  PHYSICAL  ASPECT. PRODUCTION  OF    SUGAR. EFFECT    OV  AGRICULTURE 

OF    THE    ABOLITION-     OF     SLAVERY  COOLIES. POPCLATIO.V     OF     THE     ISLAND. STATE     OF    FEELING     BETWEEN    ENGLISH    AND 

FRENCH    RESIDENTS. HOSPITABLE    TREATMENT    OF     THE     EXPEDITION. DESCRIPTION     OF    PORT     LOUIS. GRAND     PORT PAUL 

AND  VIRGINIA. FACTS   ON  WHICH   ST.   PIERRE  FOUNDED  HIS    STORY. TO.MBS   OF    PAUL  AND   VIRGINIA. BUILT  BY   AN  ECCENTRIC 

FJIENCHMAN. CYCLONES. THEIR     PROBABLE      CAUSES. LNTEREST     FELT     IN     THEM      AT      MAURITIUS. DEPARTURE      OF      THE 

MISSISSIPPI    FROM    PORT    LOUIS. HER  COURSE    THENCE    TO    POINT  DE  GALLE,  ISLAND  OF  CEYLON. REASONS    FOR  TAKING  IT. 

POINT  DE  GALLE,  DESCRIPTION  OF. GREAT  RENDEZVOUS  OF   STEAMERS. DIFFICULTY    OF  PROCURING  FUEL  THERE. AMERICAN 

CONSUL. THOUGHTS      ON     CONSULAR     SYSTEM. — EARLY     KNOWLEDGE     OF     CEYLON. ITS     SEVERAL     EUROPEAN     POSSESSORS. 

CLIMATE. SALUBRITY. CAUSES     OF     ITS     DIMINISHED      PROSPERITY. PRODUCTIONS. VALUE      OF     COCOA-NUT    PALM. PEARL 

FISHERY. IM.MENSE  NUMBERS  OF  ELEPHANTS. GREAT  SLAUGHTER  OF  THEM. BOA  CONSTRICTOR. POPULATION  OF  CEYLON. 

PHTSiaCE  OF    CINGALESE,  MALABARS,  AND    MAHOMMEDANS  IN    THE    ISLAND. RELIGIOUS    CONDITION. BUDDHISM. PILGRIMAGE 

TO  THE  TEMPLES. INTERCOURSE  WITH  A  SIAMESE  NAVAL  OFFICER  AT  CEYLON. COMMODORe's    LETTER  TO    THE    SECOND  KINO 

OF    SIAM. DEPARTURE    FRO.M    CEYLON. PASSAGE    THROUGH    THE    STRAITS    OF    MALACCA. ARRIVAL    AT    SI.VGAPORE. 

ACARENHAs,  a  Por- 
tuguese comman- 
der, discovered 
Mauritius,  with 
its  neighboring 
island  of  Bourbon, 
in  1505,  and  the 
■whole  group  was 
then  named  the 
- 1^  Mascarenhas  islands.  The  Portuguese  took  formal  possession  of 
Mauritius  in  1545,  but  appear  to  have  formed  no  settlement.  In  1598, 
the  Dutch  surveyed  it  and  gave  to  it  its  present  name,  in  honor  of  Maurice,  the  Stadtholder 
of  the  Netherlands.  They,  however,  did  not  settle  the  island  until  after  they  had  formed  an 
establishment  at  the  Cape  in  1G40  ;  and  then  they  fixed  themselves  on  the  shore  at  Port  Grand. 
In  1708,  from  causes  not  now  known,  they  abandoned  the  island,  and  from  this  time  up  to 
1715  its  only  inhabitants  were  a  few  negroes,  who  had  been  brought  there  by  the  Dutch  as 
slaves,  and  who^  having  escaped  from  their  masters,  concealed  themselves  in  the  mountain 
forests.  In  the  year  last  named  (1715)  the  French  took  possession  and  formed  a  settlement 
at  Port  St.  Louis,  giving  to  the  island  the  new  name  of  the  "Isle  of  France."  They  kept 
undisturbed  possession  until  1810,  wlien  it  was  taken  fium  them  by  the  British  ;  and  since  the 
peace  of  1814,  these  last  have  retained  it. 


108 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


The  island  is,  without  doubt,  volcanic  in  its  structure,  and  is  suiTounded  by  a  coral  reef, 
which  generally  runs  parallel  to  the  shores,  at  a  short  tlistance  from  them,  and  is  mostly  left 
dry  at  low  water.  There  are,  however,  in  this  reef  eleven  breaks  or  openings,  through  most  of 
which  vessels  of  considerable  burden  may  pass.  The  interior  of  the  island  consists  of  a  great 
number  of  lofty  hills,  mostly  isolated,  though  in  one  or  two  instances  they  form  small  chains. 
The  Brabant  mountains  and  the  Bamboo  ridge  are  the  greatest  elevations,  and  these  are  about 
three  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  level. 


Port  Louis,  Mauritius, 

The  soil  is  generally  shallow  and  not  very  productive.  This  is  owing  to  its  dryness.  The  mean 
annual  heat  is  about  76°  of  Fahrenheit.  It  is  true  they  have  rains,  and  in  June,  July,  and 
August  showers  are  frequent,  but  of  very  short  duration.  The  average  fall  of  rain  throughout 
the  year  would  appear,  froni  observation,  to  be  about  thirty-eight  inches.  The  rainy  season 
lasts  fi-om  November  to  March  or  April,  and  then  the  water  descends  in  torrents,  accompanied 
with  heavy  gusts  of  wind,  and  not  unfrequently  with  thunder  and  lightning.  This  region 
is  subject  also  to  hurricanes  quite  as  violent  as  any  encountered  in  the  "West  Indies  ; 
there  is,  however,  no  regularity  in  these,  though  five  years  rarely  elapse  without  their 
appearance.  The  island  is  traversed  by  nmnerous  water  courses,  which  diverge  in  all  directions 
from  the  centre ;  these,  however,  are  filled  with  water  in  the  rainy  season  only,  and  then  they 
form  numerous  cascades  and  cataracts.     In  the  dry  season  the  water  rapidly  evaporates. 

The  island  was  once  well  wooded,  and  a  considerable  part  of  the  native  forest  still  remains. 
The  cocoa-nut  palm,  and  sago,  are  common,  as  are  also  tamarind  trees,  mangroves,  and  bamboos. 


POPULATION      OF      MAURITIUS.  109 

Yams,  cassava,  Indian  corn,  plantains,  bananas,  and  melons  are  all  cultivated  as  articles  of 
food,  as  well  as  some  of  our  vegetables,  as  spinach,  asparagus,  artichokes,  cabbage,  and  peas. 
Wheat  and  rice  are  also  produced,  but  in  small  quantities.  Of  fruits  there  are  mangoes, 
shaddocks,  and  pine  apples ;  but  oranges,  grapes,  peaches,  and  apples  are  inferior.  The 
French  introduced  the  spice  trees  of  the  Indian  islands ;  none,  however,  succeeded  but  the  clove. 
The  chief  article  of  cultivation,  since  the  British  obtained  possession,  is  sugar ;  not  more, 
however,  than  three-eighths  of  the  island  is  cultivated  at  all.  Tlie  sugar  cane  is  planted  in  the 
usual  manner,  though  the  fields  j'l'^sent  one  peculiarity.  The  surface  of  the  ground,  in  its 
original  state,  was  covered  with  loose  rocks  and  stones.  These  have  been  formed  into  parallel 
ridges  about  three  or  four  feet  apart,  and  between  these  the  cane  is  planted.  The  cultivators 
are  of  opinion  that  these  ridges,  instead  of  being  injurious  to  the  cane,  are  ratlier  advantageous  ; 
they  retard  the  growth  of  weeds,  shade  and  protect  the  young  cane  from  violent  winds,  and 
retain  moisture  which  reaches  the  roots  of  the  cane. 

Before  the  introduction  of  guano  as  a  fertilizer  the  product  was  from  2,000  to  2,500  French 
pounds  of  sugar  to  the  arpent  or  French  acre ;  but  the  increase  since  the  application  of  the 
guano  has  been  so  extraordinary  as  to  be  scarcely  credible.  In  ordinary  seasons  the  product  has 
been  from  six  to  seven  thousand  pounds,  and,  under  peculiarly  favorable  circumstances,  it  has 
even  reached  eight  thousand  pounds  to  the  acre.  Official  returns  show  a  gradual  increase  in 
the  amount  of  sugar  exported  from  the  year  1812  up  to  the  present  time.  Thus,  in  that  year, 
it  was  but  969,260  French  pounds;  in  1851  it  amounted  to  137,373,519  pounds,  and  the 
estimated  crop  of  this  year  (1852)  is  140,000,000  pounds.  The  land  would  produce  cotton  and 
tobacco,  but  the  entire  thoughts  of  the  agriculturists  of  the  island  are  directed  to  sugar.  The 
proportion  of  guano  used  is  about  one-fourth  of  a  pound  to  a  cane,  and  the  French  arpent  or 
acre  is  estimated  to  contain  about  two  thousand  plants. 

The  general  abolition  of  slavery  by  the  English  government  caused  here,  as  it  did  in  the  other 
English  slaveholding  colonies,  much  agricultural  distress  ;  but  after  a  time  the  introduction  of 
laborers,  chiefly  from  the  Malabar  coast,  under  certain  prescribed  regulations,  enabled  the 
planters  not  only  to  dispense  with  the  services  of  the  freed  negroes,  but  to  obtain  labor  on 
cheaper  terms  than  before.  The  free  blacks  here,  as  elsewhere,  seemed  to  think  emancipation 
meant  an  exemption  from  all  labor;  they  were  consequently  indisposed  generally  to  work  at  all, 
even  for  fair  wages,  and  capriciously  left  their  labor  just  when  they  pleased.  The  imported 
laborers,  known  under  the  name  of  coolies,  perform  nearly  all  the  agricultural  work  of  the 
island,  as  well  as  load  and  unload  all  the  ships.  On  tlie  sugar  estates  large  communities  of  them 
are  to  be  found.  Comfortable  houses  are  provided  for  them  and  their  families,  and  exclusive  of 
house  rent  and  provisions,  which  are  furnished  to  them,  they  receive  from  two  to  three  dollars  a 
month  as  wages.  This  is  cheaper  to  the  planter  than  slave  labor  was.  The  municipal  laws 
for  the  protection  and  government  of  the  coolies  are  judicious  and  sufficently  minute,  yet  these 
people  pay  but  little  regard  to  any  bargain  they  may  make  with  their  employers  ;  they  go  and 
corae  very  much  as  they  please,  and  are  tolerated  in  the  exercise  of  a  much  larger  liberty  than 
is  accorded  to  laboring  men  in  either  England  or  the  United  States.  Notwithstanding  all  these 
disadvantages,  however,  the  planter  makes  large  profits  from  their  labor. 

The  population  of  the  whole  island  is  about  180,000.  Of  these  nearly  100,000  are  negroes 
from  Madagascar  and  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  wlio  were  once  slaves.  Beside  tliese,  are 
Malays,  fishermen   from    Malabar,    Lascars   and    Chinese.     Some   of  these   latter   have   been 


110 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


imported  for  agricultural  labor.  The  white  population  is  uiue  or  ten  thousand.  Of  these  the 
larger  part  are  Creoles  of  French  origin,  ami  speak  the  French  language.  They  also  form  the 
wealthier  portion  of  the  white  population.  The  English  in  Mauritius  having,  for  the  most 
part,  a  connexion,  direct  or  indirect,  with  tlie  colonial  government,  are  somewhat  exclusive  in 


Costumes,  Mauritius. 


their  social  relations.  The  French  are  not  less  tenacious^  and  hence,  though  there  are  no  open 
dissensions  between  them,  yet  to  the  impartial  stranger,  who  mingles  freely  with  both,  it  is 
quite  apparent  that  there  is  little  real  harmony  between  them,  and  a  feeling  of  nationality 
exists  which  would  probably  induce  the  majority  to  hail  with  pleasure  a  return  to  the  dominion 
of  France.  As  in  most  countries  which,  like  Mauritius,  liave  involuntarily  changed  their 
nationality,  the  females  indulge,  in  a  greater  degree  than  the  other  se.x,  the  prejudices  of 
country ;  perliaps  because  they  mix  less  witli  the  new  comers. 

Both  classes  of  the  population,  however,  English  and  French,  were  exceedingly  kind  and 
hospitable  to  the  members  of  tlie  expedition.  On  arriving  in  an  armed  United  States  vessel  at 
any  of  the  English  colonial  settlements,  great  hospitality  is  usually  extended  to  our  officers, 
and  visits  of  ceremony,  with  a  constant  interchange  of  dinner  parties  and  other  courtesies, 
commonly  leave  to  the  commander  but  little  opportunity  for  quiet  observation  of  tiiat  wliich 
may  characterize  the  people  generally.  In  fact,  he  is  for  a  time  unavoidably  subjected  to  the 
bondage  of  official  restraint,  and  is  sometimes  made  a  prisoner  even  by  the  friendly  tyranny  of 
kindness  and  hospitality. 


n  E  s  c  R  I  r  T  n  t  x    of    tort    t,  n  t'  i  s  . 


in 


During  the  brief  stay  of  the  ship  at  Mauritius  the  English  officials  and  merchants  exhibited 
the  most  profuse  hosjjitality  toward  the  Commodore  and  his  officers,  while  the  French  popula- 
tion were  no  whit  beliind  them  in  the  unostentatious  display  of  their  kindness.  These  last 
evinced  the  most  friendly  feelings  and  no  small  share  of  intelligence,  and  while  both  classes 
•were  equally  hospitable,  the  only  difference  was  that  the  Englishman  was,  perhaps,  a  little  the 
more  stately,  and  the  Frenchman  a  little  the  less  ceremonious.  Nothing  could  be  kinder  than 
the  treatment  of  both. 

Port  Louis,  the  capital  of  the  island,  is  situated  near  its  nortliwcstern  extremity,  on  a  small  bay, 
which  is  but  a  narrow  inlet  of  the  sea,  somewhat  more  than  a  mile  long,  and  about  five  hundred 
yards  broad.  At  the  extreme  southwestern  corner  the  town  is  built.  The  streets  are  straight, 
but  not  paved.  Tlie  principal  street  runs  parallel  to  the  shore  of  the  bay.  The  houses  are  cliiefly 
of  wood,  and  of  but  a  single  story.  The  population  is^  perhaps,  from  twenty-five  to  thirty 
thousand,  of  which  from  four  to  five  thousand  are  white.  The  residue  are  for  the  most  part 
blacks.  Grand  Port,  on  the  southeastern  side  of  the  island,  is  sufficiently  capacious,  and  is 
more  convenient  for  shipping  the  sugar,  of  which  large  quantities  are  grown  in  the  neighbor- 
hood :  but  apart  from  the  intricacies  of  its  entrance,  it  is  open  to  the  southeast,  fi-om  which 
quarter  the  hurricanes  blow  most  furiously. 


Public  Square,  Port  Louia. 


It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  among  those  who  read  at  all  there  are  many  who  are  unacquainted 
with  the  beautiful  story  of  Paul  and  \  irginia,  by  Bernardin  St.  Pierre.  The  accomplished 
author  was  an  officer  of  the  garrison  of  Mauritius  in  1744,  and  at  that  time  a  melancholy  catas- 


]  12  E  X  r  E  D  I  T  I  O  X      T  0     J  A  P  A  N  . 

trophe  which  happened  on  one  of  the  coral  reefs  surrounding  the  island  furnished  a  basis  of  facts 
on  which  he  reared  his  interesting  fiction. 

One  is  rather  reluctant  to  destroy  the  illusion  produced  by  the  romantic  narrative  of  St. 
Pierre  ;  but,  in  sober  truth,  he  was  indebted  to  his  imagination  for  the  picture  of  the  storm,  and 
the  brave  and  generous  Paul  is  but  a  myth.  The  facts  are  these  :  On  the  night  of  the  18th  of 
August,  1744,  the  French  ship  St.  G6van  was  wrecked  on  one  of  the  reefs  on  the  northeastern 
coast  of  the  island.  On  board  the  ship  were  two  young  ladies,  by  name  Mallet  and  Caillon, 
(who  were  returning  as  passengers  from  France,  whither  they  had  been  sent  for  education,) 
both  of  whom  were  lost.  The  depositions  taken  at  tlie  time  by  the  French  officials,  and  from 
which  these  facts  are  gathered,  state  that  Mademoiselle  Caillon  was  last  seen  upon  the  top-gallant 
forecastle  of  the  wrecked  vessel,  with  a  gentleman,  Monsieur  Longchamps  de  Montendre,  who 
was  at  the  time  endeavoring  to  persuade  her  to  trust  herself  to  his  efforts  to  save  her.  To 
enable  him,  however,  to  accomplish  the  object,  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  disencumber  herself 
of  some  portion  of  her  clothing,  and  this,  from  a  sense  of  modesty,  she  declined  doing,  and  so 
perished  with  Monsieur  Montendre  and  the  larger  part  of  the  crew  of  the  ill-fated  vessel.  It 
was  conjectured  that  Monsieur  Montendre  was  the  lover  of  Mademoiselle  Caillon,  as,  after 
lowering  himself  down  the  ship's  side  to  throw  himself  into  the  sea,  he  returned  and  earnestly 
endeavored  to  prevail  on  the  young  lady  to  leave  the  vessel  with  him,  and  on  her  refusal  would 
not  again  leave  her. 

Mademoiselle  Mallet  was  on  the  quarter  deck  with  Monsieur  de  Peramont,  who  never  left  her 
for  a  moment.  On  these  facts  as  a  basis  St.  Pierre  framed  his  story.  The  celebrity  given  to  it 
has  always  awakened  the  interest  of  strangers  visiting  the  island,  who  have  naturally  desired 
to  look  upon  scenes  consecrated  by  the  pen  of  genius,  and  associated  in  their  minds  with 
incidents  which,  if  not  literally  true,  have  at  least  deeply  touched  their  sensibilities.  The 
officers  of  the  ship  were,  therefore,  glad  to  land,  and  among  other  objects  visited,  strange  to  say, 
they  were  conducted  to  what  the  islanders  are  pleased  to  call  the  graves  of  Paul  and  Virginia. 
The  history  of  these  resting  places  of  the  imaginary  dead  is  this :  An  eccentric  French  gentleman 
having  a  country  residence  about  eight  miles  from  St.  Louis,  and  possibly  near  the  supposed 
graves  of  some  of  the  lost,  erected  in  his  garden  two  monuments  to  the  memory  of  the  unfortu- 
nate fictitious  Paul  and  Virginia,  (Mademoiselle  Caillon  and  Monsieur  Montendre.)  The  object 
was  simply  to  add  the  stimulus  of  curiosity  to  the  other  attractions  of  his  residence,  and  thus 
draw  around  him  a  more  numerous  circle,  to  whom  he  might  extend  that  hospitality  for  which 
he,  in  common  with  the  French  of  his  day,  was  famous,  and  thus  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  society. 
This  benevolent  and  eccentric  being  has  been  long  dead,  but  the  tombs  are  still  standing, 
though  in  a  state  of  dilapidation,  and  still  attract  strangers.  Alas!  no  ho.spitable  greeting  now 
awaits  the  visitor.  His  money  is  demanded  at  the  garden  gate,  all  sentiment  evaporates,  and 
he  walks  in  to  see  the  show.  This  custom  of  demanding  payment  from  visitors  to  places  of 
public  interest  is  almost  peculiar  to  the  English,  and  its  existence  is  to  many  of  the  people  of 
England  themselves  a  source  of  mortification  and  annoyance.  There  are  certain  places  in  which 
payment  is  perfectly  proper,  but  there  are  others  in  which,  though  regularly  exacted,  it  should 
not  be  asked.  The  sight  of  Longwood  and  a  glance  at  Napoleon's  tomb  were  both  paid  for  by 
the  gentlemen  of  the  expedition  at  St.  Helena  ;  but  the  custom  alluded  to  is  one  which  may  be 
found  throughout  the  extent  of  her  Majesty's  dominions. 

So  much  was  said  at  Mauritius  of  the  hurricanes,  or  cyclones,  common  to  this  part  of  the 


THECYCLONES.  113 

Indian  ocean,  that  the  Commodore  scarcely  entertained  a  hope  of  escaping  from  Ihis  region 
without  encountering  one.  Tliese  hurricanes,  at  the  season  of  their  occurrence,  (from  December 
to  Ajiril,)  form  the  great  topic  of  interest  and  discussion  to  the  Mauritians.  In  fact,  thov  talk 
of  little  else  at  that  period.  Meteorological  instruments  of  every  kind  are  kept  in  use  and  under 
the  most  watchful  observation.  Nor  is  this  great  solicitude  without  reason,  for  these  cyclones, 
when  they  do  come,  are  but  too  apt  to  bring  ruin  and  desolation  to  the  merchant  and  planter. 

The  immediate  cause  of  these  atmospherical  phenomena  has  been  supposed  to  be  a  disturbance 
of  the  equilibrium  in  the  air  that  takes  place  at  the  change  of  the  monsoons.  This  jieriod 
of  strife  lasts  about  a  month,  and  then  the  hurricanes  rage  with  terrific  violence.  Redfield  and 
Reed,  and  others,  have  explained  the  laws  by  which  they  suppose  them  to  be  governed ;  and 
their  hyiiothesis  is  perfectly  well  known  and  understood  by  the  Mauritians.  The  islands  of 
Mauritius,  Bourbon,  and  Roderique,  lie  directly  in  their  ordinary  track,  and  if  either  of  them 
happens  to  fall  within  the  vortex  of  one  of  these  hurricanes,  the  consequences  to  life  and 
property  are  terrible  indeed. 

The  natural  interest  felt  in  the  subject,  as  well  as  its  great  practical  importance,  have  given 
rise  to  many  discussions  as  to  the  best  means  to  be  adopted,  should  a  vessel  uufortunately  find 
herself  within  their  sweeping  influence  or  in  their  proximity ;  and  though  these  discussions  ma}^, 
and  doubtless  will,  result  in  a  better  understanding  of  the  laws  which  govern  these  winds,  yet 
it  must  be  confessed  that  some  of  them  have  rather  a  tendency  to  confuse  the  simple  minded 
and  practical  seaman,  who,  if  caught  in  one  of  these  storms,  should  undertake  then  to  find 
rules  for  his  guidance.  He  can  spare  no  time  from  the  handling  of  his  vessel,  and  however 
plain  abstract  principles  may  be  to  him  who  is  at  leisure  quietly  to  master  them  on  shore,  the 
cabin  of  a  ship  in  a  storm  is  a  poor  school  of  philosophy.  This,  however,  only  shows  the 
necessity  there  is  thcat  the  seaman  who  would  understand  his  profession  should  study  and  master 
all  that  science  has  brought  to  light,  when  he  can  do  so  on  shore,  and  before  he  is  caught  in  a 
storm  which  demands  its  immediate  application.  However,  the  instructions  given  by  the  earlier 
writers  on  these  hurricanes  are  now  more  generally  understood  than  they  were,  by  the  well 
informed  seaman,  particularly  since  they  have  been  further  explained  and  simplified  by  the 
more  recent  puVdication  of  Piddington. 

Of  those  residing  at  Mauritius  who  have  earnestly  studied  and  discussed  the  laws  which 
govern  these  storms,  may  be  mentioned  Dr.  Thom,  whose  writings  are  well  known,  Lieutenant 
Fryers,  of  the  royal  engineers,  and  Mr.  Sedgewick,  who  has  published  a  little  work,  which  he 
calls  "The  True  Principle,"  and  which  has  been  reviewed  by  Dr.  Thom;  and,  lastly,  a  creolc 
gentleman  attached  to  the  observatory  at  Mauritius,  Mr.  Bosquett. 

This  last  named  gentleman,  who  has  translated  into  French  Piddington's  Horn  book,  with 
annotations  of  his  own,  claims  to  be  able,  by  careful  and  constant  meteorological  observations, 
to  foretell  the  existence  of  hurricanes  in  the  Indian  ocean,  and  to  describe  the  course  they 
will  take.  The  day  before  the  Mississippi  left  Mauritius,  he  informed  the  Commodore  that  a 
cyclone  was  then  blowing  in  a  direction  E.  by  N.  from  the  island,  and  that  it  would  pass  to  the 
southward  and  eastward. 

By  reference  to  the  chart  in  Piddington's  Horn   book  it  will  be  seen  that  these  cyclones 

never  extend  to  the  northward  of  10°  or  12°  south  latitude,  in  the  meridian  of  Mauritius. 

Therefore,  vessels  leaving  the  island  in  the  hurricane  sca.son,  for  any  part  of  India,  should  steer 

to  the  northward,  pa.ssing  well  to  the  westward  of  the  Cargados,  a  most  dangerous  group,  thus 

15  J 


114  EXPEDITION      TO     JAP  AM. 

keeping  a  clear  sea  open  to  the  westward  that  there  may  he  nothing  in  the  way  should  it  he 
desirable  to  run  to  the  northward  and  westward,  which  wcukl  be  the  true  course  to  take  in  case 
of  encountering  the  southwestern  or  northwestern  quadrants  of  a  cyclone,  (which,  in  the 
hurricane  season,  a  vessel  from  Mauritius  is  in  dangccr  of.)  and  this  course  she  should  keep  until 
she  is  sufficiently  far  north  to  be  beyond  its  influence.  Steamers,  of  course,  have  superior  means 
of  avoiding  these  storms,  as  they  have  the  power  of  steering  the  most  judicious  course  to  escape 
from  their  greatest  fury. 

Following  the  advice  of  several  experienced  seamen,  when  the  Mississippi  left,  she  took  the 
circuitous  route  (the  distance  from  Mauritius  to  Ceylon  being  thereby  made  150  miles  greater) 
and  pa  ssed  to  the  westward  of  the  Cargados  and  between  the  island  Galega  and  Laya  de  Mahla 
Bank  ;  thence,  doubling  the  northern  extremity  of  that  bank  the  ship  was  steered  to  the 
eastward  for  Pona  Moluque,  the  southernmost  of  the  Maldives ;  after  passing  this  the  course 
was  direct  for  Point  de  Galle  in  Ceylon. 

Before  leaving  the  United  States,  Messrs.  Howland  &  Aspinwall,  of  New  York,  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  Commodore,  had  dispatched  two  shi])S  laden  with  coal,  one  to  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  the  other  to  Mauritius.  The  prudence  of  this  precaution  was  proved  by  the 
result ;  but  for  these  two  cargoes  the  Mississippi,  as  well  as  the  other  steamers  of  the  squadron 
which  were  to  follow  her — the  Powhatan  and  Alleghany — would  have  had  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  procuring  fuel.  In  the  case  of  both  cargoes,  they  arrived  at  their  respective  places 
of  destination  a  few  days  before  the  Mississippi,  so  that  both  at  the  Cape  and  Mauritius  the 
ship  was  enabled  at  once  to  take  in  fresh  fuel,  and  leave  a  supply  for  the  steamers  that  were  to 
come  after.* 

Having  taken  on  board  about  five  hundred  tons  of  this  coal,  with  such  other  supplies  as  were 
needed,  the  Mississippi  left  St.  Louis  on  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  February,  intending  to 
touch  for  a  further  supply  of  fuel  either  at  Point  de  Galle  or  Singapore,  if  it  should  appear  pos- 
sible to  reach  the  latter  named  place  with  the  coal  taken  on  board  at  Mauritius.  The  course 
was  that  already  indicated  above,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  10th  of  March  the  light  was  made 
on  Point  de  Galle,  island  of  Ceylon,  after  a  passage  of  thirteen  days. 

The  port  of  Point  de  Galle  is  the  general  rendezvous  of  the  English  India  mail  steamers^  not 
only  of  those  which  ply  to  and  from  the  Red  sea,  hut  of  those  which  double  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  bound  to  India  or  the  China  seas.  Large  quantities  of  coal  and  patent  fuel  are  brought 
from  England  and  deposited  there ;  and  though  the  quantity  would  seem  to  be  enormous,  yet 
80  great  is  the  consumption  of  the  numerous  steamers,  of  which  there  are  about  ten  each  month 
touching  at  the  port,  that  there  is  sometimes  an  apprehension  felt  of  the  supply  of  fiiol  falling 
short.  The  Oriental  Steam  Navigation  Company  have  consequently  given  positive  orders  not 
to  supply  a  single  ton  to  any  foreign  vessel-of-war,  and  consequently  the  Mississippi  could 
obtain  only  a  limited  supply  from  the  Bengal  government. 

The  town  of  Galle  is  situated  upon  a  peninsula,  the  inner  curve  of  which  forms  the  harbor. 
Thick  walls  of  considerable  height  enclose  the  town  within  a  space  of  about  fifteen  acres.     The 

•  "  To  tlic  zealous  and  energetic  services  of  Messrs.  Howland  &  Aspinwall,  in  llie  rnilbfiil  fulfilment  of  their  engagements 
with  the  Navy  Department,  I  am  greatly  indebted  ;  had  it  not  been  for  their  prompt  and  effectual  agency,  I  should  have  found 
myself  seriously  embarrassed  in  controlling  the  movements  of  the  steamers  of  my  command.  The  ample  provision  thus  placed 
at  my  disposal  not  only  relieved  me  from  care  upon  the  score  of  fuel,  without  which  side-wheel  steamers  are  worse  than  useless, 
but  enabled  mc  to  exercise  a  most  gratifying  courtesy  in  furnishing  to  several  foreign  war  steamers  supplies  of  this  essential 
article,  which  could  not  be  obtained  at  the  time  from  any  other  source." — Extract  from  the  Commodort's  Journal. 


POINT     DE     GALLE. 


115 


inhabitanta  are  thus  shut  up  within  a  close  fortress,  from  which  the  sea  breezes  are  almost 
entirely  excluded,  and  must  suffer  very  much  from  the  heat,  which  cannot  be  otherwise  thau 
excessive,  in  a  latitude  almost  under  the  equator.  The  heat,  however,  is  not  so  intense  as  on 
the  neighboring  coast  of  India.  During  the  stay  of  the  Mississippi  the  highest  range  of  the 
thermometer  (Fahrenheit)  was  85°,  and  the  lowest  was  82°.  The  ordinary  range  at  Point  de 
Galle,  however,  is  set  down  at  from  '70°  to  87°. 


PolDt  de  Galle,  CeyloD. 

Fresh  supplies  of  food  of  almost  every  description  can  be  readily  obtained  at  this  port ;  bul- 
locks, pigs,  fruit,  and  vegetables,  abound.  The  fish  are  abundant  and  good.  "Wood  is  plentiful 
and  tolerably  good.     Water  can  be  obtained  in  reasonable  quantities,  but  it  is  bad. 

The  population  of  the  town  is  composed  of  English  officials  and  merchants,  and  a  motley 
collection  of  tradesmen  and  laborers  of  all  varieties  of  color,  from  negro  black  to  dingy  brown. 

The  Commodore  and  his  officers  were  not  a  little  mortified,  as  well  as  somewhat  embarrassed, 
by  finding,  on  their  arrival  at  Point  de  Galle,  the  United  States  commercial  agent,  a  native  of 
Scotland,  confined  to  his  premises  under  an  execution  for  debt.  Various  accounts  of  the  circum- 
stances connected  with  this  unfortunate  jjosition  of  affairs  were  communicated  to  the  Commo- 
dore, but  he  studiously  avoided  any  interference  with  the  matter.  It  was  no  part  of  his  business 
or  duty  to  interpose;  and  humiliating  as  was  this  state  of  things,  he  could  not  but  feel  that  the 
fault  was  in  the  former  consular  system  of  the  United  States.  Our  country  had  no  right  to 
expect  our  consuls  and  commercial  agents,  many  of  whom  were  unfitted  in  every  respect  for 
their  stations,  either  to  represent  or  sustain  the  commercial  interests  of  the  nation  so  long  as  the 


116  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

system  then  existing  was  followed.  The  fees  at  many  of  the  places  where  our  consular  agents 
were  accredited,  it  was  notorious  would  scarce  suffice  to  clothe  them,  and,  accordingly,  to  eke  out 
a  scanty  living,  they  were  often  obliged  to  resort  to  some  sort  of  business,  often  not  of  the  most 
dio-nificd  character.  Of  course,  there  were  always  honorable  exceptions  to  this  unfavorable  state 
of  things.  Many  of  onr  consuls  have  been  and  are  men  of  high  position,  who  have  not  failed 
to  exercise  a  strong  influence  upon  the  local  governments  within  which  they  may  have  resided. 
But  for  this  they  have  been  less  indebted  to  the  consular  office  than  to  their  deservedly  high, 
commercial  standing;  at  the  same  time  it  may  be  true,  that  possessing  such  high  personal 
characters  as  they  do,  in  their  cases,  the  consular  office,  worthily  bestowed,  may  add  somewhat 
to  their  influence.  The  recent  action  of  Congress  has  shown  the  sense  entertained  by  that  body 
of  the  correctness  of  these  views  and  of  the  need  of  reform  ;  and  it  is  hoped  the  measures 
adopted  will  guarantee  for  the  future  a  dignified  representative  of  our  commercial  interests 
wherever  we  have  a  consul. 

Ceylon  has  been  long  known  to  Europe.  The  first  accounts  were  received  from  two  of  the 
commanders  of  the  fleet  dispatched  by  Alexander  the  Great  from  the  Indus  to  the  Persian 
Gulf.  A  descrijjtion  of  the  island  may  be  found  recorded  bj'  ancient  authors  ;  both  Pliny  and 
Ptoloraeus  have  left  ■accounts  of  its  character  and  condition.  It  is  supposed  tliat  the  Persians 
had  formed  a  Christian  establishment  on  the  coast  before  the  sixth  century  ;  and  in  the 
tliirteentli  the  celebrated  traveller,  Marco  Polo,  visited  Ceylon,  of  which  he  has  left  a  glowing 
description,  having  been  so  much  struck  with  its  beauty  and  richness  that  in  his  enthusiasm 
he  lias  termed  it  the  finest  island  in  the  world.  Sir  John  Mandeville,  the  English  traveller, 
also  visited  it  some  fifty  years  later. 

The  Portuguese,  however,  were  the  first  among  the  Europeans  to  establish  intimate  relations 
with  Ceylon.  When  they  found  their  way  to  India,  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  they  were 
welcomed  by  the  king,  whose  dominions  at  the  time  were  a  prey  to  intestine  war.  The 
Europeans  taking  advantage  of  the  civil  dissensions  which  prevailed,  and  offering  themselves 
as  mediators,  succeeded  in  establishing  a  foothold  in  the  country,  which  they  took  care  to 
maintain.  In  1520,  the  Portuguese  strongly  fortified  themselves  at  Colombo,  and  held  a 
controlling  influence  over  the  natives,  until  they  were  dispersed  by  the  latter,  aided  by  the 
Dutch,  who,  in  their  turn,  changed  their  relation  of  friends  to  that  of  masters  of  the  jn'ople. 
The  war  with  the  Portuguese  lasted  more  than  twenty  years,  and  they  were  not  finally 
expelled  the  island  until  I60G.  The  various  fortified  positions  at  Batticolo,  Point  de  Galle, 
Negombo,  and  Colombo  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Dutch,  who  thus  controlled  the  maritime 
provinces. 

During  the  European  wars  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  French  got  possession 
of  Trinconialee,  but  they  were  ejected  by  tlie  British,  who  in  their  turn  were  forced  to  yield 
it  up  to  the  former  possessors,  and  it  finally  was  restored  to  the  Dutch,  who  continued  to  hold 
it,  together  with  the  sea  coast,  until  they  were  wrested  from  them,  in  1796,  by  the  British, 
who  were  formally  acknowledged  as  the  possessors  by  the  treaty  of  Amicus.  Eiiglisli  liistory 
records  that  the  whole  island,  by  tiie  invitation  of  the  natives,  was  taken  possession  of,  in 
1815,  by  the  British  crown,  under  the  sovereignty  of  wiiich  Ceylon  still  remains.  It  is 
difficult  fo  say  who,  of  the  successive  masters  of  the  |i(ior  Cingalese,  have  been  the  most  iiucl 
an<l  oppressive,  and,  in  fact,  it  is  feared  (liat  1}ut  liltle  can  be  said  in  palliali>in  of  the  fiaud 
and  perfidy  of  either  of  them. 


ISLAND     OF     CEVLON.  117 

In  olden  time,  before  its  occupation  by  the  Europeans,  Ceylon  was  one  of  tlie  richest  and 
most  productive  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  east.  The  natives,  at  a  very  early  period,  showed 
great  skill  in  tlie  development  of  the  resources  of  the  island,  and  increased  the  fertility  of  the 
soil  by  ingenious  modes  of  artificial  irrigation  ;  and  numerous  vestiges  of  imposing  works, 
constructed  for  this  purpose,  remain  to  tliis  day. 

The  climate  of  Ceylon  is  very  much  influenced  by  the  monsoons.  Tlie  northeast  prevails 
from  November  to  February,  and  the  southwest  from  April  to  September  ;  but  there  are  certain 
local  causes  which  influence  these  winds  and  modify  their  temperature.  There  is  a  great 
diflerence  between  the  climate  of  the  northern  and  southern  portions  of  the  island,  and  a 
curious  eff'ect  results  therefrom ;  for  not  seldom  on  one  side  of  a  mountain  the  rain  is  falling 
abundantly,  while  on  the  other  it  is  so  dry  that  the  herbage  is  parched  and  withered  ;  and 
thus  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  former  are  doing  their  utmost  to  protect  their  lands  from  the 
flood,  those  of  the  latter  are  striving  to  obviate  the  consequences  of  the  drought  by  availing 
themselves  of  the  scant  reservoirs  of  water  which  may  have  been  left  from  previous  rains. 

The  island  is  comparatively  healthy,  as  is  indicated  by  the  rate  of  mortality,  which,  being 
less  than  three  per  cent.,  shows  a  remarkable  salubrity  for  an  eastern  country.  As  the 
clearing  of  the  jungles  and  the  draining  of  the  marshes  proceed,  a  still  higher  degree  of 
health  may  be  reasonably  expected. 

Ceylon  did  not  appear  as  flourishing  a  colony  as  the  Mauritius,  thougli  it  possesses  superior 
geographical  advantages.  Lying,  as  it  does,  as  a  sort  of  outpost  to  the  principal  possessions 
of  the  English  in  the  east,  and  ofi'ering,  in  its  port  of  Galle,  a  point  for  the  distribution  of 
intelligence  throughout  India  and  China,  it  is  much  resorted  to. 

With  all  its  natural  advantages,  however,  the  island  at  present  is  far  less  flourishing  than 
might  have  been  expected.  The  exports  are  limited  in  comparison  with  the  acknowledged 
fertility  of  the  island,  to  the  productive  power  of  which  there  would  hardly  seem  to  be  any 
limit.  Labor  may  be  obtained,  too,  for  twelve  cents  a  day,  and  yet  the  agricultural  interests 
are  not  as  promising  as,  under  such  favorable  circumstances,  they  should  be.  The  natives,  too, 
are  said  not  to  be  wanting  in  industry,  but  their  needs  are  so  few,  living,  as  they  do,  upon 
fish,  rice,  and  cocoa-nuts,  that  they  are  never  forced  by  necessity  to  labor  hard  for  their 
subsistence. 

Of  the  productions  of  the  island  the  cocoa-nut  is  probably  the  most  valuable  to  the  natives. 
Everywhere  in  Ceylon,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  extensive  plantations  of  tliis  tree  are  to  be  seen, 
and  the  numerous  roads  throughout  the  island  are  bordered  witli  it.  The  weary  and  heated 
traveller  finds  not  only  protection  from  the  sun  in  its  shade,  but  refreshment  from  the  milk  of 
the  fruit,  which  is  both  agreeable  to  the  taste  and  wholesome.  The  cocoa-nut  jjalm  has  a  great 
variety  of  uses.  The  green  fruit,  with  its  delicate  albuminous  meat  and  its  refresliiug  milk,  is  a 
favorite  article  of  food.  When  ripe,  the  kernel  of  the  nut  is  dried,  forming  what  the  natives 
term  copjieral,  and  an  oil  of  great  value  is  expressed  from  it,  while  the  residuum  forms  an 
excellent  oil-cake  for  the  fattening  of  animals.  Even  the  husk  of  the  nut  is  useful ;  its  fibres  are 
wrought  into  the  coir  rope,  of  which  large  quantities  are  annually  exported,  and  tlie  shells  are 
manufactured  into  various  domestic  utensils.  From  the  sap  of  the  tree  a  drink  is  obtained 
which  is  called  "toddy,"  and  made  into  arrack  liy  (listillatidii.  Tlie  leaves  afford  a  good 
material  for  the  thatching  of  tlie  native  huts,  and  are  moreover  given  as  food  to  tiie  elephants. 
Tlie  I'aiinyra  palm,  wbieli  also  ahoiiinls  in  the  islaml,  sliarrs  willi  (lie  cocoa-nut  tree  in  iiiaiiy 
ot  its  advantages. 


118  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

The  other  staples  of  Ceylon  are  cinnamon,  coffee,  sugar,  rice,  arica  nut,  precious  stones, 
plumbago,  (probably  the  best  in  the  world,)  and  other  vegetable  and  mineral  productions. 
The  pearl  fisheries,  for  which  the  island  was  once  famous,  have  very  much  diminished  in  their 
yield.  The  natives  account  for  the  diminution  by  declaring  that  the  pearl-oyster  has  the  power 
of  locomotion,  and  has  shifted  its  former  quarters  to  some  new  ground  not  yet  discovered.  The 
scarcity  is  probably  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  pearls  have  been  disturbed  before  they  have 
reached  their  full  development,  which  is  said  to  require  a  period  of  seven  years.  At  one  time 
the  fishery  was  a  source  of  handsome  revenue  to  the  government ;  in  1797  the  sum  of  £140,000 
was  derived  from  it.  Since  that  period  the  proceeds  have  gradually  fallen  off,  until  at 
present  they  amount  to  almost  nothing.  Diving  for  the  pearl-oyster  is  a  favorite  occupation 
araon<y  the  natives  of  Ceylon,  as  a  skilful  diver  can  earn  ten  times  the  wages  of  a  farm  laborer, 
and  the  employment  is  not,  as  has  been  stated,  unfavorable  to  health,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
conducive  to  strtrgth  and  vigor  of  body. 

Ceylon  abounds  in  a  rich  vegetation  and  many  trees  of  a  vigorous  growth,  among  which,  in 
addition  to  the  cocoa-nut  and  Palmyra  palm,  there  is  the  kettal  tree,  from  the  sap  of  which  is 
produced  a  coarse  sugar,  and  from  its  fruit,  when  dried  and  reduced  to  powder,  a  substitute  for 
rice  flour.  The  talipot,  with  its  immense  foliage,  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  island  ;  a  single 
leaf  of  this  tree  is  sufficient  to  cover  beneath  its  shade  several  persons,  and  it  supplies,  when 
softened  by  boiling,  a  substitute  for  paper,  upon  which  the  natives  are  in  the  habit  of  writing, 
and  find  in  it  a  most  durable  material.  The  cinnamon,  with  its  beautiful  white  blossom  and  its 
red  tipped  leaves,  and  other  odoriferous  trees,  are  among  the  native  products  of  Ceylon  ;  but  the 
stories  of  the  fragrance  of  the  aroma  exhaled  from  these  trees  and  the  plants,  and  which 
voyagers  have  described  as  sensible  at  a  distance  from  the  land,  are  gross  exaggerations.  No 
fragrance  was  observed  equal  to  that  of  the  magnolia  or  of  the  delightful  perfume  of  the 
newlv-mown  grass  of  our  own  country,  or  in  any  degree  approaching  the  delicious  odor  of  the 
heliotrope  and  geranium  hedges  of  Madeira.  The  cultivated  flowers  that  were  seen  at  Ceylon 
and  at  Mauritius  were,  in  fact,  remarkable  for  their  want  of  fragrance.  Kich  woods  of  various 
kinds,  as  the  rose,  the  ebony,  the  satin,  and  lime,  grow  in  abundance  on  the  island,  and  are 
used  for  many  purposes  of  utility  and  ornament. 

Within  the  forests  and  in  the  jungles  of  Ceylon  are  found  a  great  variety  of  wild  animals — 
the  elephant,  the  hyena,  tiger-cat,  the  bear,  the  deer,  and  tlie  monkey,  are  among  the  most 
abundant.  The  number  of  elephants  is  incredibly  great,  and,  issuing  in  troops  from  their  lairs, 
they  come  crushing  down  the  cultivated  fields  and  plantations  and  devouring  the  crops,  with 
great  loss  to  the  proprietors.  They  are  foTind  in  all  the  unciiltivated  parts  of  the  island,  but 
their  favorite  haunts  are  near  to  the  farms,  to  which  they  jirove  so  destructive  that  the  colonial 
government  pays  a  reward  of  7s.  6d.  (about  $1  85)  for  every  tail  of  the  animal  which  is  brought 
to  the  authorities.  Mr.  Talbot,  the  government  agent  at  Galle,  stated,  surprising  as  it  may 
seem,  that  he  had  paid  during  the  preceding  year  two  hundred  pounds  sterling  for  tails,  wliich 
would  give  six  hundred  as  the  number  of  elephants  destroyed. 

An  army  officer,  as  was  stated  to  the  Commodore,  actually  klHod,  during  his  residence  on 
the  island,  no  less  than  six  hundred  of  these  gigantic  animals.  Within  a  few  months  of  the 
arrival  of  the  Mississippi,  two  officers  of  the  garrison,  one  of  whom  (Lieutenant  Lennox) 
became  personally  known  to  the  Commodore,  destroyed  no  less  than  forty  elephants  in  the 
course  of  a  sporting  visit  of  six  weeks  to  the  jungle.     They  are  ordinarily  shot  with  a  rifle  ; 


PEOPLE     OP     CETLOK.  119 

the  sportsman  approaches  his  game  in  front,  or  perhaps,  as  the  sailors  would  say,  on  the 
quarter,  that  he  may  aim  at  either  of  the  only  two  vital  parts  upon  which  a  rifle  ball  will  have 
any  effect,  one  being  directly  in  the  forehead,  through  which  the  brain  is  penetrated,  and  the 
other  behind  the  ear.  If  the  hunter  chance  to  come  up  to  his  elephant  in  the  rear,  he  raises  a 
shout  or  makes  a  noise,  by  which  the  huge  animal  is  attracted,  and,  throwing  forward  its  ears, 
exposes  the  vital  spot,  at  which  his  ruthless  enemy  aims  the  deadly  ball  and  brings  down  his 
huge  victim.  The  elephants  of  Ceylon  are  not  so  large  as  those  of  other  parts  of  India,  and 
but  a  small  proportion  of  them  have  tusks. 

Of  serpents,  there  are  but  twenty  species,  four  only  of  which  are  venomous^  the  cobra  and 
tic  prolango  being  the  most  deadly.  The  latter  is  said  to  be  endowed  with  great  cunning,  and 
to  lie  in  wait  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  the  passing  traveller.  The  stories  which  are  told  of 
the  anaconda,  boa  constrictor  or  python,  seizing  upon  cattle  and  horses,  and  even  horsemen, 
must  be  received  as  fabulous.  There  is,  however,  a  species  of  boa  peculiar  to  the  island,  which 
is  capable  of  swallowing  a  deer  whole,  and  after  they  have  indulged  in  venison  to  that  degree, 
and  become  surfeited  with  so  substantial  a  meal,  they  fall  readily  a  prey  to  the  captor.  This 
is  believed  to  be  the  extent  of  the  powers  of  deglutition  of  the  Ceylon  boas  ;  those  enormous 
serpents,  which  are  said  to  swallow  an  entire  ox,  horns  and  all,  being  tmknown  in  that  region. 
It  may  not  be  amiss  to  refer  here  to  a  remedy  for  venomous  bites,  for  which  popular  opinion  in 
the  east  claims  considerable  efficacy,  this  is  a  paste  made  by  moistening  the  powder  of  ipeca- 
chuana  with  water,  and  applying  it  to  the  external  injury.  Some  wonderful  effects  have  been 
reported  from  the  use  of  this  simple  means  in  various  cases^  of  not  only  bites  from  venomous 
serpents,  but  of  stings  by  the  scorpion  and  various  poisonous  fish. 

The  population  of  Ceylon  is  estimated  at  about  1,442,062,  of  whom  8,275  are  whites, 
1,413,486  colored  persons,  and  20,431  aliens  and  resident  strangers.  The  inhabitants  are 
composed  of  the  natives,  termed  Cingalese,  of  a  small  proportion  of  Europeans,  principally 
government  officials,  military  officers  and  merchants  with  their  families,  and  of  negroes,  Malays, 
and  Chinese.  The  Cingalese  were  less  ugly  in  appearance  than  was  expected,  many  of  the  men, 
in  fact,  (as  for  the  women  few  were  seen,  and  none  of  tlie  better  class,)  have  expressive  and  even 
handsome  faces,  and  their  forms  are  not  without  symmetry.  They  seem  to  be  amiable  in  dispo- 
sition and  are  remarkable  for  their  efi'eminate  habits.  So  similar  is  the  costume  of  the  two 
sexes  that  it  is  difficult  often  for  the  casual  observer  to  distinguish  the  man  from  the  woman. 
The  males  allow  their  hair  to  grow  to  a  great  length,  which  they  foster  with  much  care,  and 
fasten  to  the  tops  of  their  heads  with  large  tortoise  shell  combs,  such  as  our  ladies  at  home 
might  not  be  ashamed  to  wear. 

The  common  dress  of  the  better  class  of  the  Cingalese  is  a  jacket,  worn  next  to  the  skin,  and 
from  the  waist  downward  a  colored  petticoat,  wrapped  in  graceful  folds  round  the  limbs  and 
falling  to  the  feet.  The  head,  well  protected  as  it  is  with  the  superabundant  hair,  is  generally 
bare  of  any  artificial  covering.  Some  of  the  common  people,  however,  wrap  a  cloth  turban-wise 
around  their  brows,  which  they  shift  to  their  body  when  mingling  with  the  crowds,  and  thus 
eke  out  their  scanty  drapery,  which  ordinarily  consists  only  of  a  petticoat.  Some  of  the  abori- 
gines, who  live  in  a  rude  condition  within  the  fastnesses  of  the  great  forests,  confine  themselves 
in  dress  to  the  simple  wardrobe  of  nature. 

In  addition  to  the  Cingalese,  who  are  doubtless  descendants  of  the  aborigines  of  the  island, 
there  are  the  Malabars,  whom  tradition  traces  to  the  neighboring  shores  of  India,  and  whose 


120  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

religion  and  social  characteristics  would  seem  to  connect  them  with  that  country.  Tliey  are 
Hindoos  and  preserve  their  religion  and  system  of  caste,  together  with  the  costumes  of  their 
original  country,  as  well  as  their  language,  somewhat  modified,  however,  by  their  relation  with 
the  Cingalese.  The  neighboring  islands  and  continents  su})ply  a  population  of  Mahommedans 
or  Moors  to  Ceylon,  and  they  abound  in  several  parts  of  the  country,  where,  in  the  various 
orders  into  which  their  law  of  caste  divides  them,  tliey  carry  on  a  prosperous  business  as 
weavers,  fi.shermen,  merchants,  and  bakers.  They  are  among  the  most  enterprising  and 
thriving  of  the  population,  and  their  well  known  skill  and  industry  have  secured  them  much  of 
the  commercial  wealth  and  influence  of  the  island. 

The  native  language  of  the  aborigines  is  peculiar  to  themselves,  but  their  writings  arc  in 
Sanscrit  or  Pali.  A  provincial  dialect  of  Portuguese  is,  however,  generally  spoken  by  those 
natives  who  have  passed  their  lives  in  the  European  portions  of  the  island. 

The  Christian  religion  was  introduced  at  a  very  early  period  into  Ceylon.  It  has  been 
supposed  that  the  apostle  Saint  Thomas  preached  there ;  however  this  may  be,  there  is  but 
little  doubt  that  the  Nestorians  accompanied  the  Persian  merchants,  many  years  ago,  to  the 
island  and  made  converts  there  and  established  Christianity.  On  the  arrival,  however,  of  the 
Portuffuese  navisrators  there  were  no  remnants  of  those  churches  which  are  said  to  have  existed 
in  Ce3don  in  the  sixth  century.  The  zealous  Francis  Xavier,  the  Eoman  Catholic  missionary, 
however,  was  the  first,  by  his  earnest  preaching  and  jiroselyting  energies,  to  establish  the 
Christian  religion  permanently  on  the  island,  and  most  of  that  faith  are,  accordingly, 
Komanists.  The  Church  of  England  is,  of  course,  sustained  in  accordance  with  the  religious 
ojunions  of  the  British  authorities ;  and  the  various  other  Protestant  churches  have  their 
members  among  the  European  residents.  There  are  missionaries  of  various  sects  engaged  in 
eflbrts  to  evangelize  the  native  heathen,  but  with  what  success  did  not  appear.  Among  these 
there  are  no  less  than  eleven  Americans ;  and  the  difierent  churches  are  represented  in  the 
proportion  of  thirty-four  Romanist  missionaries,  twenty  Wesleyan,  fourteen  of  the  English 
church,  and  thirteen  Baptists.  The  predominant  religion  among  the  Cingalese  is  the  Buddhist, 
which  was  at  one  time  maintained  by  the  British  government,  a  heathen  inheritance  derived 
from  the  succession  to  the  native  kings.  The  tooth  of  Buddha,  the  relic  so  highly  revered  by 
his  followers,  was  taken  under  the  especial  protection  of  English  orthodoxy,  and  the  ecclesiastical 
patronage  of  the  Buddhist  establishment  was  exercised  by  England,  in  accordance  with  the  not 
very  scrupulous  views  of  political  expediency.  The  guardianship  of  the  tooth  of  Buddlia,  and 
the  dispensation  of  Buddhist  church  patronage,  have  been,  of  late  years,  properly  delegated  by 
a  Christian  nation  to  a  heathen  priesthood. 

There  are  numerous  Buddhist  temples  in  Ceylon,  some  of  which  present  an  impressive  aspect ; 
and  there  is  one  of  great  antiquity  and  so  much  venerated  as  to  attract  votaries  from  various 
parts  of  India.  On  the  arrival  of  the  Mississippi  there  was  a  Siamese  sloop-of-war  in  the  harbor, 
which  had  brought  a  number  of  Buddhist  priests  on  a  pilgrimage  to  this  temple. 

An  interesting  incident  occurred  in  connexion  with  the  presence  of  the  Siamese  man-of-war. 
For  many  reasons  the  Commodore  was  desirous  of  sliowing  some  marked  attention  to  the 
commander  of  this  vessel,  who,  on  acquaintance,  was  found  to  be  a  young  man  of  much  intelli- 
gence and  possessing  some  knowledge  of  the  English  language.  The  Commodore,  therefore, 
dispatched  his  aid,  Lieutenant  Contee,  to  ofier  to  him  liis  services  and  to  invite  him  on  board 
the  Mississippi.     The  Siamese  commander  seemed  pleased  with  the  compliment  and  came  on 


INTKRVIEW      WITH      A      SIAMESE      OFFICER. 


121 


board  the  Mississippi  the  following  day,  where  he  was  received  with  due  honors.  He  was 
accompanied  by  two  of  the  Buddhist  priests  who  had  come  from  Siam  in  his  vessel  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  the  famous  temple.  It  was  learned,  on  inquiry,  that  Prince  Phar- Pen-Clow- 
Chow- Yon-Hon,  who  was  so  civil  to  Mr.  Roberts  and  the  officers  of  the  Peacock  on  the  occasion 


Uuddliist  Temple,  near  Point  de  Guile,  CcyloQ. 

of  their  visit  to  Siara,  in  1836,  was  the  second  in  rank  in  his  kingdom,  or  second  king,  as  it  is 
termed.  The  Commodore,  therefore,  being  desirous  of  renewing  the  good  understanding  which 
formerly  subsisted  between  him  and  our  officers,  which,  however^  had  been  somewhat  disturbed 
by  the  visit  of  Mr.  Ballastier,  sent  him  a  beautiful  pistol,  of  Colt's  patent,  and  addressed  to  him 
the  following  letter : 

United  St.\tes  Ship  Mississippi. 
Point  de  GaUe,  Island  of  Ceylon,  March  14,  1853. 

Most  Ex.\lted  Prince:  I  have  been  most  happy  to  meet  at  this  port  a  vessel-of-war  belong- 
ing to  the  kingdom  of  Siam,  one  of  beautiful  form  and  construction,  and  commanded  by  an 
officer  of  skill  and  merit. 

In  remembrance  of  the  kindness  you  extended  to  the  late  Mr.  Roberts  and  the  officers  of  the 
United  States  ship  Peacock,  in  1836,  I  beg  your  acceptance  of  a  curious  pistol  which  has  been 
entrusted  to  my  charge,  to  be  presented  to  some  high  functionary  who  has  sufficient  acquaintance 
with  the  arts  to  understand  its  mechanism  and  use. 
16  J 


122  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN.  ^ 

The  renown  -which  your  Highness  has  acquired  in  America,  for  your  attainments  in  every 
branch  of  science,  induces  me  to  place  at  your  disposal  this  trifling  gift  of  Mr.  Colt. 

I  hope  that  you  will  send  one  of  your  ships  of  Siam  to  America,  where  I  can  promise  the 
othocrs  a  friendly  and  honorable  welcome. 

It  will  at  all  times,  give  nu>  tlie  greatest  pleasure  to  render  to  all  vessels  under  the  Siamese 
flag  whatever  aid  or  assistance  it  may  be  in  my  power  to  command. 

With  profound  respect  I  have  the  honor  to  be  your  most  obedient  servant, 

M.  C.   PERRY,  Commander-in-chief 
of  all  the  U.  S.  naval  farces  in  the  East  India,  China,  and  Japan  seas. 

To  his  Royal  Highness  Piiar-Pen-Clow-Chow-Yon-Hon. 

The  Commodore  was  induced  thus  to  take  the  initiative  in  endeavoring  to  open  communica- 
tions with  Siam,  in  the  ho])e  that  he  might  possibly  be  able  to  revive  the  treaty  between  that 
kingdom  and  the  United  States,  made  on  our  part  by  Mr.  Roberts.  This  had  virtually  become 
a  dead  letter  and  altogether  inoperative,  as  had,  indeed,  also  tliat  made  by  England  with  the 
same  people.  Sir  Jolin  Davis  and  Sir  James  Brooke,  on  behalf  of  England,  and  Mr.  Ballastier, 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  had  made  subsequent  efforts  and  been  politely  repulsed  ;  but 
tl)e  Commodore  hoped  that  jiossibly  another  attempt  might  result  more  successfully  ;  and  as  he 
had  been  entrusted  by  the  government  with  several  blank  letters  of  credence,  he  was  prepared 
to  act  on  the  authority  of  one  of  them  should  he  find  a  favorable  opening.  Both  the  kings  of 
Siam,  and  many  of  their  officers,  understand  the  English  language,  and  one  object  of  the 
Commodore  was  to  induce  the  monarch  to  send  one  of  his  ships  to  the  United  States  (they  are 
all  vessels,  at  once,  both  of  war  and  commerce)  to  examine  into  our  institutions,  resources,  &c., 
and  thus  lead  to  friendly  commercial  relations. 

The  Commodore  subsequently  received  a  courteous  answer  to  his  letter,  and  from  that  and 
private  information  which  he  had  taken  pains  to  get  of  his  probable  reception,  he  would  have 
gone  to  Siam  had  not  uncontrollable  circumstances  prevented. 

The  Commodore  also  presented  to  Mun-Clow-Sar-Coun,  captain  of  the  Siamese  sloop-of-war, 
a  service  sword  and  a  copy  of  "Bowditch's  Navigator." 

The  Mississippi  left  Galle  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  of  March,  and  after  getting  clear  of 
the  harbor,  shaped  her  course  for  Great  Nicobar  Island,  the  southernmost  of  the  group  of  that 
name,  with  the  intention  of  passing  between  it  and  Paloway,  a  small  island  or  rock  lying  off 
the  northern  extremity  of  Sumatra.  On  the  20th,  Great  Nicobar  was  made,  and  the  proposed 
course  having  been  taken,  the  steamer  entered  the  straits  of  Malacca,  steering  for  the  Malay 
shore,  on  which  side  the  weather  is  represented  as  being  more  settled  and  the  sky  less  obscured. 

Fortunately,  the  weather  was  favorable  during  the  passage  through  the  straits,  and  it  was 
found  necessary  to  anchor  once  only  during  the  night,  at  the  entrance  between  the  North  and 
South  Sands,  within  sight  of  the  Aroa  islands.  The  navigation  of  the  straits  did  not  appear  to 
the  Commodore  as  dangerous  as  an  examination  of  tlie  chart  had  led  him  to  expect ;  yet  it  is 
somewhat  intricate  and  certainly  not  free  from  danger. 

A  vessel  has,  however,  the  advantage  of  being  always  able  to  anchor,  though,  in  some  parts 
of  the  channel,  necessarily  in  rather  deep  water.  The  two  most  dangerous  passages  are  those 
termed  the  East  and  West  Channel  ;  and  the  narrow  one  between  Formosa  bank  and  the 
Pyramids  lying  opposite,  and  the  nortliern  end  of  the  middle  bank.  A  liglit  vessel  recently 
anchored  on  "Two-and-a-half  fathom  bank"  renders  the  former  passage  more  safe  ;  while  the 


PASSAGE      THROUGH      THE      S  T  U  A  I T  S     OF      MALACCA. 


123 


latter  is  made  more  secure  by  tlie  high  huid  of  Ciqio  Formosa,  the  hearings  of  and  distance  frcnu 
which  will,  in  clear  weather,  indicate  the  mid-channel. 

Pilots  may  he  procured  for  vessels,  when  bound  toward  the  Cliina  seas,  at  Penang,  and  at 
Singapore  when  their  course  is  in  an  opposite  direction.  The  Mississijipi  took  no  ])il()t,  as  time 
could  not  be  spared  for  communicating  with  Penang;  ami,  in  i'act,  witli  gnod  oluirts  and  a 
careful  look  out,  together  with  proj)er  precautions  in  anchoring  when  necessary,  a  ]iiliit  is  of 
little  further  service  than  to  identify  the  names  of  headlands  and  islands,  and  to  explain  the 
tides  and  currents.  Indeed,  by  trusting  too  much  to  the  pilots,  who  are  mostly  irresponsible 
natives,  ships  may  fall  into  dangers  which  the  experience  and  prudence  of  their  captains,  if  left 
to  their  own  judgments,  would  avoid.  In  passing  through  the  straits,  the  Mississippi  met 
H.  B.  M.  ship  Cleopatra,  towed  by  a  small  war  steamer,  bound  in  an  opposite  direction.  The 
senior  English  ship,  on  coming  near,  honored  the  broad  pendant  of  the  Commodore  with  a 
salute  ;  which  compliment  was  jiromptly  resjionded  to  by  an  equal  number  of  guns. 


'^^^^J^' 


Mi^sioMppi  sululed  by  an  Eii^'.>.-..  ;  . 


It  is  a  fact  W(^fthy  of  remark,  that  the  usual  vertical  rise  and  fiiU  of  the  tides  in  the  Straits  of 
Malacca  is  from  twelve  to  fourteen  teet,  while  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  in  the  same  latitude, 
there  is  scarcely  any  variation.  The  tides  at  Singapore  corresijond,  in  this  respect,  with  those 
in  the  Straits. 

On  entering  from  tlie  Straits  of  Malacca  into  what  is  called  the  Straits  of  Singain)re,  the 
islands  became  numerous  and  the  [lassagcs  conscfiuently  various  and  intricate;  hut  (he  directions 


124 


EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 


given  by  Horsburgh  are  so  full  and  explicit,  tbat  by  a  strict  observance  of  them,  together  with 
proper  vigilance  and  judgment,  the  lead  being  kept  in  constant  use  and  the  anchor  always  in 
readiness,  there  is  no  very  great  danger  of  touching. 

With  a  judicious  regard  to  these  precautions,  the  Mississippi  made  her  way  securely  through 
all  the  intricacies  of  the  course,  and  finally,  on  the  25th  of  March,  came  to  anchor  in  the  port 
of  Singapore. 


SINGAPORE.  —  ITS     GREAT     COMMERCE. 


125 


CHAPTER  V. 


SINGIPORE. ITS     GREAT     COMMERCE. POPUL.ATIOK. R.\PID     IN'CREASE. HOSPITALITY    OF     A     WEALTHY     CHINESE     .MERCHAXT. 

IMPORTANCE      OF      SINGAPORE      TO       ENGLAND. COAL     DEPOT     AT      SINGAPORE. PHYSICAL      ASPECT      OF      THE      COINTRT.— 

AGRICCLTCRAL     PRODUCTS. ANIMALS. FEROCITY     OF     THE    TIGER WATER    BXTFFALO. PASSAGE    FROM    SINGAPORE    TO    HONG 

KONG. CURRENTS,    ROCKS,    TIDES. CHINESE    FISHING    BOATS. ARRIVAL     AT     HONG     KONG. FINDING    THERE    SLOOPS-OF-IV AR 

SARATOGA     AN"D     PLTMOITH    AND     STORE     SHIP     SUPPLY. SUSQUEHANNA     GONE      TO      SHANGHAE. DISAPPOINTMENT     OF     THE 

COMMODORE. CONDITION    AND    PROSPERITY    OF    HONG    KONG, »r.V    TO    MACAO,    THENCE    TO    WHAMPOA    O.V    CANTON    RIVER. 

KATIGATION     OF     THE     RIVER. FIRST     IMPRESSIONS     MADE    BY     THE     CITY. DISAPPOINTED     EXPECTATIONS. HOSPITALITY     OF 

AMERICAN    CONSUL    AT    CANTON. THE    HONGS    OR    FACTORIES. STREETS    IN    CANTON. PROPER    NAME    OF    THE    CITY. BOCCA 

TIGRIS. CHINESE    FORTS. PIRATES    ON   THE    RIVER. ATTE.MPT    TO    ROB    ONE    OF    THE   OFFICERS. CANTON  MARKET    PLACE. 

TRADE    OF    CANTON    WITH    EUROPE    AND    AMERICA. 


HE  port  of  Singapore  is  a  great  resort  for  ships  of  all 
nations.  Vessels  from  China,  Siam,  Malaya,  Sumatra, 
and  the  various  commercial  countries  of  Europe  and 
America,  are  to  he  seen  anchored  together  at  the  same 
time.  The  products  of  these  different  parts  of  the  world 
are  all  to  he  found  in  Singapore,  hrought  thither  for 
reciprocal  exchange.  The  policy  which  has  made  Singa- 
pore a  free  port  has  heen  fully  justified  hy  the  prosperous 
result.  Its  commerce,  heing  entirely  unshackled,  flour- 
ishes even  heyond  the  most  sanguine  anticipations  of 
those  enlightened  and  enterprising  men  who  hut  a  few  years  ago  established  Singapore  as  a 
free  port. 

Notwithstanding  the  restricted  productions  of  the  place,  which  could  do  no  more  than  supply 
business  for  the  scant  trade  of  a  few  vessels,  Singapore  has  been,  by  the  liberal  policy  pursued, 
elevated  to  the  imposing  position  of  a  great  commercial  mart.  Its  trade  embraces  China, 
India  and  the  archipelagos  of  the  oriental  seas,  Australia,  Europe,  and  America.  Nearly  the 
whole  world  of  commerce  seeks,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  its  ever  crowded  harbor. 

The  commerce  with  China  is  very  considerable,  and  is  carried  on  by  means  of  Chinese 
vessels.  The  junks  come  down  from  the  China  seas  with  the  northeast  monsoon,  and  remain 
in  port,  retailing  their  cargoes  of  teas,  silks,  and  other  products,  until  tlie  southwest  monsoon 
is  fairly  set  in,  when  they  return  to  prepare  for  another  voyage,  and  thus  keep  up  a  succession 
of  periodical  trading  visits.  They  bring  large  numbers  of  enterprising  Chinese  emigrants, 
together  with  abundant  supplies  of  dollars,  teas,  silks,  chinaware,  tobacco,  cassia,  nankeens. 


126 


EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN. 


gold  thread,  and  the  thousand  "  nicknackeries"  of  cunning  invention  for  which  Chinese 
ingenuity  is  famous.  They  take  back  the  pernicious  opium,  edible  birds'  nests,  and  various 
articles  of  European  manufacture. 

The  town  of  Singapore  is  built  upon  an  island,  separated  from  the  Malay  peninsula  l)ya 
narrow  and  scarcely  navigable  strait.  The  ancient  capitol  of  the  Malayan  kingdom,  or,  as  it 
was  sometimes  called,  the  kingdom  of  Malacca,  formerly  stood  upon  the  site  of  the  present 
town.  This  old  city  was  built  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  conquered  by  a  chief  from  Java,  who 
transferred  the  royal  residence  to  Malacca.  From  that  period  its  population  and  wealth 
gradually  declined,  so  that  in  1819,  when  the  English  took  possession,  there  were  but  few 
vestiges  of  the  former  city,  which  indeed  had  become  but  a  haunt  for  pirates,  where,  as  well  as 
in  the  neighboring  islands  and  passages,  they  found  a  secure  retreat  from  the  vessels  of  the 
English  and  the  Dutch  sent  in  pursuit  of  tliem.  The  natives  still  offer  for  sale  models  of  the 
various  descriptions  of  the  Malay  war,  pirate,  and  sailing  proas ;  and  most  of  them  present 
exceedingly  beautiful  specimens  of  graceful  form.  So  much  was  the  Commodore  struck  with 
the  beauty  of  the  model  of  the  sailing  proa  that  he  purposed  sending  one  home  to  the  New 
York  yacht  club. 


Malay  I'lua. 


The  town  bears  all  the  appearance  of  being  in  a  most  prosperous  condition  ;  its  port,  as  we 
have  said,  is  always  crowded  with  shipping,  and  its  traders  are  thriving  and  wealthy.  Marine 
storehouses  are  seen  throughout  the  place,  but  chiefly  along  the  front  of  the  harbor  and  upon 
the  quay.     The  principal  mei-ohants  occupy  commodious  and  tasteful  resiliences,  built  fronting 


SINGAPORE. 


127 


the  bay.  There  is  a  striking  contrast  in  the  dwellings  of  those  who  have  settled  in  tliis 
thriving  place,  between  the  elegant  and  convenient  town  and  country  houses  of  the  colonial 
officials  and  merchants  and  the  ill  ventilated  and  filthy  domiciles  of  the  Chinese,  or  the  frail 
tenements  of  the  Malays.  The  latter  ordinarily  select  some  marshy  ground  in  the  suburbs, 
near  a  road  or  pathway,  and  rear  upon  piles  their  wooden  houses,  the  only  entrance  to  which 
is  by  means  of  temporary  bridges,  often  constructed  of  a  single  plank. 

The  prosperity  of  Singapore,  so  apparent  even  to  tlie  casual  observer,  is  mainly  to  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  sagacious  and  energetic  Sir  Stamford  Eatfles,  who  pursued  with  untiring  zeal, 
in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  many  in  higher  authority,  his  determined  purpose  of  carrying  out 
his  favorite  projects  of  policy  in  the  administration  of  the  colony. 

The  population  at  the  period  of  the  Mississijjpi's  visit  was  estimated  at  eighty  thousand,  a 
number  which  shows  a  very  rapid  increase  since  it  fell  into  the  possession  of  the  Britisli,  at 
which  time  there  were  scarce  two  hundred  on  the  whole  island  of  Singapore.  The  inliabitaiits 
are  made  up  of  Jews,  Chinese,  Arabs,  Malays,  and  natives  of  the  neighboring  countries.  The 
Europeans  count  the  least,  and  the  Chinese  the  largest  number ;  of  these  last  it  was  stated  that 
there  are  no  less  than  sixty  thousand,  who  are  the  artisans,  fishermen,  laborers,  and  small 
dealers  of  the  place ;  an  industrious  class,  to  wliich  the  colony  is  indebted  for  much  of  its  trading 
activitv. 


Mosque  in  Sinpapore, 


These  various  people  who  inhabit  Singapore  retain  their  national  lialiit.s  and  customs,  and 
their  peculiar  modes  of  worsbiji.  Tlie  Chinese  lets  grow  his  tail,  sTnokes  liis  opium,  and  offers 
incense  to  Jos  ;  the  Arab  sports  his  turban,  invokes  the  name  of  the  ]irop1iet,  and  prostrates 
himself  witliin  the  raosijue,  while  the  European  shaves  his  beard,  drinks  London  porter,  and 


128  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

takes  his  seat  in  tbe  churcli  pew.  Most  of  the  different  nations  have  their  places  of  worship  ; 
there  are  Chinese  temples  and  Mahommedan  mosques,  as  well  as  Christian  churches.  A  curious 
confusion  of  religions  seems  to  have  resulted  from  the  intermingling  of  sects,  as  may  he  inferred 
from  what  was  seen  by  the  Commodore  on  a  visit  to  a  Chinese  temple.  In  one  of  the  recesses 
of  the  place  the  devil  was  represented  in  human  form,  hut  of  exceedingly  hideous  physiognomy, 
while  in  front  of  him  was  placed  an  image  of  the  virgin  and  child.  Tliis  was  certainly  a 
very  strange  assortment  of  company,  and  naturally  set  the  Commodore  to  conjecturing  as  to 
what  could  possibly  have  brought  together  such  very  opposite  characters  ;  whether  the  intention 
was  to  represent  the  mother  and  child  as  at  the  mercy  of  the  devil,  or  the  reverse,  was  not  very 
clear,  although,  from  the  decidedly  uncomfortable  expression  of  his  satanic  majesty's  face,  it 
might  be  inferred  that  he  was  less  at  his  ease  than  any  of  the  company,  and  quite  out  of  his 
element.  It  was,  however,  concluded  that  the  bringing  of  Christian  personages  into  a  Chinese 
temple  was  in  some  way  connected  with  the  early  introduction  of  the  Komish  religion  by  the 
Portuguese  missionaries. 

The  stay  of  the  Mississippi  at  Singapore  was  so  short  that  there  was  but  little  opportunity  to  see 
much  of  the  European  society.  Visits  and  salutes  were  exchanged  with  the  acting  governor  and 
with  the  commander  of  the  military  forces  ;  these,  together  with  some  official  business  transacted 
with  the  United  States  consul,  were  the  extent  of  the  Commodore's  intercourse  with  the 
European  residents.  With,  however,  a  Chinese  merchant,  who  seemed  to  be  imbued  with  the 
true  spirit  of  hospitality,  many  of  the  officers  of  the  ship  formed  an  agreeable  acquaintance^  and 
were  hospitably,  entertained  at  his  house.  This  gentleman's  name  is  Whampoa,  a  man  of 
courteous  bearing  and  great  intelligence,  and  who  had  made  considerable  progress  in  the  English 
language,  which  he  spoke  with  some  fluency.  His  country  residence  was  the  most  beautiful  on 
the  island.  The  house  was  large,  commodious,  and  tastefully  furnished,  and  its  rooms  were 
filled  with  objects  of  curiosity  and  vertu.  Surrounding  the  dwelling  were  extensive  pleasure 
grounds  and  plantations,  on  which  the  various  productions  of  the  island,  the  useful  as  well  as 
ornamental,  were  cultivated  to  great  perfection.  There  were  collections  of  animals  and  rare 
birds,  among  which  were  the  cassowary  and  crowned  pigeon  from  New  Guinea,  and  a  singular 
breed  of  perfectly  white  pea-fowl.  The  residence  of  the  hospitable  Whampoa,  where  the 
Commodore  dined  and  spent  the  night,  was  surrounded  by  all  that  could  ^leliglit  the  eye,  or  add 
to  the  enjoyment  of  life.  Among  other  luxurious  appanages  of  the  establishment,  there  was  a 
beautiful  white  Arabian  horse,  kept  by  Whampoa  for  his  own  especial  use  under  the  saddle, 
and  the  Commodore  was  very  much  struck  by  its  symmetry  of  form,  purity  of  color,  and 
excellence  of  temper,  for  it  was  as  docile  as  a  lamb. 

In  a  military  and  geographical  point  of  view,  Singapore  is  of  vast  importance  to  England. 
By  means  of  it,  and  with  an  effective  naval  force,  this  entrance  to  the  China  seas  may  be 
commanded.  Its  position  is  vastly  advantageous  in  a  commercial  point  of  view,  from  which  it 
has  become  an  entrepot  for  the  neighboring  kingdoms  of  Stimatra,  Borneo,  Siam,  Cambodia, 
and  Cochin  China. 

To  Sir  Stamford  Raffles,  wlio  proved  himself  a  master  spirit  in  every  enterprise  he  undertook, 
the  British  government  and  the  East  India  Company  are  indebted  for  this  valuable  acquisition, 
and  there  was,  it  must  be  confessed,  some  show  of  equity  in  his  mode  of  proceeding.  Ratfles 
actually  purchased  from  the  Rajali  of  Jahore  and  Singapore  the  right  of  sovereignty  over  the 
island  and  its  dependencies  for  a  stipulated  sum  and  an  annual  pension^  and  it  is  believed  that 


Singapore;  129 

the  payments  have  been  regularly  made.  This  is  an  exarajile  which  has  been  very  rare  among 
the  European  governments,  Avho  have  generally  seized  violently  upon  the  finest  countries 
without  scruple,  and  subjected  the  inhabitants  to  political,  if  not  to  social,  servitude.  The  Rajah 
had  reason  to  pride  himself  ujion  his  bargain  with  Raffles^  when  he  reflected  how  much  better 
he  had  been  treated  tlian  his  royal  ancestors,  who  had  been  driven  I'rom  their  homes  and 
despoiled  of  their  pos.sessions  by  the  former  European  invaders. 

The  present  Rajah,  with  his  numerous  wives  and  children,  occupy  a  native  village  about  a 
mile  from  the  Euglisli  town.  The  Commodore  did  not  see  him,  but  his  sou,  a  fine  intelligent 
youth,  came  on  board  the  ship  to  pay  his  respects.  His  father  probably  "thought  his  dignity 
called  for  the  first  visit  from  the  Commodore,  which,  however,  was  prevented  by  reason  of 
engagements. 

As  a  stopping  place  and  depot  for  coal  Singapore,  is  of  great  importance  to  the  English  mail- 
steamers.  The  wealthy  and  enterprising  Oriental  Steam  Navigation  Company  have  erected  at 
New  Harbor,  about  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  town,  a  magnificent  depot,  comprising 
wharves,  coal-sheds,  storehouses,  workshops,  and  other  buildings,  such  as  would  do  credit  to  any 
English  colonial  establishment ;  and  this  is  no  slight  praise.  Singapore  is  in  the  course  of  the 
regular  mail  route  between  India,  China,  Australia,  and  Europe.  There  is  a  constant  postal 
commimication,  by  means  of  the  English  and  one  or  more  Dutch  steamers,  with  Hong  Kong, 
Penang,  Batavia,  Shanghai,  Calcutta,  Madras,  Bengal,  Bombay,  Ceylon,  the  Mauritius,  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and,  by  the  Red  Sea,  with  Europe  and  America. 

Supplies  of  most  kinds  required  by  vessels  can  be  obtained  at  fair  prices  in  the  port  of  Singa- 
pore. The  water  is  good,  and  is  supplied  from  tanks,  under  the  supervision  of  an  official  of  the 
place,  the  master  attendant.  There  was  not  a  pound  of  coal,  however,  to  be  purchased  at 
Singapore,  and  there  was  reason  to  fear  that  the  Mississippi  would  be  deprived  of  her  necessary 
supplies.  It  was  not  practicable  to  make  any  arrangement  with  the  Labuan  Company,  for  the 
whole  produce  of  the  mines  under  their  control  was  exhausted  by  the  Oriental  and  Pacific  Com- 
pany, with  which  a  contract  existed  for  a  supply  of  one  thousand  tons  per  month.  Fortunately 
for  the  Mississippi,  however,  the  stock  of  the  last  named  company  at  Hong  Kong  was  falling 
short,  and,  as  it  was  difficult  to  procure  vessels  to  transport  an  additional  supply,  the  agent  of 
the  company  at  Singapore  agreed  to  lend  the  Commodore  two  hundred  and  thirty  tons,  provided 
it  would  be  returned  at  Hong  Kong.  By  this  arrangement  both  parties  were  accommodated, 
the  Mississippi  obtaining  her  necessary  supply  at  Singapore,  and  the  company  securing  what 
they  wanted  at  their  principal  Chinese  depot,  without  the  expense  of  its  conveyance. 

The  chief  articles  of  export  from  Singapore  are  tin,  nutmegs,  sugar,  drugs,  tortoise  shell,  and 
some  minor  commodities,  the  product  of  the  neighboring  countries.  Tlie  Briti.sh  settlement  of 
Singapore  embraces  not  only  the  island  of  that  name,  but  a  number  of  smaller  ones  scattered  about 
in  the  neighboring  seas.  The  main  island,  Singapore,  is  about  twenty-five  miles  long,  and  fifteen 
in  breadth,  containing  an  estimated  area  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  square  miles.  Inland, 
the  surface  of  the  country  is  diversified  with  low  hills  and  sliallow  valleys,  while  the  sea  shore 
is  low  and  overgrown  with  mangroves,  and  occasionally  broken  by  the  entrances  of  salt 
creeks,  which,  penetrating  sometimes  to  the  extent  of  six  or  seven  miles,  overflow  their  banks, 
and  convert  the  neigliboring  soil  into  marsh.  The  artists  of  the  expedition  have  supplied  a 
view  of  the  river  Durong,  wiiich  will  give  an  idea  of  the  characteristic  scenery. 

When  the  English  first  obtained  possession  of  Singapore  the  island  was  covered  with  a  forest, 
17  J 


130  EXPEDITION      TO      JAP  AX. 

and  entirely  without  cultivation.  Now,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  town,  and  extending  more 
or  less  into  the  interior,  there  are  considerable  plantations,  which  have  been  chiefly  cultivated 
by  the  industrious  immigrants  from  China.  Eicc,  coffee,  sugar,  and  other  agricultural  produc- 
tions of  the  wanner  latitudes  are  obtained,  but  the  supply  is  not  sufficient  for  the  consumption 
of  the  island.  The  tropical  fruits  grow  readily,  among  which  the  mangusteen  reaches  great 
perfection,  although  its  taste  did  not  equal  the  anticipations  formed  from  the  boasted  delicious- 
ness  of  its  flavor.  The  fruit,  however,  was  not  in  full  season  during  the  ship's  stay,  and  it 
may  possibly  not  have  reached  the  height  of  its  excellence.  The  nutmeg  is  cultivated  with 
considerable  success,  as  well  as  the  cocoa-nut,  orange,  and  other  tropical  fruits. 

Various  European  animals  have  been  introduced  into  the  island.  The  horse  in  use  is  a 
stumpy,  fiery  little  creature,  wonderfully  strong  for  its  size.  It  is  generally  harnessed  to  a  light 
carriage  which  is  in  common  use  on  the  island,  and  may  be  hired  in  the  streets  of  the  town  at 
a  moderate  price  for  the  day.  The  driver  seldom  takes  his  seat  upon  tlie  box,  but  runs  at  the 
head  of  his  horse,  and  keeps  up  a  speed  in  company  with  the  animal  of  six  and  sometimes  even 
seven  or  eight  miles  an  hour.  This  plan  suggests  a  good  hint  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to 
animals,  as  it  has  the  eflect  of  securing  a  humane  consideration  for  the  beast,  which  is  not  likely 
to  be  over  driven,  when  for  every  step  it  takes  its  driver  takes  two,  and  is  thus  forcibly  reminded 
of  a  fellow  feeling  which  cannot  fail  to  make  him  "wondrous  kind." 

The  native  animals  are  generally  the  same  as  those  of  the  adjacent  peninsula,  from 
which  many  of  them  migrate.  The  tigers  especially  entertain  a  great  partiality  for  Singa- 
pore, and  resort  there  in  great  numbers  by  swimming  across  the  strait  which  separates  the 
main  land  from  the  isliuid.  These  are  the  genuine  animals,  which  have  no  hesitation  in 
pouncing  upon  a  passing  traveller,  or  snatching  up  and  making  a  meal  of  any  unfortunate 
Chinaman  or  native  who  may  happen  to  be  in  the  jungle,  busy  in  cutting  wood,  clearing  land 
for  the  rice  plantations,  or  otherwise  occupied.  It  was  stated  on  the  best  authority  that  not  a 
day  passes  witho\it  the  destruction  of  one  human  being  at  least  by  these  ferocious  beasts.  The 
Commodore  was  at  first  somewhat  disposed  to  be  incredulous  of  this  statement,  but  as  the  acting 
governor  and  commander  of  the  forces  both  confirmed.it,  he  could  no  longer  hesitate  to  accept 
it  as  truth.  He  was  told  by  them  that  so  much  of  an  every  day  occurrence  was  this  fatality, 
that  many  of  the  cases  were  not  reported,  in  order  to  avoid  the  trouble  and  expense  of  a 
coroner's  inquest,  which  the  laws  require.  "Death  by  tiger,"  however,  is  a  verdict  that 
might  be  rendered  daily  were  the  legal  formalities  complied  with. 

It  is  said,  and  probably  with  truth,  that  the  tiger,  after  he  has  once  tasted  of  human  flesh, 
becomes  so  fond  of  it  that  he  prefers  its  flavor  to  that  of  his  ordinary  venison  or  wild  boar,  and 
will  make  every  effort  to  obtain  a  supply  of  his  favorite  food.  It  is  this  intense  longing  for 
himian  flesh  which  makes  the  tiger  so  very  dangerous  to  the  inhabitants  of  Singapore,  especially 
to  the  poor  Malay  or  Chinese  who  may  be  obliged  to  expose  himself  in  the  jungle  and  the 
forest.     It  was  said,  too,  that  the  animal  showed  decided  preference  for  a  Chinaman. 

Nor  do  these  stories  of  the  tiger  seem  very  wonderful,  when  the  fact  is  well  established  that 
those  savages  who  are  addicted  to  cannibalism  become  passionately  fond  of  their  horribly 
unnatural  food.  There  is  a  tribe  of  Malays,  called  Battas,  who,  like  their  fellow  Malay  tigers, 
are  said  by  Sir  Stamford  Raffles  to  eat  one  another,  and  to  prefer  such  food  to  any  other.  Nor 
are  they  to  be  classed  entirely  among  barbarians,  for  these  Battas  can  read  and  write,  and  have 
codes  of  laws  of  great  antiquity  ;  and  yet,  according  to  the  authority  just  named,  not  less  than 
from  sixty  to  a  hundred  Battas  are  eaten  annually,  even  during  a  time  of  peace. 


SINGAPORE. 


131 


In  addition  to  the  tigers  there  are  deer  and  wihl  boars  found  upon  tlie  ishvnd^  and  several 
varieties  of  smaller  animals,  the  monkey,  the  wild  hog  or  peccary,  the  porcVipine  and  the  sloth. 
Birds  abound,  and  among  them  arc  some  of  great  beauty.  Perjients  are  not  very  numerous,  but 
among  them  is  the  venomous  cobra.  A  singular  animal,  called  the  water  buffalo,  was  more 
particularly  observed  at  Singapore.  It  approaches  in  size  to  the  ox  of  our  country,  and  like  it 
is  used  as  an  animal  for  dranght,  being  harnessed  to  the  shafts  of  a  cart  and  guided  by  a  driver, 
who  holds  a  rope  which  is  fastened  to  a  ring  or  thong  passed  through  the  cartilage  which 
divides  the  nostrils  of  the  animal.  The  skin  of  this  beast  is  rough  and  not  unlike  that  of 
the  rhinoceros,  and  though  the  water  buffalo  has  somewhat  the  general  appearance  of  the  ox, 
its  head  is  altogether  different.  Notwithstanding  the  seeming  thickness  and  toughness  of  its 
hide,  it  suffers  gi'eatly  from  the  flies,  and  to  avoid  them  keeps,  except  duriilg  feeding  time,  in 
the  water  ;  keuco,  probably,  its  name. 

Inquiries  were  made  about  two  remarkable  inhabitants  of  the  waters  about  Malacca  and 
Sumatra,  described  by  Eaffles  :  the  sailing  fish,  called  by  the  natives  ikan  layer,  and  the  duyong, 
mentioned  by  Valentin,  and  so  long  talked  of  as  the  mermaid ;  but  the  Commodore  was  told  by 
the  inhabitants  of  Singapore  that  these  fish  had  become  very  scarce,  if  not  entirely  extinct. 


Malay  Tumbs,  Near  Singapore. 

Shells  collected  upon  tlie  adjacent  coasts  and  along  tlie  Straits  of  IMalacca  are  brought  in  large 
quantities  to  Singapore  for  sale,  and  some  excellent  specimens  were  obtained. 

The  various  people  who  inhabit  Sumatra,  the  Malayan  peninsula,  and  the  numerous  islands  in 
the  adjacent  seas,  are  all  of  the  Malay  family.     This  race  is  widely  distributed,  not  only  over 


132  E  X  P  E  D  I  T  1  O  N      T  0      J  A  P  A  N . 

the  Indian  archipelago,  hut  througliout  the  South  Sea  islands,  as  it  is  generally  conceded  that 
the  natives  of  the  latter  are  of  the  same  origin  as  the  former.  Analogous  phj^sical  character- 
istics, customs  and  languages  would  seem  to  prove  this  relationship. 

The  Mississippi  having  taken  on  board  the  necessary  supplies  of  fuel,  left  Singapore  on  the 
29th  of  March.  The  ship  proceeded  through  the  middle  channel,  passing  near  a  light-house 
erected  on  the  rock  called  "Pedra  Branca."  This  course  was  taken  with  the  view  of  running 
up  on  the  Cochin  China  and  Hainan  shores.  It  is  not  necessary  to  say  much  in  regard  to  the 
navigation  of  the  China  sea,  since  so  much  has  already  been  published  on  the  subject.  It  may, 
however,  be  stated  in  general  terms,  that  nearly  the  whole  expanse  of  sea  from  Borneo  and 
Palawan  across  to  Cochin  China  is  rendered  dangerous  by  numerous  coral  reefs,  banks  and 
islands.  Many  of  these  banks  and  reefs  are  below  the  surface  of  the  sea,  and  although  the 
hydrograpical  surveys  may  have  truthfully  stated  their  depths  when  they  were  taken,  and 
reported  a  sufficiency  of  water  for  vessels  to  pass,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  guch  is  the 
rapidity  with  which  those  little  architects,  the  coral  zoojihites,  build  up  these  foundations  of 
future  islands,  that  the  work  of  a  few  years  may  materially  change  the  character  and  depth 
of  the  soundings.  With  such  obstructions  the  China  sea  cannot  be  navigated  without  danger, 
and  especially  in  stormy  weather.  Notwithstanding,  thousands  of  vessels  go  annually  through 
its  various  passages  in  safety,  while  a  disaster  occurs  now  and  then  only. 

The  surface  currents  are  influenced  by  the  prevailing  winds,  but  the  tides,  as  in  other  parts 
of  the  world,  are  governed  by  some  mysterious  laws  which  the  wisdom  of  man  has  not  yet 
entirely  fathomed.  The  vertical  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide  upon  the  coast  of  Cochin  China  varies 
from  six  to  fourteen  feet,  and  the  periods  and  duration  of  the  ebb  and  flood  are  by  no  means 
regular.  In  latitude  12°,  on  the  same  shore,  there  is  but  one  tide  in  the  course  of  twenty-four 
hours.  It  has  been  said  that  the  tides  in  the  tropics  rise  and  fall  very  little.  Although  it  is 
granted  that  in  high  latitudes  the  perpendicular  flow  and  ebb  is  generally  greater  than  in  low, 
still  there  are  many  examples  of  considerable  tides  in  the  latter.  At  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of 
Cambay,  in  latitude  22°,  Horsburgh  states  that  the  perpendicular  depth  of  the  rise  and  fall  of 
the  tides  is  from  thirty  to  thirty-six  feet  at  the  full  and  change  of  the  moon.  So  also,  according 
to  the  same  authority,  in  Surat  road,  it  is  from  twenty  to  twenty-one  feet,  and  from  fifteen  to 
seventeen  in  Bombay  harbor.  Again,  in  the  Gulf  of  Martaban,  which  is  far  within  the  tropics, 
the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide,  at  the  full  and  change  of  the  moon  is  twentj^-three  and  twenty-four 
feet,  and  oif  Rangoon  bar  about  twenty  or  twenty-one  feet.  In  Gaspar  straits,  within  2i°  of 
the  equator,  there  is  occasionally,  from  local  causes,  a  rise  and  fall  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  feet 
on  the  spring  tide,  but  this  is  rare  in  places  so  near  the  equator.  These  instances,  all  from 
Horsburgh,  sliow  that  very  considerable  tides  occur  within  the  tropics. 

The  observation  of  the  Commodore  in  regard  to  the  single  tide  in  twenty-four  hours,  on  the 
shore  of  Cochin  China,  is  paralleled  by  analogous  instances,  also  reported  by  Horsburgh,  who 
remarks :  "  Although  in  most  places  the  tide  ebbs  and  flows  twice  in  every  twenty-four  hours, 
this  is  not  universally  the  case  within  the  trojiics  ;  for  among  several  of  the  eastern  islands  the 
tide  flows  only  once  in  twenty-four  hours."  In  many  jtlaces,  far  beyond  the  tropics,  the  tide 
likewise  flows  only  once  in  twenty-four  hours,  particularly  on  the  southern  coast  of  Van 
Dieman's  land  ;  but  at  Port  Dalrymple,  on  the  north  coast,  the  tide  flows  twice  in  twenty-four 
hours.  The  zodiacal  lights  glowed  in  brilliant  radiations  almost  every  morning  and  evening 
during  the  time  the  Mississippi  was  in  the  equatorial  latitudes  ;  and  the  chaplain,  (Mr.  Jones,) 


NAVIGATION      OF      THE     CUINA      SEA.  133 

who   made   this   matter   a   subject  of  especial   notice   and   study,  liad  a  good  opportunity  of 
continuing  his  observations  upon  the  phenomena  of  this  remarkable  appearance. 

On  the  morning  of  the  6th  of  April,  as  the  ship  was  proceeding  on  her  course,  vast  numbers 
of  fishing  boats  were  descried  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  Xo  less  than  two  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  of  these  little  craft  were  counted,  at  one  time,  from  the  poop.  They  were  sailing  in 
couples,  about  ninety  fathoms  apart,  before  the  wind,  with  a  net  extended  between  each  two. 
They  were  curiously  rigged,  having  square  sails  set  upon  two  or  tliree  masts,  which  had,  at  a 
distance,  somewhat  the  appearance  of  courses  and  topsails,  which  they  hoisted  and  lowered  as 
they  desired  to  graduate  the  rate  of  sailing,  in  order  to  keep  way  with  their  consorts.  These 
vessels  were  engaged  in  taking  a  small  fish  similar  to  the  sardine  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  the 
same  mode  of  netting  them  is  pursued  in  both  localities. 

The  appearance  of  these  craft  was  a  sure  indication  of  the  proximity  of  land,  and  accordingly, 
at  half  past  ten  in  the  morning,  it  was  sighted.  The  ship  continuing  her  course  toward  the 
roadstead  of  Macao,  was  anchored  at  dark  under  the  Ladrones.  On  the  following  morning  she 
proceeded  to  Macao  roads,  and  after  a  communication  with  the  shore,  Hie  course  was  continued 
on  to  Hong  Kong,  where  she  finally  came  to  anchor  about  sunset  of  the  same  day. 

Here  were  found  the  sloops-of-war  Plymouth  and  Saratoga,  and  the  store-ship  Supply  ;  the 
two  former  of  which,  as  the  Mississippi  let  go  her  anchor,  fired  the  usual  salute,  which  was  duly 
retiirned  from  the  guns  of  the  Mississippi ;  the  Susquehanna,  however,  was  nowhere  to  be  seen. 
This  vessel  had  been  designated  by  the  government  as  the  flag-ship  of  the  Commodore,  who, 
much  to  his  surprise  and  disappointment,  found  that  she  had  sailed  a  fortnight  previously  for 
Shanghai,  having  on  board  the  United  States  commissioner  to  China,  the  Honorable  Mr. 
Marshall,  as  well  as  Dr.  Parker,  the  secretary  of  legation,  and  Mr.  Forbes,  the  United  States 
consul  at  Canton,  all  of  whom  the  Commodore  desired  particularly  to  see,  before  sailing  for 
Japan.  No  other  course  was  left  to  him  therefore,  but  to  dispatch  the  Plymouth  to  the  same 
port,  with  instructions  to  Commander  Buchanan  of  the  Susquehanna  to  await  there  the 
Commodore's  arrival  in  the  Mississippi,  which  he  m'eant  should  follow  the  Susquehanna  as  soon 
as  she  could  be  prepared  for  the  northern  cruise  ;  and  fortunately  Shanghai  was  at  no  great 
distance  out  of  the  route  to  Japan. 

On  the  following  day  the  customaiy  interchange  of  salutes  was  made  with  the  forts  and  tlie 
foreign  vessels  of  war  in  port,  and  this  was  succeeded  by  an  exchange  of  pei'sonal  courtesies 
among  the  ofiicers  of  the  various  nations  represented.  With  Cumniodore  Eoquemausel,  of  the 
French  navy,  particularly,  who  had  his  pennant  on  board  the  frigate  Capricieuse,  the  Commo- 
dore enjoyed  a  very  agreeable  intercourse,  both  official  and  personal.  The  English  admiral, 
Sir  F.  Pellew,  was  absent.  It  is  unnecessary  to  note,  on  every  occasion,  the  courtesies  tliat 
American  officers  invariably  receive  from  the  British  authorities  abroad,  civil,  naval,  and 
military.  "In  no  instance,"  remarks  the  Commodore,  "during  a  long  service  in  foreign 
countries,  have  I  exijerienced  any  want  of  h(is])itable  attentiou;  and,  in  fact,  the  governments 
of  all  nations,  with  the  cxcei)tion  of  that  of  the  United  States,  furnish  the  means  for  puhlic 
entertiiinments  by  ample  allowance  of  '  table  money,'  and  it  thus  becomes  a  duty,  as  it  is 
doubtless  the  pleasure,  of  these  officials  to  expend  it  hospitably." 

The  stay  of  the  Mississippi  was  but  short  at  Hong  Kong;  long  enough,  however,  to  make 
apparent  every  sign  of  commercial  prosperity,  although  the  i)lace  is  not  very  attractive  to 
visitors.     Then;  is  no  picturesque  beauty  in  the  appearance  of  the  town,  albeit  some  travellers 


134 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


have  described  it  in  glowing  colors.  It  is  a  picture  of  busy  activity ;  the  shore  is  lined 
with  Chinese  boats,  the  harbor  is  crowded  with  the  shipping  of  all  nations,  and  the  toiling 
Chinese  are  kept  at  work  in  the  roads,  or  in  other  labors  required  by  this  progressive  i^lace. 
"When  tlie  English  took  possession  of  the  island  of  Hong  Kong,  in  1841,  there  was  but  a  bleak 
and  barren  hill-side  where  there  now  stands  the  city  of  Victoria.  The  jiopulation  of  the  place 
now  amounts  to  no  less  than  14,671,  and  while  its  commercial  warehouses,  its  docks  and  piers, 
and  its  fleet  of  traders,  give  evidence  of  its  material  prosperity,  its  social,  intellectual,  and 


llarber  Boy,  Hong  Kong. 

religious  progress  are  proved  l)y  its  club-houses,  reading-rooms,  schools,  and  churches. 
Heathenism  has  also  its  visible  signs.  The  Cliinese  have  three  temples,  and  the  Mahommedans 
a  mos(jue  at  Hong  Kong. 

The  island  rises  at  the  north  in  a  range  of  mountains,  the  base  of  wliicli  terminates  near  the 
8ea,  leaving  a  narrow  edge,  along  which  the  town  of  Victoria  extends  for  two  or  three  miles. 


HONG     KONG.  135 

Tliere  is  a  large  trade  in  opium  between  India  and  Hong  Kong,  it  being  imported  into  the 
latter  place,  and  thence  smuggled  into  China  along  the  coast. 

There  is  no  very  extensive  agricultural  culture  at  Hong  Kong,  as  the  land  for  the  most  part 
is  rocky,  and  of  little  fertility.  On  the  southern  part  of  the  island,  however,  the  soil  is  some- 
what more  favorable  tlian  tliat  on  the  northern,  and  it  contains  a  single  valley  which  is 
tolerably  productive.  There  is  an  abundance  of  excellent  water.  The  climate  is  hot,  and  as 
the  alternations  of  rain  and  heat  keep  up  an  active  decomposition  in  the  marshy  districts  of 
the  island,  they  render  it  quite  unwholesome.  The  southern  side  of  Hong  Kong  is  the  more 
healthful,  as  it  is  refreshed  and  purified  by  the  southwestern  monsoon,  but  being  destitute  of 
good  harbors,  the  English  were  obliged  to  fix  their  settlement  on  the  north. 

The  laboring  class  and  the  small  traders  are  chiefly  Chinese,  who  are  ever  on  the  alert  for 
gain.  Their  bazaars  invite  the  passing  stranger  on  every  street,  and  the  itinerant  artizans  go 
busily  tramping  in  their  daily  routine.  There  are  many  striking  figures  among  them,  with 
their  peculiar  costumes  and  novel  implements  of  labor.  Our  artist  caught  a  vivid  impression 
of  the  Hong  Kong  barber  boy. 

On  leaving  Hong  Kong  the  Mississippi  went  to  Macao,  and  thence  to  "Whampoa,  on  the 
Canton  river,  where  she  anchored.  In  this  river  there  are  certain  bars,  and  it  is  necessary  not 
only  to  take  a  pilot,  but  to  employ  small  Chinese  boats,  which  are  stationed  at  the  sides  of  the 
crooked  channel,  and  on  the  bars  alluded  to,  as  guides.  As  the  boats  receive  a  dollar  each  for 
this  service,  they  are  called  "dollar  boats."  Wliampoa,  which  is  the  anchorage  for  all  large 
vessels  whose  business  is  with  Canton,  is  on  the  river,  about  twelve  miles  from  that  city.  The 
pagoda  here  is  a  marked  object,  and  however  it  may  be  venerated  by  the  Chinese,  on  religious 
grounds,  is  no  less  regarded  for  its  usefulness  as  a  land  mark  by  foreign  vessels,  for  they  steer 
and  anchor  by  its  bearings. 

The  passage  to  Canton  is  made  in  boats,  and  is  by  no  means  very  agreeable.  The 
Commodore  was  sadly  disappointed  in  the  appearance  of  the  stream,  which  he  describes  as 
muddy  and  shallow,  with  scarcely  a  hut  upon  its  banks  until  the  city  is  nearly  reached  ;  and 
then  swarms  of  floating  habitations  are  seen  moored  to  the  banks,  five  or  six  tiers  deep,  and 
occupied  by  a  wretched  half  clad  people.  Throi;gh  these  two  lines  of  receptacles  of  poverty  and 
filth  which  thus  border  the  stream  you  pass  to  the  mercantile  factory,  the  residence  of  most  of 
the  foreign  merchants,  and  the  spot  where  the  stranger  lands.  Hence  he  is  conducted  to  the 
houses  of  those  to  whom  he  bears  letters  of  introduction,  where  he  is  hospitably  received  and 
takes  up  his  lodging,  as  there  are  no  comfortable  places  of  public  entertainment  in  this  quarter. 

The  first  impression  made  by  Canton  was  one  of  decided  disappointment.  Perhaps  too  much 
had  been  anticipated,  but,  from  the  glowing  descriptions  the  Commodore  had  read  of  the  place, 
he  had  imagined  that  it  would  be  more  striking  to  a  stranger  than  in  his  case  it  proved  to  be. 
He  expected  to  behold  myriads  of  boats,  decked  with  gay  banners,  and  moving  with  cheerful 
activity  in  all  directions.  His  iiincy  had  sketched  a  pleasing  picture  of  beautiful  floating 
domiciles,  moored  under  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  inhabited  by  a  hundred  thousand  people  in 
variegated  costume  ;  he  recalled  to  memory  the  stories  of  the  lofty  pagodas  lifting  roof  above 
roof,  the  delightful  residences  expanding  their  spacious  quarters  from  terrace  to  terrace,  and 
the  snug  cottages  with  the  pictures(jue  bridges  and  the  comfortable  Cliinaman  under  the  shade 
of  a  willow,  with  nothing  to  do  but  fish,  of  all  which  we  have  been  accustomed  to  read,  and 
pictures  of  which  served  to  amuse  us  in  our  childhood. 


13G  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

But  the  sketches  of  imaginative  hoyhood  were,  in  this  as  in  so  many  other  instances,  dispelled 
hy  the  sober  realities  of  maturer  years.  There  was  nothing  of  all  this  beautiful  picture  of 
crowded  and  happy  life.  There  were,  indeed,  boats  and  people,  pagodas  and  cottages,  bridges 
and  trees  ;  but  there  were  also  filth  and  noise,  poverty  and  misery,  lying  and  roguery,  and,  in 
short,  anything  but  a  picture  of  quiet  content  and  Arcadian  simplicity. 

On  the  visit  of  the  Commodore  to  Canton,  he,  together  with  several  of  his  officers,  was  accom- 
modated at  the  hou.se  of  Mr.  Forbes,  the  consul  of  the  United  States  and  head  of  the  firm  of 
Russell  &  Co.  Mr.  Forbes  was  absent  at  the  time,  but  the  hospitalities  of  his  establishment  were 
most  freely  dispensed  by  one  of  his  partners,  Mr.  Spooner.  So  well  known  was  this  establishment, 
and  so  highly  appreciated  were  its  proprietors  by  the  Chinese,  that  all  that  was  necessary  in 
making  a  jmrchase  in  the  city  was  simply  to  direct  the  shopkeeper  to  send  the  article  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Forbes,  and  there  never  was  any  hesitation  in  assenting  at  once.  The  same  may 
be  said  indeed  of  all  the  American  houses,  with  respect  both  to  hospitality  and  the  confidence 
of  the  Chinese. 

The  comparatively  small  space  occupied  by  the  foreigners  on  the  river  side  is,  notwithstanding 
its  limited  extent,  quite  a  pleasant  spot.  The  whole  quarter  contains  but  about  four  acres. 
The  foreign  merchants  occupy  the  large  buildings  in  the  rear  as  places  of  business  and  abode, 
while  the  front,  which  includes  a  half  of  the  whole  area,  is  beautifully  laid  out  as  a  garden, 
with  an  English  church  in  the  centre,  and  the  flags  of  different  nations  floating  from  tall  poles 
planted  in  various  spots.  The  grounds  are  arranged  with  walks  and  ornamented  with  shrubbery 
and  flowering  i)lants,  presenting  a  delightful  resort  in  the  freshness  of  the  morning  or  the  cool 
of  the  evening.  The  stranger  is  struck  with  the  peculiar  aspect  of  the  place,  when  on  one  side, 
in  proximity  to  low,  dingy,  Chinese  houses,  buildings  of  European  structure  rise  to  the  height 
of  three  or  four  stories,  while  on  the  other,  the  river  is  densely  populous  with  the  inhabited 
boats.  The  foreigners  term  their  residences  and  places  of  business  factories,  but  the  natives 
designate  them  as  Hongs,  which  is  the  usual  Chinese  word  for  a  commercial  establishment  or  ■ 
warehouse. 

Although  there  are  but  few  of  the  larger  or  public  buildings  in  the  foreign  quarter,  which  is 
but  a  suburb  of  the  city,  there  are  all  the  ordinary  varieties  of  streets,  houses,  and  bazaars. 
Foreigners  generally  confine  their  visits  to  that  part  adjacent  to  the  garden  before  mentioned, 
through  which  Old  and  New  China  streets  run. 

The  only  hotel  in  the  place  frequented  by  Europeans  and  Americans  is  near  the  latter  street, 
and  is  quite  inferior.  It  is  (as  has  been  intimated)  the  hospitable  practice  of  the  foreign 
merchants  to  invite  strangers  to  their  princely  establishments,  where  a  generous  profusion  and 
a  warm  welcome  are  extended  to  the  visitor.  In  addition  to  Old  and  New  China  streets,  there 
is,  hard  by,  a  narrow,  filthy  alley,  not  inappropriately  called  Hog  lane,  and  filled  witli  the 
most  abandoned  portion  of  the  people^  who  minister  to  the  vicious  appetites  of  the  foreign 
sailors,  supplying  them  with  wretched  grog  and  other  dangerous  stimulants. 

Tliere  are  no  drives  or  walks  leading  directly  into  the  country  from  the  foreign  quarter  ;  the 
residents  are,  therefore,  limited  to  the  river,  where,  in  the  evening,  they  exercise  themselves  in 
rowing  their  swift  little  boats.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  however,  on  the  island  of 
Honan,  there  is  a  walk  extending  a  mile  or  more  to  a  Buddhist  temple  ;  but  there  is  little  that 
is  attractive  in  the  surrounding  country,  and  nothing  peculiar  about  the  temple,  which  is 
similar  to  the  other  joss  houses.     On  a  visit  which  was  made  to  this  spot  by  one  of  the  officers 


CANTON. 


137 


of  the  expedition,  a  drove  of  sacred  pigs  were  seen  in  their  sacred  styes,  and  they  seemed  to 
flourish  exceedingly,  for  they  were  so  fat  that  they  could  not  stand.  It  was  something  of  a 
curiosity  (though  somewhat  saddening  in  the  reflections  it  occasioned)  to  behold  this  sanctified 
pork,  and  the  reverence  with  which  it  was  worshipped. 

Canton  is  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Kuan-tong,  from  which  the  name  given  to  the  city  by 
Europeans  has  been  corrupted.  It  is  falsely  applied,  for  it  is  the  name  of  the  province  only,  as  we 
have  just  said ;  that  of  the  city  is  Kuang-chow-foo.  The  city  is  built  on  two  rivers,  the  Choo-Keang, 
or  Pearl,  and  the  Pi-Keang,  which  is  a  branch  of  the  former.     The  mouth  of  the  Choo-Keang, 


View  of  Old  China  Street,  Canton. 

Pearl,  or  Canton  river,  is  called  the  Bocca  Tigris.     It  derives  this  name  from  the  supposed 

resemblance   of  the   hill   tops,    on    Great   Tiger   Island,    to    the   outline   of    a   tiger's   head. 

Although    the    resemblance    is    not    at   first   very   striking,    it   becomes   quite   obvious   after 

examination.     Tlie   river  is  guarded  at  its  mouth,  and  at  several   points  on  its  banks,  by 

C^linese  forts,  which,  with  their  white- washed  walls  and  general  pacific  aspect,  do  not  appear 

very  formidable.     The  view,  however,  is  pleasing,  particularly  at  the  Bocca  Tigris,  where 

the  forts  could  be  seen  stretching  their  long  white  walls  from  the  base  to  the  summits  of  the 

hills.     On  one  side  is  seen  the  "Dragon's  Cave,"  and  on  the  other  the  "Girl's  Shoe,"  and 

various  other  fortifications  with   fanciful    names  ;    and  though  some  of  them  are  admirably 

situated,  they  are  all  of  a  structure  which  prove  them  to  be  more  remarkable  for  show  than 

for  solid  utility. 

The  river  swarms  with  pirates,  the  fishermen  occasionally  becoming  tiieir  allii>s,  and  they 

18  J 


138 


EXPEPITION      TO     JAPAN. 


carry  on  their  dcprcfliitions  unchecked  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  forts.  When  the  pirates  fail 
of  falling  in  with  strangers  whom  they  dare  venture  to  roh,  they  fall  out  with  each  other,  and 
murder  and  plunder  tlieir  friends  with  as  little  compunction  as  if  they  were  strangers.  In  the 
passage  of  the  Mississippi  from  Macao  to  Whampoa,  the  anchorage  on  the  Canton  river,  one 
of  the  two  Chinese  hoats  in  tow  was  swamped  by  bad  steering,  whereupon  the  other,  in  fear 
of  a  similar  catastrophe,  cast  off  and  attempted  to  proceed  up  the  river.  The  owner,  who 
happened  to  be  on  board  the  steamer,  expressed  his  fears  that  she  would  be  overhauled  by 
pirates  before  her  arrival  at  Whampoa ;  nor  were  his  fears  groundless  ;  slie  was  boarded  and 
robbed  a  few  hours  only  after  she  had  lost  sight  of  the  Mississippi.  While  the  steamer  was  at 
Hong  Kong  several  piracies  were  committed  almost  under  tlie  guns  of  the  vessels-of-war.  As 
for  tiie  land  pirates,  they  are  to  the  full  as  expert  at  picking  and  stealing  as  the  most 
accomplished  thieves  and  pickpockets  of  New  York  or  London.  One  of  the  lieutenants  of  the 
Mississippi,  at  early  twilight  one  evening,  just  as  he  was  stepping  into  a  hired  boat  to  return 
to  the  ship,  was  seized  amid  a  crowd  of  people,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  pull  his  watch 
from  his  fob ;  fortunately  his  Pickwickian  rotundity  of  form  saved  the  watch,  but  the  chain 
was  carried  off  in  triumph. 

From  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  Canton  the  distance  is  about  thirty-two  miles,  but  the 
large  vessels  do  not  proceed  further  than  the  anchorage  at  Whampoa,  ten  miles  below  the 
foreign  quarter  of  the  city,  with  which  communication  is  kept  iip  by  boats.  The  country 
adjacent  to  Canton  is  intersected  with  rivers  and  creeks,  in  which  fish  abound,  and  a  plentiful 
market  is  daily  open  in  the  city. 

The  alluvial  ground  south  of  the  city  is  highly  cultivated  with  rice  fields  and  gardens.  The 
higher  ground  to  the  north  and  east  is  wooded  with  firs  and  other  trees.  A  wall  encloses  a 
portion  of  the  city,  which  is  subdivided  by  another  wall  running  from  east  to  west.  North  of 
the  latter  is  that  part  called  the  inner  or  old  city,  which  is  inhabited  chiefly  by  the  dominant 
Tartar  families,  while  to  the  south  we  find  the  new  or  outer  city,  where  the  inhabitants  are 
mostly  composed  of  the  descendants  of  the  original  Chinese  population.  The  streets  are  narrow^ 
tortuous,  and  winding,  like  a  corkscrew,  but  thronged  by  an  immense  population,  and  so  very 
contracted  that  there  is  often  barely  room  for  two  sedan  chairs,  the  only  vehicles  allowed,  to 
pass  each  other. 

The  great  importance  of  Canton  results  from  its  being  the  emporium  of  the  great  trade  of 
Europe  and  America  with  China  ;  the  annual  amount  of  whieli  was,  some  years  ago,  estimated 
at  eighty  millions  of  dollars,  the  i)rincipal  part  of  which  is  under  tlie  control  of  the  merchants 
of  England  and  the  United  States. 


CuBtoin-liuubt;,  Muuth  of  Canluu  Kivt-r. 


UOSPITABLE     TREATMENT     AT     MACAO, 


139 


CHAPTER  VI 


HOSPITABLE     TREATMENT    AT    MACAO. USAGES     OF     THE     FOREIG>J     MF.RCIIAXTS     TOWARD     VISITORS. DEPRESSED     CONDITION     OF 

MACAO. DESCRIPTION'    OF     THE    PLACE. TANKA    BOATS,    AND    GIRLS    WHO    MANAGE    THEM. CAVE    OF    CAMOEXS. DEPARTURE 

OF    -MISSISSIPPI    FROM    MACAO. SARATOGA    LEFT  TO    BRI.NG    MR.   WILLIAMS,  THE    INTERPRETER  DIFFICULTIES    OF  NAVIGATION 

FROM    HONG    KONG    TO  THE    MOUTH   OF  TANG-TSE-KEANG. ENTRANCE   OF  THE    RIVER    DANGEROUS. SUSQUEHANNA,   PLYMOUTH, 

AND     SUPPLY    ALL     AGROUND. MISSISSIPPI    SAVED    BY    THE     POWER     OF    HER     ENGINES     ONLY. DESCRIPTION     OF    SHANGHAI. 

ITS     IM.MEN«e    TRADE. CULTIVATION     OF    THE     COUNTRY. POPULATION     OF    THE     CITY  VISIT     OF    THE     COMMODORE     TO    THE 

GOVERNOR     OF    THE     CITY. CHINESE     REBELLION. ITS     EFFECTS. PLYMOUTH     LEFT     AT    SHANGHAI     TO     PROTECT    AMERICAN 

INTERESTS. DEPARTURE    FOR    GREAT    LEW    CHEW. ARRIVAL    OF     THE    SQUADRON    AT    THE     CAPITAL,    NAPHA,    THE    SARATOGA 

HAVING    JOINED    AT    THE    ENTRANCE    TO    THE    HARBOR. 

N  leaving  Canton,  Mr.  Spooner,  of  the  house  of  Russell 
^  &  Co.,  offered  the  Commodore  the  use  of  the  magnificent 
residence  at  Macao  helonging  to  that  firm ;  accordingly 
he,  together  with  three  of  his  officers,  took  up  his  quar- 
ters in  their  sumptuous  dwelling.  The  Commodore  and 
liis  company,  thinking  that  they  were  to  be  their  own 
providers,  their  caterer,  one  of  the  officers  of  the  squadron, 
was  very  particular  in  ordering  the  head  servant  in  charge 
of  the  establishment  to  procure  this  and  that,  and  no 
sooner  was  a  wish  expressed  than  it  was  promptly  at- 
tended to.  Great,  then,  was  the  surprise,  on  the  comple- 
tion of  the  visit,  to  find  that  not  a  penny  would  be  received 
beyond  the  ordinary  gratuity  by  that  prince  of  major-domos.  He  said  that  his  employers 
were  always  happy  to  have  their  house  occupied  by  their  friends,  and  he  expressed  a  hope 
that  the  Commodore  and  his  companions  would  not  think  of  going  elsewhere  on  their  next  visit 
to  Macao. 

When  a  guest  is  once  received  into  one  of  these  hospitable  mansions  he  finds  himself  quite  at 
home,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  most  agreeable  society  ;  for  it  is  a  custom  of  the  merchants  of* 
the  East  to  extend  to  strangers  of  respectability  a  hospitality  that  is  quite  unreserved.  Such, 
indeed,  is  the  freedom  of  the  guest  that  he  has  only  to  order  whatever  he  may  require  and  his 
demand  is  complied  with  at  once.     The  master  does  not  trouble  himself  about  the  matter,  but 


140  EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN. 

he  is,  for  the  most  part  of  the  time,  away  about  his  business ;  and  the  whole  concern  of  the 
household  devolves  ujion  the  major-domo,  whose  duty  it  is  to  satisfy  every  want.  There  is  a 
very  convenient  official  of  these  establishments,  termed  a  comprador,  whose  vocation  it  is  to  pay 
all  the  bills  accruing  from  the  purchases  and  incidental  expenses  of  the  guests,  who,  however, 
of  course,  refund  what  has  been  paid. 

While  enjoying  the  luxury  of  these  oriental  establishments,  one,  in  fiict,  might  fimcy  himself 
in  a  well-organized  French  hotel,  as  he  has  only  to  express  a  wish  to  have  it  gratified,  were  it 
not  that  he  has  nothing  to  pay  in  the  former  beyond  the  usual  gratuities  to  servants,  while  in 
the  latter  lie  is  mulcted  roundly  for  every  convenience. 

There  is  not  much  at  present  to  interest  the  visitor  at  Macao,  as  it  is  but  a  ghost  of  its  former 
self.  There  is  almost  a  complete  absence  of  trade  or  commerce.  The  harbor  is  deserted,  and 
the  sumptuous  dwellings  and  storehouses  of  the  old  merchants  are  comparatively  empty,  while 
the  Portuguese  who  inhabit  the  place  are  but  rarely  seen,  and  seem  listless  and  unoccupied. 
An  occasional  Parsee,  in  high  crowned  cap  and  snowy  robe,  a  venerable  merchant,  and  here 
and  there  a  Jesuit  priest,  with  his  flock  of  youthful  disciples,  may  be  seen,  but  they  are  only  as 
the  decaying  monuments  of  the  past. 

At  one  time,  however,  the  town  of  Macao  was  one  of  the  most  flourishing  marts  of  the  East. 
When  the  Portuguese  obtained  possession,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  they  soon 
established  it  as  the  centre  of  a  wide  commerce  with  China  and  other  oriental  countries.  Its 
origin  is  attributed  to  a  few  Portuguese  merchants  belonging  to  Lampa^ao,  who  were  allowed 
to  resort  there  and  establish  some  temporary  huts  for  shelter  and  the  drying  of  damaged  goods. 
Hue,  the  Chinese  traveller,  gives  a  different  account;  he  states  that  the  Portuguese  were  allowed 
to  settle  by  the  Emperor,  in  return  for  the  signal  service  of  capturing  a  famous  pirate  who  had 
long  ravaged  the  coasts.  From  an  humble  beginning,  the  settlement  gradually  arose  to  an 
imposing  position  as  a  commercial  place,  for  which  it  was  greatly  indebted  to  the  monopoly  it 
enjoyed  of  eastern  commerce.  It  has,  however,  declined,  and  is  now  a  place  of  very  inconsiderable 
importance  and  trade.  The  town  is  situated  upon  a  peninsula  at  the  southward  of  the  island 
of  Macao. 

It  is  sufficiently  picturesque  in  appearance,  built  as  it  is  upon  the  acclivities  of  the 
rising  ground  about  the  harbor,  with  its  gay  looking  white  houses,  which  overhang  the  terraces 
that  bound  the  shore  and  look  out  upon  the  sea.  The  houses  of  the  old  merchants,  though 
they  now  bear  some  appearance  of  neglect,  yet  attest,  by  the  spaciousness  of  the  apartments, 
and  the  luxuriousness  of  their  appointments,  the  former  opulence  of  the  Portuguese  traders. 
The  pleasant  walks  about  the  circuit  of  the  neighboring  hills  and  the  Praya  invite  the  visitor 
to  strengthen  himself  in  cheerful  exercise.  The  dull  look  of  the  place  is  somewhat  relieved 
in  the  summer  time,  wlien  the  foreign  residents  of  Canton  and  Hong  Kong  resort  there  to 
bathe  in  the  waters  of  Bishop's  Bay,  and  to  recreate  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  healthful  sea  air 
of  the  place. 

The  harbor  is  not  suitable  for  large  vessels,  which  anclior  in  Macao  roads,  several  miles  from 
the  town.  It  is,  however,  though  destitute  of  every  appearance  of  commercial  activity,  always 
enlivened  by  the  fleet  of  Tanka  boats  which  pass,  conveying  passengers  to  and  fro,  between  the 
land  and  the  Canton  and  Hong  Kong  steamers.  The  Chinese  damsels,  in  gay  costume,  as 
they  scull  their  ligiit  craft  upon  the  smooth  and  gently  swelling  surface  of  the  bay,  present  a 
lively  aspect,  and  as  they  are  looked  upon  in  the  distance,  from  the  verandahs  above  the  Praya, 


TANKA     BOAT,      ETC.,      MACAO. 


141 


whicli  command  a  view  of  the  bay^  have  a  fairy-like  appearance^  which  a  nearer  approach 
serves^  however,  to  change  into  a  more  substantial  and  coarse  reality. 


Tauka  Uoat  Uirl- 


Cbln«i«  Woman  and  Cliilt),  Macao. 


142 


EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 


The  Cave  of  Camoens,  where  the  Portuguese  poet  is  supposed  to  have  written  a  portioa 
of  his  Lusiad,  is  a  place  of  universal  interest  and  resort  at  Macao.  It  is  picturesquely  situated 
upon  the  summit  of  a  small  hill,  on  the  margin  of  the  inner  harbor.  Large  granite  rocks  are 
here  gathered  in  a  confused  cluster,  which  form  a  natural  cave,  from  the  entrance  of  which 


'# 


Camoeos*  Cave,  Biacao. 

there  is  a  wide  prospect  of  the  surrounding  country.  The  banians,  the  pagoda,  and  other 
oriental  trees  unite  their  foliage  and  form  a  grove  in  which  the  rocky  cave  is  embowered. 
Surrounding  it  are  grounds  cultivated  with  trees,  crco])ing  vines,  and  flowering  shrubs,  charm- 
ingly arranged  liy  tlie  borders  of  winding  paths,  and  U2)on  tlie  sides  of  the  hills.  Artirieial 
terraces,  ingeniously  disposed,  invite  the  visitor  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  view  or  to  rest  beneath 
the  sliade. 

Above  the  cave  rises  a  rotun(!a,  from  which  there  is  an  ent-lianting  prospect,  and  a  marble 
monument,  with  a  bronze  bust  and  an  inscription,  here  record  the  features,  the  genius,  and 
virtue  of  Camoens,  the  poet. 


CAMOENS'     CAVE. 


143 


Camoens'  visit  to  Macao  vras  during  his  banishment  from  Portugal^  in  consequence  of  his 
pertinacious  courtship  of  a  lady  of  rank,  wliose  parents  did  not  aflfect  an  alliance  with  the  poet, 
who,  although  of  a  respectable  family,  was  poor^  and  looked  upon  as  an  uncertain  adventurer. 
In  1551,  he  proceeded  to  Goa,  in  India,  where  he  again  involved  himself  in  trouble  by  writing 


3'  C.ivu,  .Mjcuo — Kcal-  View. 


his  "Absurdities  of  India,"  and  was  banished  to  the  Moluccas,  and  in  the  course  of  his  exile 
he  resorted  frequently  to  Macao,  which  was  a  favorite  residence  of  the  poet.  The  cave  was  his 
chosen  spot  of  retirement,  where,  in  its  ''sweet  retired  solitude,"  he  meditated  his  great  work, 
the  Lusiad.  Camoens  returned  to  Portugal,  but  only  to  live  in  misery  and  die  in  an  hospital. 
The  interior  of  the  island  of  Macao,  wliich  is  exclusively  cultivated  by  tlie  Chinese,  yields  a 
variety  of  vegetable  productions,  with  wliicli  tlie  town  is  supjdied.  The  whole  population  is 
about  20,000.  and  of  thesel3,000  belnim-  tutlic  ])(iiiiisuiaand  tnwn.  wln-reof  nunc  tlian  oue-lialf 
tbe  inhabituuts  are  Chinese,  and  in  llie  iiitci  inr  ot  (lit.'  i>l;iMd  tliis  imv  inniiinsc  tlu'  whole.     The 


144  EXPEDITION      rO     JAPAN. 

government  of  the  town  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Portuguese.  The  Portuguese  have  a  college, 
churches  and  various  educational,  benevolent,  and  ecclesiastical  institutious  in  the  town,  where 
the  Chinese  also  have  their  peculiar  estahlishruents  and  a  temple. 

On  the  evening  of  April  28tli,  the  Mississippi  was  again  under  weigh,  leaving  the  Saratoga 
at  Macao  to  aAvait  the  arrival  of  Dr.  S.  W.  Williams,  of  Canton,  who  had  been  appointed 
interpreter  to  the  expedition.     The  course  was  now  directed  for  Shangliai. 

The  navigation  of  the  coast  of  China,  from  Hong  Kong  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yang-tse-Keang, 
is^  at  most  seasons,  difficult  and  perplexing.  The  frequent  fogs  and  irregular  tides  and  currents 
make  it  very  annoying  to  those  who  are  strangers  to  the  navigation,  when  close  in  with  the 
coast.  Fortunately,  however,  vessels  are  always,  when  near  the  land,  on  anchoring  ground, 
and  although  they  are  sometimes  obliged  to  bring  to,  in  situations  exposed  to  winds  from  the 
sea,  it  is  better  to  resort  to  the  anchor  than  to  drift  blindly  among  groups  of  islands  and  reefs. 
If  the  weather  he  moderately  clear,  vessels  may  run  from  island  to  island,  and  thus  navigate 
the  coast  with  perfect  safety  and  convenience,  hut  the  fogs  which  prevail  at  certain  seasons 
scarcely  allow  of  this  advantage.  During  the  passages  of  the  Susquehanna  and  Mississippi  from 
Hong  Kong  to  Shanghai  neither  had  a  meridian  observation  of  the  sun. 

The  entrance  to  the  Yang-tse-Keang,  which  leads  to  the  commercial  city  of  Shanghai,  is 
obstructed  on  either  side  by  shoals,  which  make  it  dangerous  for  vessels  not  having  pilots.  On 
the  north  side  is  a  shoal  called  the  North  Sand,  extending  some  six  leagues  westward  from  the 
main  land,  and  on  the  south  side  is  a  parallel  shoal,  called  the  South  Sand,  projecting  nearly 
as  far  from  the  shore  on  that  side.  The  outer  extremities  of  these  shoals  are  beyond  sight  of 
the  main  land.  The  channel  between  the  two  shoals  may  be  estimated  at  about  two  miles  in 
width,  and  there  are  no  light-houses,  boats,  beacons,  or  buoys  to  indicate  to  strangers  the 
entrance.  A  small  islet  called  GutzlafF  island  is  the  only  indication,  for  the  bearings  of  which, 
and  other  directions  for  entering  the  channel,  the  nautical  reader  is  referred  to  the  Appendix. 

The  rise  and  fall  in  the  Yang-tse-Keang  averages  about  ten  feet,  and  vessels  are  obliged  to 
find  their  way  hap-hazard  into  the  channel,  or  perchance  run  upon  one  of  the  sister  sands. 
Numbers  of  vessels  resorting  to  Shanghai  are  lost,  and  still  nothing  has  been  done  to  remedy 
the  evil.  The  Commodore  was  convinced,  on  visiting  this  river  with  the  Mississipjji,  that  until 
proper  landmarks  and  beacons  are  established  to  indicate  the  entrance,  it  must  be  an  unfit  resort 
for  any  but  the  smaller  vessels  of  a  squadron,  and  consequently,  an  unfit  place  for  a  naval 
depot.  The  Susquehanna,  tlic  Plymouth,  and  the  Supply,  all  grounded  on  going  in,  and  the 
last  remained  thumping  on  the  North  Sand  twenty-two  hours,  and  was  only  saved  from  total 
loss  by  a  providential  change  of  wind.  The  Mississippi  was  carried,  in  the  confnsion  of  her 
pilot,  out  of  the  channel,  but  by  good  fortune  did  not  stop,  though  she  ran  into  nineteen  feet 
water,  one  foot  less  than  her  draft,  on  the  South  Sand,  but  the  power  of  the  engines  jiroved  her 
salvation.  Tlie  weaUhy  foreign  merchants  established  at  Shangliai,  who  are  gatliering  a 
plentiful  harvest  from  the  increasing  trade  of  the  place,  should  contribute  some  of  their  tliousands 
toward  rendering  the  navigation  less  dangerous.  It  is  but  justice  to  say  that  a  willingness  has 
been  expressed  by  some  of  the.se  gentlemen  to  subscribe  liberally  tnwaid  tlie  accomplishment  of 
the  desired  object,  and,  in  fact,  a  boat  had  been  ordered  to  be  built  in  the  United  States,  for  the 
purjjose  of  towing  vessels  up  and  down  the  river. 

Shanghai  is  built  U])on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  Wampon,  a  braiuh  of  the  Yang-tse-Kiang. 
Near  the  mouth  of  the  Wamjion  is  the  village  Woosung,  the  station  where  the  foreign  merchants 


Y  ANG-TSE-KE  ANG  —  SH  ANGH  A  I. 


145 


formerly  established  their  receiving  ships,  and  the  trading  vessels  their  anchorage.  Nothing 
can  he  less  picturesque  than  the  scenery  of  the  banks  of  the  Wampon  in  the  approach  to 
Shanghai.  Monotonous  flats  of  alluvial  grounds  stretch  their  wide  expanse  on  either  side  of 
the  tortuous  river.  The  fertile  fields,  rich  with  an  abundant  harvest  of  rice  and  grain,  are 
encouraging  prospects  to  the  eye  of  the  agriculturist,  but  the  poetical  observer  is  sadly  disap- 
pointed in  a  view  which  presents  a  dead  level  of  landscape,  without  a  mountain,  a  hill-side,  or 
even  a  tree  to  relieve  the  monotony. 

In  front  of  the  city  of  Shanghai  quays  have  been  built  out,  and  along  them  extend  the  store- 
houses and  sumptuous  residences  of  the  foreign  merchants,  which  have  been  constructed  since 
the  termination  of  the  opium  war  with  Great  Britain.  Here  are  to  be  found  wide  and  well 
graded  streets,  beautiful  gardens,  and  all  the  comforts  and  conveniences  that  are  to  be  found  in 
any  part  of  the  world.  Two  Gothic  churches,  one  belonging  to  the  English,  and  the  other  to 
the  American  Protestant  Episcopal  mission,  show  an  encouraging  success  of  missionary  effort, 
and  excite  the  hopes  of  the  Christian,  for  the  progress  of  his  faith. 


American  Consulate,  and  Port  or  Shanghai. 

The  Commodore  was  a  guest,  while  at  Shanghai,  ot  the  American  firm  of  Eussell  <Sr  Co.,  in 
whose  splendid  establishment,  as  at  Macao,  every  want  was  satisfied.  So  complete  are  the 
conveniences  of  these  residences,  and  so  perfect  every  appointment,  that  the  stranger  finds 
himself  suirounded  with  all  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  his  own  home.  A  trifling  incident 
will  illustrate  the  effectiveness  with  which  the  most  insignificant  demands  of  the  guest  are 
complied  with.  The  Commodore  was  asked  if  he  liked  soda  water,  to  whicli  polite  request  he 
19  J 


146  E  X  r  K  D  I  T  I  0  N      T  O     J  A  r  A  N . 

responded  that  tlic  only  niineval  wator  lie  cared  fur  was  that  from  the  Congress  spring  in 
8aratoc;a  ;  the  next  niorning  the  servant  entered  his  room  with  a  bottle  of  it.  During  the  stay  of 
the  ships  at  Shanghai  there  was  a  constant  succession  of  dinners  and  halls,  and  the  officers 
were  entertained  everywhere  with  the  most  generous  hospitality. 

The  native  city  is  a  great  contrast  to  that  i)art  of  the  suburbs  inhabited  by  the  foreign 
residents,  although  the  portion  of  the  latter  occni)ied  by  the  natives  is  miserable  enoiigh. 
Shanghai,  proper,  is  enclosed  within  a  wall,  and  has  the  appearance  of  most  of  the  Chinese 
cities.  Tlie  place  is  quite  large,  and  very  populous.  Its  streets  are  narrow,  like  mo.st  of 
those  of  the  native  cities,  not  being  much  mure  tliau  eight  or  ten  feet  in  width,  anil  are 
intersected  by  dirty  alleys,  which  lead  to  the  rear  of  the  small  and  contracted  dwellings  of  the 
Chinese,  who  live  in  the  midst  of  foul  air  and  all  kinds  of  filth.  The  (ilthiness  of  Shanghai 
gives  no  favorable  idea  of  the  domestic  habits  of  the  people  ;  a  slight  glance  at  the  men  and 
women  usually  met  in  the  streets  was  quite  convincing  enough  of  their  want  of  reverence  for 
what  the  proverb  says  is  "  next  to  godliness."  During  the  stay  of  the  Commodore  at  Shanghai, 
the  shops  had  been  emptied  of  their  contents  and  carried  into  places  of  safety,  in  expectation  of 
an  attack  upon  the  city  by  the  rebels,  consequently,  the  bazaars  had  a  dull  look,  and  but  few 
of  the  native  fabrics  could  be  seen. 

The  domestic  trade  of  the  city  has  been  immense  for  a  long  time,  being  carried  on  in  all 
directions  with  the  vast  interior  of  China.  A  multitudinous  population  swarms  in  that  part  of  the 
country  which  stretches  back  of  Shanghai,  and  the  commercial  intercourse  with  the  large  cities 
of  Nankin  and  others,  with  their  millions  of  inhabitants,  and  incessant  trading  activity,  was 
constant,  until  interrupted  by  the  Chinese  rebellion.  The  trade  of  Shanghai  has  been  stated  to 
be  as  large  as  that  of  any  part  of  the  world,  not  excepting  even  London. 

The  immediate  neighborhood  of  Shanghai  is  highly  cultivated,  and  fertile  fields  stretch  in  all 
directions  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  rich  with  their  harvests  of  cotton,  rice,  wheat,  bailey, 
beans  and  potatoes.  The  markets  of  the  town  are  well  supplied,  and  at  moderate  prices,  with 
beef,  mutton,  poultry,  game,  fish  and  vegetables  of  all  varieties.  Among  the  different  kinds  of 
game,  the  pheasant^  woodcock,  and  snipe  abound,  and  of  the  fi.sh,  the  shad  is  common  during  its 
season,  of  good  size  and  flavor  ;  some,  indeed,  larger  than  are  .seen  in  the  United  States,  though  in 
taste  inferior  to  those  caught  in  our  rivers.  Fruit  is  scarce,  and  of  inferior  quality,  as  the 
Chinese  pay  but  little  attention  to  its  cultivation  ;  some  cherries,  however,  were  tasted,  wlu<-]i 
proved  to  be  tolerably  good,  and  it  was  said  that  the  peaches  were  also  good.  All  the  varieties 
of  Chinese  manufactured  articles  can  ordinarily  be  obtained  at  Shanghai,  and  especially  a  silk 
of  famous  fabric,  woven  at  Su-Chau,  a  neiglil)oring  city.  But  the  intestine  disturbances 
prevailing  deprived  the  Commodore  of  any  but  a  hearsay  knowledge  of  many  of  these  articles, 
which,  however,  are  said  to  be  obtained,  in  pacific  times,  more  easily  at  Shanghai  than  at  Canton. 

The  foreign  commerce  has  greatly  increased  since  the  termination  of  the  war  with  Great 
Britain,  and  the  general  belief  is  entertained  tliat  Shanghai,  with  its  .superior  advantages,  will 
monopolize  most  of  the  foreign  trade  with  China. 

The  population  of  the  place  was  estimated  at  two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand,  and  the 
Cliinese  who  composed  it  seemed  to  be  of  a  better  class  than  those  at  Canton  and  Hong  Kong. 
Like  all  their  countrymen,  they  are  indefatigable  in  labor  and  untiring  in  trading  activity,  for 
which  they  have,  undoubtedly,  a  natural  instinct. 

The  Commodore,  while  at  Shanghai,  made  an   interesting  return  visit  to  the  Taou-tai  or 


VISIT    OF   THE    C  0  M  M  0  D  0  R  K    TO    THE    T  A  O  U-T  A  I,    S  II  A  N  G  H  A  I.  147 

governor  and  commander  of  tlic  city,  who  first  called  upon  him  at  the  American  consulate,  and 
atlerward  visited  the  shii).  The  Taou-tai  has  a  lucrative,  hut  by  no  means  easy  ofHcc. 
Amonoj  his  other  duties,  he  has  to  watch,  especially,  the  interests  and  conduct  of  the  foreign 
residents,  and  what  with  the  caprices  of  strangers,  the  sometimes  inordinate  claims  of  their 
representatives,  and  the  arbitrary  requirements  of  his  imperial  mastei',  lie  must  have  hard  work 
to  keep  up  a  fair  balance  between  his  duties  to  his  government  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
foreigners  on  the  other.  This  high  official  has  also  to  sustain  the  responsibility  of  a  secure 
transport  of  the  taxes  of  the  province,  and  to  fulfil  the  by  no  means  sinecure  duty  of  protecting 
the  commerce  of  Shanghai  against  the  pirates  who  swarm  the  coasts.  His  highness  makes  his 
official  visits  with  a  pomp  and  circumstance  suitable  to  his  dignified  station.  The  ringing 
sounds  of  gongs  herald  his  approach,  and  he  comes  seated  grandly  in  his  chair  of  state  attended 
by  his  suite  of  subordinate  mandarins.  The  office,  in  common  with  the  general  practice  of 
China,  is  bestowed  ordinarily  upon  him  who  has  earned  one  of  the  topmost  of  the  nine  colored 
buttons,  which,  worn  above  the  official  cap,  serve,  by  their  vari-colored  grades,  to  distinguish  the 
mandarins.  As  literary  eminence  is  the  passport  to  office,  the  Taou-tai  is  ordinarily  well  up  in 
Chinese  literature,  and  can  quote  whole  passages  of  Confucius  or  Mencius  with  the  utmost 
volubility. 

In  the  Commodore's  visit  to  the  Taou-tai  he  was  accomjianied  by  twenty  of  his  officers  and 
the  American  consul,  who  were  all,  with  due  regard  to  the  importance  of  the  occasion,  dressed  up 
in  full  uniform.  The  party,  thus  adorned,  and  duly  seated  in  sedan  chairs,  were  conveyed  from 
the  consular  residence  to  the  government  house,  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  within  the 
walls.  On  arrival  at  the  entrance,  the  Commodore  and  his  suite  were  saluted  with  the  usual 
salvo  of  three  guns  (the  extent,  with  the  Chinese,  of  honorable  ammunition  on  such  occasions) 
and  the  music  of  a  band.  The  Taou-tai  was  at  the  threshold  to  meet  his  visitors,  and  as  the 
Commodore  alighted  from  his  sedan  chair  his  highness  escorted  him  into  the  hall  of  audience, 
while  the  rest  of  the  company  followed  in  respectful  sequence.  The  Commodore  was  placed,  in 
accordance  with  Chinese  ceremony,  at  the  side  of  the  Taou-tai,  on  a  platform  raised  a  little 
above  the  floor. 

On  entering  and  dejiarting  from  the  government  house,  the  party  passed  through  an  open 
apartment,  adorned  with  a  bold  re2)reseutation  of  a  gigantic  Chinese  deity  on  the  wall,  and 
furnished  with  large  wooden  chairs,  stuifed  with  red  cloth  cushions,  which  were  ranged  along 
the  sides.  A  table  standing  in  the  apartment,  and  holding  the  vessel  containing  the  pieces  of 
bamboo  which  are  thrown  by  the  hand  of  the  Chinese  judge  to  the  executioner,  to  indicate  the 
number  of  strokes  to  be  appdied  to  the  convicted  criminal,  show^ed  the  ordinary  purposes  of  the 
chamber,  which  was  that  of  a  hall  of  justice. 

Refreshments,  consisting  of  teas,  liquors,  (including  champagne,)  cake,  and  so  forth,  were 
handed  round  to  the  visitors  in  succession ;  and,  after  a  stay  of  an  hour,  the  commodore  and 
his  party  returned  in  the  same  manner  as  they  came.  Entering  again  their  sedan  chairs,  and 
traversing  the  narrow  streets  of  Shanghai  in  long  procession,  and  jostling  every  one  who 
obstructed  the  way,  they  finally  reached  the  American  consulate. 

While  Commodore  Perry  was  at  Shanghai,  the  revolution,  which  is  still  in  progress,  had 
made  great  headway.  Although  new  develojunents  have  taken  jdace  since,  which  have  altered 
very  much  the  position  of  affiiirs,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  give  the  results  of  the  Commodore's 
ob-servations  of  a  civil  commotion,  which  naturally  excited  his  deepest  interest.     He  writes  on 


148  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

the  spot,  at  the  date  of  May,  1853:  "The  political  condition  of  China  at  the  present  time  is 
very  unsettled;  the  whole  empire  seems  to  be  in  a  state  of  agitation  arguing  some  mighty 
revolution ;  one-half  of  the  country  is  in  occupation  of  an  insurgent  force,  which  claims  to 
represent  the  old  Chinese,  who  were  dispossessed  a  long  time  since  by  the  present  ruling 
dynasty.  At  the  head  of  the  rebel  force  is  a  very  sagacious  man,  who,  from  disappointment,  or 
some  imaginary  wrong,  growing  out  of  his  examination  for  literary  honors,  (so  highly  prized 
by  the  Chinese,)  became  disgusted,  and  at  once  showed  his  disaffection,  and  finally  raised  the 
flag  of  open  rebellion.  At  first  he  had  only  a  few  followers,  but  in  the  course  of  time 
multitudes  flocked  to  his  standard;  and  now,  after  over-running  a  great  many  provinces,  he  is 
quietly  in  possession  of  the  great  city  of  Nanking. 

"This  man  denounces  the  prevailing  religion,  and  has  caused  to  be  destroyed  numerous 
Buddhist  temples.  He  j^rofesses  a  iaith  somewhat  similar  to  that  of  the  Mormons  in  America, 
and  gives  forth  that  he  has  constant  communion  with  God,  and  has  been  acknowledged  as  his 
Son.  His  ignorant  and  lawless  followers  profess  to  believe  in  his  pretended  revelations,  and 
with  them  he  has  acquired  great  power  by  his  religious  devices.  He  pretends  to  fraternize 
with  Christians,  and  argues  that  all  Christian  nations,  by  reason  of  similar  faith,  should  aid 
him  in  driving  out  of  the  empire  the  present  usurping  family,  and  putting  upon  the  celestial 
throne  a  true  son  of  heaven,  a  believer  of  the  decalogue,  and  a  scion  of  the  old  Chinese 
monarchs.  He  does  not  pretend  to  any  claims  himself  to  the  imperial  diadem ;  but  it  may  be 
well  imagined,  from  his  professed  dogmas  of  religion^  that  when  the  time  comes  he  will  turn  out 
to  be  the  proposed  great  Celestial  on  Earth." 

In  the  state  of  agitation  produced  by  these  civil  disturbances  it  was  natural  that  the  foreign 
merchants  who  had  large  interests  at  stake  should  be  anxious  about  the  security  of  their  prop- 
erty ;  accordingly,  the  American  commercial  houses  established  at  Shanghai  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  Hon.  Humphrey  Marshall,  minister  of  the  United  States  to  China,  in  which  they  stated 
that  the  amount  of  their  property,  at  a  fair  valuation,  then  at  risk  in  the  port  of  Shanghai,  was 
$1,200,000,  and  that  they  considered  it  fairly  entitled  to  protection,  which  the  rumored  with- 
drawal of  the  naval  force  would  seem  to  deprive  them  of.  Commodore  Perry,  regarding  the 
interests  of  American  citizens  in  China,  and  at  the  same  time  not  forgetting  the  great  purpose 
of  his  expedition,  resolved  to  leave  the  Plymouth  to  protect  his  countrymen  and  their  property, 
but  not  otherwise  to  interfere  with  his  own  mission  or  the  affairs  of  China.  The  request  of  the 
American  commissioner  to  have  a  vessel  of  war  to  convey  him  to  the  mouth  of  the  Peiho,  in 
order  to  secure  a  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese  government  of  his  official  presence,  was 
not  complied  with  by  the  Commodore,  who  declined  not  only  on  the  score  of  policy,  but  from 
the  necessity  of  concentrating  all  the  naval  force  he  could  on  the  expedition  to  Japan. 

The  Mississippi  had  arrived  at  Shanghai  on  the  4th  of  May,  and  the  interval  between  that 
date  and  the  17th  of  the  same  month,  was  chiefly  employed  in  transferring  the  Commodore  to  the 
Susquehanna,  which  then  became  his  flag-ship,  and  in  taking  in  the  usual  supplies  of  coal  and 
provisions  for  the  voyage.  No  less  than  five  ions  of  Chinese  "cash,"*  to  be  dispensed  in  the 
Lew-Chew  islands,  was  rather  an  unusual  addition  to  the  ship's  stores. 

On  Monday  morning.  May  16,  1853,  the  Mississippi  moved  down  the  river  and  was  followed 
the  next  day  by  the  Commodore  in  the  Susquehanna,  while  the  Plymouth  was  left  behind,  for 

*  The  "  casli"  is  but  a  small  sum.  about  the  twelve-hundrelh  part  of  a  dollar 


DEPARTURE     FROM     CHINA     FOR     LEW     CHEW.  149 

a  short  time,  to  await  the  course  of  events  in  the  rebel  camp,  her  commander  having  orders  to 
follow  as  soon  as  he  could  do  so  consistently  with  the  safety  of  American  interests  at  Shanghai. 

The  day  of  departure  was  unusually  clear,  and  the  cultivated  bants  of  the  river,  with  their 
orchards  and  fields  of  grain,  never  appeared  more  beautifully  green.  Witli  the  fine  day,  which 
gave  a  bright,  cheerful  aspect  to  every  object,  the  inspiriting  music  of  the  band,  which  struck  up 
a  succession  of  lively  airs,  the  crowds  of  spectators  on  the  shore,  and  the  natural  enthusiasm  of  all 
on  the  prospect  of  carrying  out  the  enterprise  which  was  the  great  object  of  the  expedition,  the 
departure  from  Shanghai  was  in  a  high  degree  animating. 

The  Mississippi  had  preceded,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Susquehanna,  to  which  the  Commodore 
had  now  transferred  his  flag,  and  joined  the  Supply,  which,  after  having  grounded  on  the 
North  Sand,  succeeded  fortunately  in  getting  ofi"  without  damage.  The  sqiiadron,  which  now 
prepared  to  sail  for  Lew  Chew,  was  composed  of  the  Susquehanna,  the  Mississippi,  the  Supply, 
and  the  Caprice,  which  was  discovered  standing  in,  as  the  other  ships  were  standing  out, 
and  was  ordered  to  follow.  The  Plymouth  was,  as  has  just  been  stated,  left  at  Shanghai,  as  a 
guard  of  American  property  and  interests,  and  the  Saratoga  remained  at  Macao,  to  await  the 
arrival  of  Dr.  Williams,  the  interpreter.  These  vessels  were  expected  to  follow,  and  join  the 
rendezvous  at  Lew  Chew. 

The  Susquehanna,  on  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Tang-tse-Kiang,  came  to  anchor  and 
remained  there  for  three  days.  The  Mississippi  and  Supply  took  up  their  positions  on  either 
side.  The  junk  belonging  to  Eussell  &  Co.,  the  American  merchants,  which  had  been  hired 
to  carry  a  cargo  of  coal  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  be  put  on  board  the  Mississippi,  was,  while 
under  the  charge  of  its  own  commander  and  ofiicers,  lost  on  the  North  Sand.  From  the 
anchorage  of  the  Mississippi,  Gutzlafl"s  island  could  be  seen  some  six  miles  distant,  and 
beyond  it  stretched  the  long  uneven  outline  of  Kuggles'  islands.  The  weather  was  alternately 
clear  and  rainy,  and  when  the  sun  did  not  shine  the  scene  was  particularly  gloomy  and 
oppressive  to  the  spirits.  The  muddy  waters  of  the  Tang-tse-Kiang,  looking  more  muddy  still 
in  the  yellow  light  of  a  foggy  atmosphere,  and  the  dull  constraint  of  a  tedious  anchorage, 
presented  a  sad  prospect  to  the  eye,  and  a  wearisome  sensation  to  the  feelings,  which  made  all 
anxious  for  departure. 

The  naturalists  had  an  opportunity  of  gratifying  their  tastes  in  observing  a  flock  of  small 
birds  from  the  land,  which  hovered  in  and  about  the  ship.  Mr.  Heine,  the  artist,  succeeded  in 
obtaining  several  specimens,  which  had  somewhat  the  appearance  of  the  starling.  He  also 
caught  a  graceful  dove,  of  a  light  brownish  color.  A  beautiful  king-fisher  was  brought  on 
board,  which  had  been  caught  by  some  of  the  sailors  of  the  Mississippi.  Its  plumage  was 
exceedingly  rich  and  charmingly  variegated  ;  its  long  bill  was  of  a  bright  red  ;  its  wings  were 
black  ;  its  body  was  of  a  rich  blue  color,  and  its  flossy  neck  was  of  a  whitish  cream  tint. 

The  Susquehanna  got  under  way  at  one  o'clock  on  the  23d  of  May,  followed  by  the 
Mississippi  with  the  Supply  in  tow,  all  bound  for  Napha,  the  principal  port  of  the  Great  Lew 
Chew  island.  In  the  course  of  the  evening,  about  six  o'clock,  the  low  range  of  islands  known 
as  the  Saddles,  and  inhabited  by  a  sparse  population  of  fishermen,  was  passed,  the  ships 
directing  their  course  to  the  north  of  them,  where  there  is  an  open  channel  free  from  shoals. 
The  night  was  clear,  with  a  full  moon,  and  the  weather  was  mild  and  agreeable.  The 
Susquehanna  moved  on  at  a  moderate  rate,  keeping  about  a  mile  in  advance  of  the  Mississippi, 
while  the  Caprice,  gently  fanned  by  the  southwestern  monsoon,  managed  to  keep  also  in  sight, 
though  further  in  the  distance,  until  she  was  lost  in  the  darkness  of  the  niglit. 


150 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


It  was  fomul  that  the  Mississippi,  with  the  aid  of  topsails,  although  she  had  the  Supply  in 
tow,  rapidly  gained  upon  the  Susquehanna ;  accordingly  a  foretopsail  was  set  upon  the  latter, 
the  good  cflect  of  which  was  soon  shown,  by  her  leaving  her  competitor  so  far  astern  that  it  was 
necessary  to  wait  until  the  Mississippi  could  come  up  again.  The  Susquehanna's  engines  were 
only  worked  at  half  speed  with  the  consumption,  to  which  she  was  restricted,  of  one  ton  of  coal 
per  hour,  but  notwithstanding,  with  the  aid  of  the  regular  breeze  of  the  monsoon,  she  succeeded 
in  making  seven  and  a  half  knots  an  hour.  As  the  course  was  southerly,  the  weather  became 
every  moment  warmer,  and  the  sea  was  as  smooth  as  a  lake.  During  the  passage  the  crew  were 
regularly  called  to  quarters  and  exercised  in  all  the  usual  manoeuvres  necessary  for  preparation 
for  action,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  25th  of  May,  after  quarters,  general  orders  11  and  12  were 
read  ;  the  former  related  to  the  discipline  to  be  observed  on  board  ship  during  the  visit  to  the 
Lew  Chew  Islands,  and  the  latter  enjoined  the  necessity  of  keeping  up  the  most  friendly  relations 
with  the  Japanese  inhabitants  wherever  found,  and  also  stated  that  the  expedition  was  ordered 
to  use  all  possible  friendly  means,  and  not  to  resort  to  force  but  from  the  sternest  necessity.  In 
the  evening  the  signal  of  land  in  sight  was  made  by  the  Mississippi,  and  subsequently  was 
reported  by  tlie  man  at  the  fore-topmast  head  of  the  Susquehanna.  During  the  night  the  steamers 
were  kept  at  slow  speed,  standing  off  and  on ;  the  Supply  had  been  previously  cast  off  from  the 
Mississippi,  and  left  to  make  her  own  way  under  sail.  At  half-jjast  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  May  2Gth  the  land  was  again  made  at  a  distance  of  nearly  twenty  miles,  and  as  the  steamers 
moved  on,  it  was  distinctly  descried  as  a  long  island  elevated  gradually  from  the  sea  to  a  cliff  at 
its  northern  extremity,  and  with  a  steep  headland  at  the  south.  Beyond  the  island,  which  waa 
passed,  and  its  green  foliage  distinctly  seen,  was  other  land  to  which  the  Susquehanna  was  now 
headed,  followed  closely  by  the  Mississippi,  while  the  Supply  was  quite  out  of  sight.  Napha 
was  reached  in  the  evening,  and  entered  in  company  with  the  Saratoga,  from  Macao,  which  ship 
the  steamers  had  fallen  in  with  off  the  harbor.  It  is  due  to  Lieutenant  Bent,  an  officer  on 
board  the  Mississippi,  to  acknowledge  that  the  Commodore  availed  himself  of  that  gentleman's 
former  experiences  in  a  visit  in  the  Preble  to  pilot  the  ships  as  they  entered  Napha. 


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I 


ISLANDS     OF     LEW     CHEW. 


151 


CHATTEU  VII. 


MTMBER    AND    POSITION    OF    ISLANTJS    OP    LEW    CHEW. — THEIR    SUPPOSED    POLITICAL    RELATIONS    TO    JAPAN     AND     CHINA. — DESCRIP- 
TION    OP     THE     ISLAND      OP      GREAT     LEW    CHEW,    AS      SEEN     ON     THE      FIRST    APPROACH    TO    IT. VISIT    OF    OFFICIALS    TO    THE 

SCSQDEHANNA. VISIT      OF     DR.     BETTELHEIM. REFUSAL     OF     PRESENTS,     AND     CONSEQUENT     MORTIFICATION     OF     THE     LEW 

CHEWANS. EXPLORATION     OF     THE     ISLAND      RESOLVED      ON     BT    THE      COMMODORE. DAGUERREOTTPING    ON    SHORE. CORAL 

INSECT     AND     ITS     FORMATIONS. SECOND    VISIT    OP    THE      AUTHORITIES    OF    LEW    CHEW. REGENT    OF    THE    ISLAND    RECEIVED 

BT      THE     COMMODORE. FRIENDLY      NATURE     OF     THE     INTERVIEW. SURPRISE     OF      THE     LEW    CHEWANS     AT     SIGHT    OF    THE 

STEAM      ENGINE. COMMODORE      ANNOUNCES     TO     THEM     HIS      INTENTION     OF      RETURNING     THE     VISIT      AT      THE      PALACE      OF 

SIITI. THEIR      EVIDENT      EMBARRASSMENT      THEREAT. LEAVE      TO      GO      ON      SHORE. DESCRIPTION      OF      NAPHA      AND      ITS 

VICINITY,      BT     ONE     OF      THE     OFFICERS. EXPLORING     PARTY    SETS    OCT,    PLACED    UNDER    THE    COMMAND    OF    THE    CHAPLAIN, 

MR.    JONES. MR.    BAYARD    TAYLOR    ATTACHED    TO    IT,    WITH    ORDERS    TO    TAKE    NOTES    AND    FURNISH    A    DETAILED     REPORT    OF 

THE     JOURNEY. NEGOTIATIONS    WITH      THE      LEW    CHEW    AUTHORITIES     TO     OBTAIN     A     HOUSE     O.V     SHORE. THEIR    MANIFEST 

OPPOSITION. COMMODORE     PERSISTS      AND      SUCCEEDS. OFFICERS,    WHEN     ON     SHORE,     CONTINUALLY    WATCHED     BY     SPIES. 

CAPTAIN       BASIL       HALL's       ACCOUNT      OF     THE     LEW      CHEWANS      SOMEWHAT      EXAGGERATED. IMPRESSIONS      MADE      ON      THE 

OFFICERS      AS      TO     THE     CHARACTER     OF      THE     NATIVES. HVDROGRAPBIC      SURVEYS. BOAT    EXERCISE    OF    THE    CREWS,    AND 

DRILLING    ON    LAND    OF    THE    MARINES. 

^=^  N  Thursday,  the  26th  of  May,  the  squadron  found 

itself  quietly  anchored  in  the  harbor  of  Napha,  the 
jj^^;^  principal  port  of  the  Great  Lew  Chew  island,  and 
the  first  point  where  the  expedition  touched  on 
Japanese  territory,  if  Lew  Chew  (or,  as  the  natives 
call  it,  Doo  Choo)  be  indeed  a  dependency  of 
Japan.  The  group  of  islands  known  as  the  Lieou 
Kieou,  or  Lew  Chew,  is  said  to  be  in  number 
thirty-six,  at  considerable  distances  from  each 
other,  and  lying  between  the  islands  of  Kioosioo 
and  Formosa;  they  are  between  24°  10' and  28° 
40'  north  latitude  and  127°  and  129°  east  longi- 
tude from  Greenwich. 

It  is  a  question  yet  discussed  to  what  power  Lew  Chew  belongs.  By  some  it  is  said  to 
be  a  dependency  of  the  Prince  of  Satzuma,  of  Japan ;  others  supjiose  it  to  belong  to  Cliina. 
The  probabilities,  however,  are  all  on  the  side  of  tlic  dependence,  more  or  less  absolute,  of  Lew 
Chew  on  Jajian,  and  probably,  also^  of  some  inialified  subordination  to  China,  as  they  undoubt- 
edly send  tribute  to  that  country.  Language,  customs,  laws,  dress,  virtues,  vices,  and  com- 
mercial intercourse,  all  are  corroborative  of  such  an  opinimi.  I'.ut  ul'  (liis  more  will  be  said 
hereafter. 


152  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

The  Great  Lew  Cliew  was  seen  from  the  ships,  as  they  approached,  at  the  distance  of  more 
than  twent_v  miles,  and,  when  near  enough  to  render  objects  distinguishable,  presented  a  very 
inviting  appearance.  It  is  thus  graphically  described  by  the  pen  of  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
expedition:  * 

"The  shores  of  the  island  were  green  and  beautiful  from  the  water,  diversified  with  groves 
and  fields  of  the  freshest  verdure.  The  rain  had  brightened  the  colors  of  the  landscape,  which 
recalled  to  my  mind  the  richest  English  scenery.  The  swelling  hills,  which  rose  Immediately 
from  the  water's  edge,  increased  in  height  towards  the  centre  of  the  island,  and  were 
picturesquely  broken  by  abrupt  rocks  and  crags,  which,  rising  here  and  there^  gave  evidence  of 
volcanic  action.  Woods,  apparently  of  cedar  or  pine,  ran  along  the  crests  of  the  hills,  while 
their  slopes  were  covered  with  gardens  and  fields  of  grain.  To  the  northward,  the  hills  were 
higher,  and  the  coast  jutted  out  in  two  projecting  headlands,  showing  that  there  were  deep  bays 
or  indentations  between."  "By  three  o'clock  we  were  so  near  that  the  town  of  Napha  was 
distinctly  visible,  at  the  bottom  of  the  bay.  The  cape,  called  Abbey  Point,  projected  in  front  of 
it,  covered  with  foliage,  and  the  extremity  crowned  with  an  isolated  group  of  crags,  whose 
mossy  turrets  and  buttresses  evidently  suggested  the  name  of  the  point.  The  hills  were  dotted  in 
various  places  with  white  specks,  which  I  at  first  took  to  be  dwellings,  but  which  were  tombs  of 
limestone  rock."t 

As  the  ships  entered,  the  British  ensign  was  seen  suddenly  to  rise  on  a  flag-staff,  placed  near 
a  house,  which  was  perched  on  a  curious  overhanging  point  of  rock,  north  of  the  town ;  this 
house  was  the  residence  of  the  missionary,  Mr.  Bettelheim,  a  convert  from  Judaism,  who 
married  in  England,  and  had,  for  some  five  or  six  years,  been  resident  on  the  island,  under  the 
auspices  of  an  association  of  pious  English  gentlemen,  officers  of  the  British  navy,  very  much, 
however,  against  the  inclinations  of  the  Lew  Chewans.  On  passing  Abbey  Point,  the  mouth  of 
the  inner  harbor  became  visible,  and  within  it  was  a  number  of  large  Japanese  junks,  riding  at 

*  The  well  known  traveller,  Bayard  Taylor,  who  joined  the  Susquehanna  in  China.  The  circumstances  under  which  this 
gentleman  joined  the  expedition  are  tlius  detailed  by  the  Commodore  ; 

"On  my  arrival  at  Shangfhai  I  found  there  Mr.  Bayard  T.-iylor,  who  had  a  letter  of  introduction  to  me  from  an  esteemed 
friend  in  New  York.  He  had  been  a  long  time,  as  I  understood,  exceedingly  anxious  to  join  the  squadron,  that  he  might  visit 
Japan,  which  he  could  reach  in  no  other  way. 

"On  presenting  the  letter  referred  to,  he  at  once  made  a  request  to  accompany  me,  but  to  this  application  I  strongly  objected, 
intimating  to  him  the  determination  I  had  m.-ide  at  the  commencement  of  the  cruise  to  admit  no  civilians,  and  explaining  how 
the  few  who  were  in  the  squadron  had,  by  signing  the  shipping  articles,  subjected  themselves  to  all  the  restraints  and  penalties 
of  naval  law;  that  there  were  no  suitable  accommodations  for  him,  and  that,  should  he  join  the  expedition,  ho  would  bo 
obliged  to  suffer,  with  the  other  civilians,  many  discomforts  and  privations,  and  would  moreover  be  restricted,  under  a  general 
order  of  the  Navy  Department,  from  communicating  any  information  to  the  public  prints,  or  privately  to  his  friends;  that  all 
the  notes  or  general  observations  made  by  him  during  the  cruise  would  belong  to  the  government,  and  therefore  must  be 
deposited  with  me.  Notwithstanding  this,  however,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  all  the  difficulties  and  inconveniences  which 
would  attend  his  joining  the  squadron,  he  still  urged  his  application. 

"  Being  thus  importuned,  and  withal  very  favorably  imj)rcssed  with  his  gentlemanlike  and  unassuming  manners,  I  at  last 
reluctantly  consented,  and  lie  joined  the  mess  of  Messrs.  Heine  and  Brown,  on  board  the  Susquehanna.  During  the  short  time 
he  remained  in  the  squadron  he  gained  the  respect  and  esteem  of  all,  and,  by  his  liabits  of  observation,  aided  bv  liis  ready  pen, 
became  quite  useful  in  preparing  notes  descriptive  of  various  incidents  tiiat  transpired  during  our  first  brief  visit  to  Japan  and 
the  islands.  It  was  the  only  service  he  could  render,  and  it  was  afforded  cheerfully.  These  notes  have  been  used  in  the 
preparation  of  my  report,  and  due  credit  has,  i  trust,  been  given  to  him. 

"Some  of  the  incidents  illustrative  of  the  events  mentioned  in  my  official  communicntions  were,  vilh  jhj/  consent,  written  out 
by  Mr.  Taylor,  and  sent  home  by  him  for  publication  in  the  United  States.  These  he  has  used  in  his  late  work.  His  original 
journals  were  honorably  deposited  in  my  hands.  His  rfpor/s,  like  those  of  every  other  individual  detailed  for  the  performance 
of  aspecial  duty,  were,  of  course,  delivered  to  me,  and  became  part  of  the  official  records  of  the  expedition." 

t  Extracted  from  the  manuscript  journal  of  Mr.  Taylor,  whicli,  with  those  of  other  officers,  pursuant  to  the  orders  of  the 
Hon.  Secretary,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Commodore. 


EXPLORATION     OF     LKW     CHEW     RESOLVED     ON,  153 

anchor.  Two  persons  were  seen  watching  the  movements  of  tlic  squadron  from  the  foot  of  the 
flagstaff;  and,  through  a  telescope,  numbers  could  be  seen  leaving  the  town  under  white 
umbrellas. 

Tlie  ships  had  not  been  at  anchor  two  hours,  before,  notwitlistanding  the  rain,  a  boat  came  off 
with  two  officials.  On  reaching  the  deck,  they  made  many  profound  salutations,  and  presented 
a  folded  red  card  of  Japanese  paper,  about  a  yard  long.  The  principal  personage  wore  a  loose 
salmon-colored  robe  of  very  fine  grass  cloth,  while  the  dress  of  the  other  was  of  similar  fashion, 
but  of  a  blue  color.  On  their  heads  were  oblong  caps  of  bright  yellow;  they  had  blue  sashes 
tied  around  their  waists,  and  white  sandals  upon  their  feet.  Their  beards  were  long  and  black, 
though  thin,  and  their  ages  were,  seemingly,  some  thirty-five  or  forty  years.  They  had  the 
Japanese  cast  of  countenance,  and  in  comi3lexion  were  a  dusky  olive.  Who  they  were,  or  what 
the  purpose  of  their  visit,  was  not  immediately  known,  as  there  happened  to  be  no  interpreter,  at 
the  time  of  their  visit,  on  board  the  Susquehanna,  to  which  ship  they  came ;  but  one  of  the 
Commodore's  Chinese  servants  was  summoned,  who  understood  the  characters  on  their  card 
sufficiently  to  explain  that  the  visit  was  merely  a  chin-cMn,  or  complimentary  salutation  on 
arrival.  The  Commodore,  however,  acting  on  his  previously  determined  plan,  declined  seeing 
them,  or  receiving  any  other  than  one  of  the  principal  dignitaries  of  the  island;  and  they 
accordingly  returned  to  the  shore.  They  had,  no  doubt,  been  sent  to  make  observations,  and, 
-without  committal,  to  ascertain  what  they  could  of  the  strangers,  that  the  policy  and  treatment 
of  the  authorities  of  the  island  might  be  shaped  according  to  circumstances. 

Scarcely  had  they  gone  before  Dr.  Bettelheim  came  on  board  in  a  native  boat ;  and  such  were 
the  relations  in  which  he  stood  to  the  islanders  that  he  hailed  the  arrival  of  the  squadron  with 
delight,  and  manifested  no  little  excitement  of  manner.  He  was  conducted  to  the  Commodore's 
cabin,  where  he  remained  for  two  or  three  hours  ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  interview  it  appeared 
that  he  had  never  heard  even  of  the  intended  American  expedition ;  that  a  year  and  a  half  had 
elapsed  since  any  foreign  vessel  had  been  at  Napha,  and  that  he  was  almost  beside  himself  with 
joy.  Grog  and  biscuit  were  given  to  his  boatmen,  and  in  their  exhilaration,  when  they  started 
for  the  shore,  they  contrived  to  carry  the  missionary  some  three  miles  up  the  coast. 

The  next  day,  the  27th,  the  shores  looked,  if  possible,  more  brilliantly  green  and  beautiful 
than  ever,  and  all  on  board  were  struck  with  the  loveliness  of  their  appearance.  About  seven 
o'clock,  four  boats  came  off,  bringing  presents  for  the  ship ;  in  one  of  these  were  the  two  visitors 
of  the  day  before,  who  brought  another  card,  seemingly  a  list  of  the  presents.  He  of  the  sal- 
mon-colored robe  had  given  his  name,  on  his  first  visit,  as  Whang-cha-cMng ;  probably  the  Lew 
Chew  pronunciation  of  Whang-ta-zhin,  or  "his  excellency.  Whang."  The  presents  brought 
consisted  of  a  bullock,  several  pigs,  a  white  goat,  some  fowls,  vegetables,  and  eggs.  These  were 
peremptorily  refused,  nor  were  those  who  brought  them  permitted  to  come  on  board.  After 
waiting  a  short  time,  they  returned  to  the  town,  with  an  evident  expression  of  anxiety  and 
uneasiness  on  their  countenances.  At  this  time  it  was  observed  in  the  squadron  that  several  of 
the  junks  put  out  from  the  inner  harbor  and  sailed  to  the  northward,  as  it  was  conjectured,  for 
Japan.  Some  of  them  passed  quite  near  to  the  ships,  to  gratify  their  curiosity  by  a  closer 
inspection  of  such  large  vessels.  The  junks  were  somewhat  like  those  of  the  Chinese,  and,  like 
them,  had  two  great  eyes  inserted  in  the  bows,  as  if  to  see  the  way.  Undoubtedly,  the  presence 
of  the  squadron  had  created  great  alarm  among  the  junks;  for  no  force,  luilf  as  large,  had  ever 
20  J 


154  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

been  Bccn  at  Napha  licfore,  and  probably  some  of  the  junks  had  been  dispatched  to  Japan  with 
the  news  of  the  sqtiadron's  a])pcarance  at  Lew  Chew. 

A  boat  was  sent  olf  for  Dr.  Bettellicini,  and  ho,  with  the  Rev.  :\rr.  Jones,  chaplain  of  tlie 
Mississippi,  and  Mr.  Wells  Williams,  the  interpreter,  breakfasted  with  the  Commodore.  An 
exploration  of  the  island  was  resolved  on  by  the  chief.  It  was  to  consist  of  three  parties,  two 
by  sea,  and  one  into  the  interior.  The  former  were  to  survey,  respectively,  the  eastern  and 
western  coasts ;  the  latter  to  make  a  thorough  examination  of  the  interior,  and  to  collect  speci- 
mens of  its  animals,  minerals,  and  vegetables.  The  Commodore  also  resolved  to  procure  a  house 
on  shore,  and  gave  notice  to  Mr.  Brown,  the  artist  in  charge  of  the  daguerreotype  apparatus, 
that  he  must  prepare  his  materials,  occupy  the  building,  and  commence  the  practice  of  his  art. 

On  the  2Tth,  the  Commodore  gave  permission  to  the  masters'  mates  to  take  the  gig  and  pull 
about  in  the  harbor,  with  a  prohibition,  however,  of  landing  or  communicating  witli  the  natives. 
Mr.  Bayard  Taylor  was  of  the  party,  and  we  prefer  to  give  our  narrative  in  his  own  words,  per- 
fectly satisfied  that  we  shall  thus  most  gratify  the  reader.* 

"The  crew  were  Chinamen,  wholly  ignorant  of  the  use  of  oars,  and  our  trip  would  have  been 
of  little  avail,  had  not  the  sea  been  perfectly  calm.  With  a  little  trouble  we  succeeded  in  making 
them  keep  stroke,  and  made  for  the  coral  reef  which  separates  the  northern  from  the  oar-chan- 
nel. The  tide  was  nearly  oiit,  and  the  water  was  very  shoal  on  all  the  approaches  to  the  reef. 
We  found,  however,  a  narrow  channel,  winding  between  the  groves  of  mimic  foliage,  and  landed 
on  the  spongy  rock,  which  rose  about  a  foot  above  the  water.  Here  the  little  pools  which  seamed 
the  surface  were  alive  with  crabs,  snails^  star-fish,  sea-prickles,  and  numbers  of  small  fish  of  the 
intensest  blue  color.  We  found  several  handsome  shells  clinging  to  the  coral,  but  all  our  efforts 
to  secure  one  of  the  fish  failed.  The  tide  was  ebbing  so  fast  that  we  were  obliged  to  return  for 
fear  of  groimding  the  boat.  We  hung  for  some  time  over  the  coral  banks,  enraptured  with  the 
beautiful  forms  and  colors  exhibited  by  this  wonderful  vegetation  of  the  sea.  The  coral  grew  in 
rounded  banks,  with  clear,  deep  spaces  of  water  between,  resembling,  in  miniature,  ranges  of 
hills  covered  with  autumnal  forests.  The  loveliest  tints  of  blue,  violet,  pale  green,  yellow,  and 
white  gleamed  through  the  waves,  and  all  the  varied  forms  of  vegetable  life  were  grouped 
together,  along  the  edges  of  cliffs  and  precipices,  hanging  over  the  chasms  worn  by  currents 
below.  Through  those  paths,  and  between  the  stems  of  the  coral  groves,  the  blue  fish  shot 
hither  and  thither,  like  arrows  of  the  purest  lapis-lazuli ;  and  others  of  a  dazzling  emerald  color, 
with  tails  and  fins  tipped  with  gold,  eluded  our  chase  like  the  green  bird  in  the  Arabian  story. 
Far  down  below,  in  the  dusky  depth  of  the  waters,  we  saw,  now  and  then,  some  large  brown 
fish,  hovering  stealthily  about  the  entrances  to  the  coral  groves,  as  if  lying  in  wait  for  their 
bright  little  inhabitants.  The  water  was  so  clear  that  the  eye  was  deceived  as  to  its  depth,  and 
we  seemed,  now  to  rest  on  tlie  branching  tops  of  some  climbing  forest,  now  to  hang  suspended 
as  in  mid-air,  between  the  crests  of  two  opposing  ones.  Of  .all  the  wonders  of  the  sea  which 
have  furnished  food  for  poetry  and  fable  this  was  assuredly  the  most  beautiful." 

"We  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  number  of  fine  specimens  of  coral.  The  tips  of  the  branches 
were  soft  and  glutinous,  and  the  odor  exhaling  from  them  was  exceedingly  ofi'ensive." 

•It  is  due  to  Mr.  Taylor  here  to  state  that  we  draw  the  principal  part  of  the  story  of  the  first  visit  to  Lew  Chew  from  his 
journal,  and  arc  glad  often  to  adopt  his  language,  as  we  can  frame  none  better.  Commodore  Perry  lias  desired  that  we  should 
do  80.  His  own  journal  is  less  full  in  some  particulars  of  this  part  of  llie  voyage,  because  he  relied  on  Air.  Taylor's,  ^which  he 
knew  would  be  accurate  and  careful,)  to  amplify  toprcs  on  which  he  made  but  brief  notes.  The  Commodore  has  particularly 
dirrrtnd  this  slaloment  to  be  made  that,  justice  may  be  done  to  Mr.  Taylor  for  the  Kcrvicrs  he  rendered. 


VISIT     OF     THE     LKW     CHKW     DIGNITARIES     ON     BOARD.  155 

On  the  30th,  it  was  rumoiod  on  hoard  tliat  some  of  the  principal  authorities  on  shore  intended 
on  that  day  to  visit  tlie  Susqnehannah.  Mr.  Williams,  the  interpreter,  came  on  board  and 
took  up  permanently  his  quarters  in  the  ship,  and  a  boat  was  dispatched  for  Dr.  Bettclhcim, 
to  he  present  on  the  occasion. 

On  the  preceding  day,  Lieutenant  Contee  and  Mr.  Williams  went  on  shore  to  pay  a  visit  to 
the  then  supposed  governor  of  Napha,  since  asertained  to  be  the  mayor.  They  were  received 
in  a  very  polite  and  friendly  manner  ;  though  the  mayor  expressed  his  deep  sense  of  mortifica- 
tion that  his  presents  had  been  refused.  Lieutenant  Contee  explained  that  it  was  the  uniform 
practice  of  our  government  not  to  accept  such  presents  for  her  ships,  and  that  (in  consequence 
of  our  custom)  the  offering  of  them  not  unfrequently  subjected  the  commander  and  officers  to 
mortification,  as  their  refusal  seemed  like  an  ungrateful  return  for  offered  courtesy  ;  and  that  in 
this  case  no  disrespect  was  intended. 

About  one  o'clock,  a  very  ordinary  native  barge,  containing  the  Lew  Ciiew  dignitaries,  came 
alongside.  The  marines  were  in  uniform,  and  every  preparation  had  been  made  on  board  to 
show  them  respect  and  produce  impressive  effect.  One  of  the  inferior  officers  came  first  up  the 
gangway  with  the  card  of  his  superior,  which  Mr.  Williams,  the  interpreter,  received  and  read; 
the  officer  then  returned,  and  the  regent  of  the  kingdom  of  Lew  Chew,  a  venerable  old  man,  in 
a  few  minutes  appeared,  supported  by  two  of  his  officers.  Captains  Buchanan  and  Adams 
received  him  at  the  gangway,  and  were  saluted  by  the  regent  after  the  fashion  of  his  country. 
His  hands  were  joined  upon  his  breast,  while  his  body  and  knees  were  bent  very  profoundly,  and 
his  head  was  slightly  turned  away  from  tlie  person  he  addressed.  The  prince,  it  was  said,  was 
a  lad  of  eleven  years  okl,  and  was  represented  to  be  ill.  The  old  gentleman  acted  as  regent  for 
him.  Six  or  eight  other  ofiicers  and  some  dozen  subordinates  followed  the  regent  to  the  deck. 
A  salute  of  three  guns  was  then  fired,  which  so  startled  some  of  the  Lew  Chew  officers  that  they 
dropped  upon  their  knees. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  in  the  visitors  was  their  general  imperturbable  gravity.  It 
was  indeed  plain  that  they  had  intense  curiosity,  not  unmingled  with  considerable  alarm  ;  but 
they  were  careful  to  preserve  the  most  dignified  demeanor.  They  were  conducted  to  the 
captain's  cabin,  and  thence  shown  over  the  ship.  They  observed  every  thing  with  great  gravity; 
but  when  they  reached  the  ponderous  engine,  their  assumed  indifference  was  fairly  overcome, 
and  it  was  evident  that  they  were  conscious  of  having  encountered  in  it  something  very  flir 
beyond  their  comprehension.  They  were  much  quicker  of  perception,  however,  than  the  Chinese, 
as  well  as  more  agreeable  in  features,  and  much  more  neat  and  tidy  in  apparel. 

Up  to  this  time  they  had  not  seen  the  Commodore.  He  had  remained  secluded  in  solitary 
dignity,  in  his  own  cabin.  It  was  not  meet  that  he  should  be  made  too  common  to  the  eyes  of 
the  vulgar.  All  this,  of  course,  was  mere  matter  of  policy  for  the  time  being,  as  the  Commodore 
was  no  very  unusual  sight  to  the  officers  anl  men  of  the  squadron.  The  visitors  were,  however, 
informed  that  they  were  now  to  he  conducted  into  his  presence,  and  were  accordingly  taken  to 
his  cabin.  Just  as  the  regent  reached  the  head  of  the  steps  the  band  struck  up  a  lively  air  ; 
but  the  dignified  old  man  passed  on  without  even  casting  an  eye  on  the  musicians.  To  him  it 
was  doubtless  a  solemn  occasion.  The  Commodore  received  and  entertained  his  guests  most 
hand.somely,  and  during  the  interview  of  an  liour  and  a  half  between  himself  and  the  regent, 
assurances  of  amity  and  good  will  were  exchanged  between  the  parties.  On  the  retirement  of 
the  regent  he  was  escorted  with  great  respect  to  the  ship's  side,  and  on  his  departure  received 
honors  similar  to  those  that  had  been  tendered  on  his  arrival. 


156  EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN. 

Among  other  matters  that  occurred  at  the  meeting  between  the  regent  and  the  Commodore, 
the  latter  informed  his  guest  that  he  shouUl  do  himself  the  honor  to  return  his  visit,  at  the  palace, 
in  the  city  of  Siieudi  or  Shui,  on  the  following  Monday  week,  (June  Gth.)  This  informa- 
tion caused  some  consultation  and  discussion  between  the  regent  and  his  counsellors  ;  but  the 
Commodore  put  an  end  to  it  by  stating  that  he  had  fully  made  a  determination  to  go  to  the 
palace  on  that  day,  and  should  surely  execute  it.  He  further  added  that  he  should  expect  such  a 
reception  as  became  his  rank  and  position  as  commander  of  the  squadron  and  diplomatic  repre- 
sentative of  the  United  States  in  those  regions  ;  and  with  a  distinct  understanding,  if  not  acqui- 
escence, on  the  part  of  the  regent,  to  this  effect,  he  took  his  departure. 

One  result  of  the  visit  was  very  agreeable  to  the  oflicers,  for  permission  was  immediately 
given  them  to  go  on  shore,  accompanied  with  a  request  that  they  would  in  no  case  intrude  tliem- 
selves  where  their  presence  might  seem  to  be  disagreeable  to  the  natives.  They  very  soon 
availed  themselves  of  the  privilege,  and  a  party  (of  which  Mr.  Taylor  was  one)  landed  at  the 
foot  of  the  rock  upon  which  Dr.  Bettelheim  had  erected  his  flagstaff.  They  found  the  shore  to 
be  coral  rock  covered  with  a  dense  and  luxurious  vegetation  ;  and  about  the  distance  of  twenty 
yards  from  flood  tide  mark,  the  gardens  of  the  natives  commenced,  divided  from  each  other  by 
coral  walls  and  bristling  hedges  of  yucca  and  cactus.  Mr.  Taylor  thus  describes  this  his  first 
landing  on  Lew  Chew :  "Several  groups  of  Lew  Chewans  watched  our  landing,  but  slowly 
retired  as  we  approached  them.  The  more  respectable,  distinguished  by  the  silver  pins  in 
their  hair,  made  to  us  profound  salutations.  The  lower  classes  wore  a  single  garment  of  brown 
cotton  or  grass-cloth,  and  the  children  were  entirely  naked.  Even  in  the  humblest  dwellings 
there  was  an  air  of  great  neatness  and  order.  Most  of  them  were  enclosed  within  high  cdral 
walls,  in  the  midst  of  a  small  plot  of  garden  land,  some  of  which  contained  thriving  patches  of 
tobacco,  maize,  and  sweet  potatoes. 

"  Threading  the  winding  lanes  of  the  suburb  for  a  short  distance,  we  came  into  the  broad  paved 
road  which  leads  from  Napha  to  Sheudi.  It  is  an  admirable  thoroughfare,  almost  equal  to  the 
macadamized  roads  of  England.  The  walls  on  either  hand  of  coral  rock  are  jointed  together 
with  great  precision.  No  mortar  is  used  in  their  construction,  but  the  stones  are  so  well  fitted, 
(very  much  in  the  manner  of  the  cj'clopean  walls  of  Italy,)  that  the  whole  appears,  at  a  little 
distance,  to  be  one  mass.  We  here  came  upon  parties  from  the  Mississippi  and  Saratoga.  The 
natives  collected  in  crowds  to  see  us  pass,  falling  back  as  wo  approached,  and  closing  behind  us. 
They  were  under  the  authority  of  several  persons,  who  had  evidently  received  a  special  appoint- 
ment to  watch  us.  Among  them  were  many  fine,  venerable  figures — old  men  with  flowing 
beards  and  aspects  of  great  dignity  and  serenity  ;  but  no  sooner  were  any  of  these  addressed  tlian 
they  retreated  with  great  haste.  The  houses  were  all  closed,  and  not  a  female  was  to  be  seen. 
The  roofs  were  of  red  tiles,  of  excellent  manufacture,  and  this,  with  the  dark-green  foliage  of 
the  trees  which  studded  the  city,  the  walls  topped  with  cactus,  and  the  occasional  appearance 
of  a  palm  or  banana,  reminded  me  of  the  towns  in  Sicily. 

"As  we  entered  the  thickly  inhabited  portion  of  Napha,  the  road  passed  over  the  foot  of  a  low 
hill,  by  regularly  graded  steps,  and  then  descended  to  the  inner  harbor,  where  the  Japanese 
junks  lay  at  anchor.  From  this  harbor  a  creek,  or  estuary,  almost  dry  at  low  water,  extends 
eastward  into  the  island.  The  market-place  is  in  this  portion  of  the  town.  It  was  deserted, 
like  the  streets,  except  by  the  inhabitants  of  two  or  three  large  tents,  which  were  closed,  except 
a  uarruw  aperture.     On  our  asking  (by  signs)  for  water,  the  people  went  to  these  tents  and 


APPEARANCE     OF     KAPHA. 


157 


procured  some  in  a.  square  wooden  ladle,  exactly  similar  to  those  used  by  the  Turcomans,  in  Asia 
Minor.  I  did  not  go  down  to  look  at  the  Japanese  junks,  but,  with  some  others,  followed  the 
course  of  the  creek.  Two  of  the  police  officers — as  we  took  them  to  he — stuck  to  us,  and  when- 
ever we  paused  motioned  to  us  to  take  the  road  which  would  have  led  us  back  to  the  beach. 


L«w  Chew  Peasant. 


F(ir  tills  very  reason  I  was  desirous  of  proceeding  further.  All  of  the  town  which  we  had  seen 
was  completely  closed,  the  shops  shut,  and  the  stalls  of  vendors  of  small  wares,  in  the  streets, 
deserted  with  such  haste,  in  some  instances,  tliat  the  articles  remained  exposed.  We  walked  for 
about  half  a  mile  up  the  creek,  and  finally  reached  another  road  which  appeared  to  be  one  of  the 
principal  thoroughfares.  Tlie  appearance  of  the  interior  of  the  island  was  exceedingly  beautiful. 
The  land  rose  in  bold  hills,  crowned  with  groves,  of  a  variet)'  of  pine  which  was  new  to  me, 
resembling  the  cedar  of  Lebanon  in  its  j)hysiognomy.  The  sides  of  the  liills  were  covered  with 
fields  of  brilliant  green,  spotted,  liere  and  there,  by  the  wliitc-washed  sepulclires  of  former  gene- 


158  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN, 

rations.  In  the  vegetation  there  was  a  mixture  of  the  growths  of  tropical  and  temperate 
climates,  and  in  no  part  of  the  world  have  I  seen  a  greater  richness  or  variety.  A  stone  hridgc, 
of  rough  hut  suhstantial  workmanship,  crosses  the  creek  near  its  head.  I  noticed  several  of  the 
natives  riding  over  it  into  the  country,  on  the  Lew  Chew  ponies — shaggy,  little  animals,  pro- 
hahly  descended  from  the  Chinese  stock. 

"We  strolled  into  a  temple,  from  the  walls  of  which  several  persons,  probably  females^  had 
been  watching  us.  Tliey  disappeared  with  great  rapidity  as  we  entered  the  door.  The  court- 
yard of  the  temple  was  shaded  with  fine  trees,  but  we  discovered  nothing  of  interest  except  two 
long,  narrow  boats,  of  the  kind  called  'centipede'  at  Hong  Kong,  designed  for  public  festivals. 
While  we  sat  down  upon  them  to  rest,  quite  a  crowd  of  natives  gathered  about  us,  and  soon 
became  familiar,  though  respectful  in  their  demeanour.  They  were  very  neatly  dressed  in  grass- 
cloth  robes  of  a  blue  or  salmon  color,  and  (perhaps  by  contrast  with  the  filthy  Chinese)  seemed 
to  me  the  cleanest  persons  I  had  ever  seen.  The  street  vendors  had  not  had  time  to  get  out  of 
our  way,  and  they  sat  beside  their  piles  of  coarse  cheese-cakes.  There  were  some  women  among 
them,  but  they  were  all  old  and  hideously  ugly.  The  costume  of  the  female  does  not  difi'er  from 
that  of  the  males,  but  they  are  distinguished  by  having  a  single  instead  of  a  double  hair-pin." 

On  the  30th  of  May,  the  party  ordered  to  explore  the  interior  of  the  island,  and  its  eastern 
coast,  set  out  for  the  performance  of  that  duty.  It  consisted  of  twelve  persons — four  ofiicers, 
four  of  the  crew,  and  four  Chinese  coolies.  From  the  Susquehanna  were  sent  Mr.  Taylor  and 
Mr.  Heine;  and  from  the  Mississippi  the  Kev.  Mr.  Jones,  chaplain,  and  Dr.  Lynah,  assistant 
surgeon.  The  command  of  the  expedition  was  given  to  Mr.  Jones,  who  was  directed  particularly 
to  observe  the  geology  of  the  island;  as,  if  it  contained  coal,  it  was  a  most  iinpartant  character- 
istic. Mr.  Taylor  was  ordered  to  take  notes,  and  write  out  a  detailed  account  of  the  journey. 
It  was  supposed  the  duty  would  occupy  five  or  six  days,  and  accordingly  the  expedition  was 
furnished  with  provisions  for  that  period,  and  with  a  tent.  The  men  were  armed  with  cutlasses 
and  carbines,  and  ten  rounds  of  ball  cartridges  each.  It  was  not,  however,  supjwsed  that 
there  would  be  need  of  a  resort  to  force  on  any  occasion ;  still,  it  was  deemed  prudent  to  let 
the  natives  sec  tlie  power  of  the  jmrty  to  defend  itself;  and  beside,  guns  and  amumtion  were 
required  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  birds  and  animals. 

On  this  day,  also,  the  Commodore  sent  two  of  the  officers  of  the  squadron  ashore,  with  the 
interpreter,  to  make  arrangements  with  the  authorities  for  procuring  a  house.  On  landing,  they 
proceeded  to  a  building  which  seemed  to  be  what  we  should  call,  in  the  United  States,  a  "town 
hall."  It  was  the  place,  in  the  village  of  Tumai,  where  common  strangers  were  received,  and 
contained  some  thirty  mats  on  the  floor  for  sleeping;  waiters  were  also  in  attendance  with  tea 
and  pipes.  The  purposes  to  which  the  building  is  apjdied  seemed,  however,  to  be  various.  The 
literati  meet  there  to  converse  and  interchange  opinions  ;  and  any  one  of  them  may  spend  the 
night  there  upon  any  unoccupied  mat.  Our  ofiicers,  on  reaching  this  building,  sent  for  one  of 
tlie  )>rincipal  men,  who,  after  an  hour's  delay,  made  his  a])pearance,  and  was  most  profound  in 
his  obeisance.  Tea  and  pipes  (the  never  failing  preliminary)  having  been  disjjosed  of,  the  gen- 
tlemen made  known  their  business  to  the  Japanese  official.  He  promptly  declared  that  it  would 
be  utterly  impossible  for  the  Ameriqans  to  occupy  a  house  on  shore.  But,  as  Captain  Hall,  of 
the  British  navy,  had,  after  much  delay,  at  last  obtained  a  house  on  shore,  and  our  officers  knew 
it,  they  reminded  tlie  Lew  Chewans  of  the  fact,  and  simply  told  him  that  they  must  have  a  house. 
He  was  very  ingcuioua  in  arguments  to  show  that  the  difficulties  in  the  way  were  insurmountable. 


N  A  P  n  A     OFFICIAL     H  E  V  T  C  E  S.  159 

He  ^ras  then  asked  if  some  two  or  three  of  the  Americans  "might  not  sleep  in  the  house  for  that 
night,  and  replied  that  no  American  must  sleep  in  a  house  on  shore.  Upon  being  pressed 
further  ho  socmcd  to  liccomc  soraewliat  iinpatient,  and,  rising  from  his  scat,  he  crossed  over  to  where 
the  officers  sat,  and  dispensing  with  tlic  aid  of  tlic  interpreter,  (throngli  wlioni  all  communications 
had  thus  far  been  made,)  to  the  surprise  of  our  gentlemen,  said :  "Gentlemen,  Doo  Choo  man  very- 
small,  American  man  not  very  small.  I  have  read  of  America  in  books  of  Washington — very 
good  man,  very  good.  Doo  Choo  good  friend  American.  Doo  Choo  man  give  America  all 
provision  he  wants.  American  no  can  have  house  on  shore."  These  were  nearly  his  exact 
words ;  and  the  officers  concluded  that  he  had  probably  learned  from  Dr.  Bettelheim  what  he 
knew  of  the  English  langxiage. 

Wlien  they  insisted  that  two  or  three  of  their  company  should  stay  in  tlie  house,  at  least  for 
the  night,  he  begged  permission  to  go  and  confer  with  the  mayor  of  Napha.  He  was  gone  for 
some  time,  and  probably  went  three  miles  beyond  Napha,  to  the  palace  of  Shui^  to  confer  with 
the  regent.  "Well,"  (said  one  of  the  officers,  on  his  return,)  "we  can  sleep  here  to  night?" — • 
with  a  polite  bow  and  marked  emphasis,  he  replied  "you  cannot."  But  our  officers  had  been 
ordered  to  procure  a  house,  and  resolved  to  obey ;  so  th(jj'  left  one  of  their  number  with  the  inter- 
preter to  sleep  there,  unless  they  should  be  sent  for  by  the  Commodore,  while  they  returned  to 
the  flag-shii)  to  report  what  they  had  done.  The  officer  and  interpreter  occuj^ied  two  of  the  mats 
that  night,  and  the  islanders  slept  on  the  rest.  There  was  no  forcible  taking  possession  of  a 
building,  as  some  have  represented.  Two  men  slept  in  the  town-house  for  one  night,  surrounded 
by  the  natives,  and  this  was  all  that  was  exacted  or  taken.  The  next  day  the  Commodore 
sent  a  sick  officer,  with  his  servant,  to  the  place,  and  those  who  slept  there  on  the  previous 
night  came  on  board.  * 

•  "We  have  before  us  an  original  note  from  the  regent  of  Lew  Chew,  addressed  to  the  Commodore,  with  a  translation  of  the 
same,  made  by  Mr.  Williams.  We  insert  the  latter  as  affording  a  specimen  of  the  Lew  Chew  epistolary  style,  premising  that 
to  represent  themselves  as  very  poor  and  obscure,  and  indeed  unworthy  almost  of  notice,  was  the  uniform  practice  of  the  officials 
of  the  island,  in  all  their  communications  with  our  officers.  It  seems  to  be  part  of  their  settled  policy ;  for  we  find  the  same 
humble  and  depreciatory  representations  of  themselves  pervading  their  letters  to  the  British  officers,  on  the  visit  of  the  Bishop 
of  Victoria.  The  communication  below  relates  to  the  two  subjects  of  the  Commodore's  visit  to  the  palace  at  Shui,  and  granting 
a  house  for  the  use  of  the  squadron  on  shore  ;  both  of  which  events  they  strove  hard,  by  various  artifices,  to  prevent. 

A  prepared  petition.  Shang  Ta-mu,  regent  of  Lew  Chew,  &c.,  &c.,  hereby  urgently  petitions  upon  important  matters.  On 
the  21st  day  of  the  present  montli  (tliis,  of  course,  is  a  translation  of  their  mode  of  expressing  time  into  ours)  I  received  your 
excellency's  verbal  orders  that  on  the  30lh  day  of  the  present  month,  at  10  o'clock,  you  had  concluded  to  come  to  the  capital  to 
return  your  respects.  Also,  on  the  26th  instant,  Ching  Changlieh,  the  mayor  of  Napha,  received  your  excellency's  comnnmi- 
cation  saying,  that  on  the  .30th  instant,  at  10  o'clock,  it  was  decided  to  go  up  to  Shui,  the  capital,  to  return  the  visit  of  the 
regent  at  the  palace,  and  wished  this  to  be  distinctly  stated  in  the  proper  way. 

Now,  it  is  plain  to  all  that  the  capital  and  towns  of  this  little  country  are  quite  different  from  the  provincial  capitals  of  China ; 
here  there  is  only  a  palace  for  the  king,  and  no  halls,  official  residences,  markets,  or  shops ;  and,  up  to  this  time,  no  envoy  from 
a  foreign  country  has  ever  entered  into  the  palace.  In  February,  of  last  year,  an  English  general  came  here,  bearing  a  public 
letter,  and  was  strenuous  to  enter  the  palace,  there  to  deliver  it;  the  higli  officers  repeatedly  requested  that  it  might  be  given 
them  elsewhere,  but  he  refiised,  and  forced  himself  mto  the  palace.  At  that  time,  from  tlic  joung  prince  and  queen  dowager  down 
to  the  lowest  officers  and  people,  all  were  alarmed  and  fearful,  liardly  keeping  soul  and  body  tojether  ;  and  tlie  queen  dowager 
has  been  dangerously  sick  even  to  this  day,  the  physicians  giving  her  broths  and  medicines  for  her  alarming  ailments  which  are 
not  yet  removed.  All  the  officers  in  tlie  country  are  really  troubled  and  grieved  on  this  account;  and  having  heard  that  tho 
ruler  of  your  country  is  endued  with  great  kindness  and  vast  compassion,  and  highly  prizes  humanity  and  benevolence,  they 
urgently  beg  of  your  excellency,  that  respectfully  embodying  the  humanity  and  benevolence  of  your  sovereign,  and  his  great 
love  for  men,  you  will  take  the  case  of  the  queen  dowager,  and  her  severe  indisposition,  into  your  favorable  consideration,  and 
cease  from  going  into  the  palace  to  return  thanks.  If  you  deem  it  necessary  to  make  this  compliment,  please  go  to  the  residence 
of  the  prince,  there  to  make  your  respects  in  person.  Respecting  the  matter  of  renting  a  house  for  residing,  it  has  been  stated 
by  the  mayor  of  Napha  that,  on  the  24lli  instant,  he  had  clearly  shown  forth  tlio  circumstances ;  and,  on  the  26th,  had  received 
your  excellency's  reply,  in  which  it  was  remarked — "that,  whenever  the  officers  and  men  from  the  ships  were  on  shore,  rambling 
about,  they  had  no  place  of  resort,  and  that,  as  I  hero  were  no  inns  in  tho  country,  if  they  were  overtaken  by  rain  or  li.ad  weather, 


160  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

There  was  evident  opposition  on  tlie  part  of  the  authorities,  at  first,  to  visits  on  shore  from 
the  ships.  This  was  expected,  for  the  narratives  of  all  who  had  visited  the  island  had  prepared 
the  squadron  for  this.  Notwithstanding,  however,  our  officers  did  go  on  shore  and  wander  over 
the  town  of  Kapha  and  its  suhurhs,  objects  of  no  little  interest  and  curiosity  to  the  natives, 
who  followed  them  in  crowds,  and  were  very  polite,  bowing  low  to  them  as  they  passed.  But, 
despite  all  this  courtesy,  our  officers  were  quite  sensible  that  the  eyes  of  spies  were  upon  them 
continually,  and  that  every  movement  was  watched.  The  women  and  children  were  taught  by 
these  officials  to  run  away,  as  if  aflVighted,  on  the  approach  of  the  Americans,  and,  in  short,  a 
polite  suspicion  characterized  the  intercourse  on  the  part  of  the  Lew  Chewans.  The  sick  officer, 
however,  on  shore  at  Tumai,  seemed  to  be  on  the  best  possible  terms  with  the  natives,  and  they 
certainly  were  kind.  The  inhabitants  appear  to  be  naturally  not  unamiable,  but  the  experience  of 
our  officers  does  not  altogether  sustain  the  glowing  accounts  of  the  simplicity,  friendliness  and 
contentment  of  the  people.  Either  Captain  Basil  Hall  was  mistaken,  or  the  national  traits  have 
changed  since  the  time  of  his  visit.  He  represents  them  as  without  arms,  ignorant  even  of  money, 
docile,  tractable  and  honest,  scrupulously  obedient  to  their  rulers  and  their  laws,  and,  in  fact, 
as  loving  one  another  too  well  wilfully  to  harm  or  wrong  each  other.  Many  of  the  officers  of 
the  squadron  went  to  the  island,  expecting  to  find  these  beautiful  traits  of  character  ;  but  gra- 
dually and  painfully  undeceived  in  many  particulars,  they  were  constrained  to  acknowledge  that 
human  nature  in  Lew  Chew  was  very  much  the  same  as  it  is  elsewhere. 

The  system  of  government,  of  which  secret  espionage  forms  a  distinguishing  feature,  must 
beget  in  the  inferior  classes  cunning  and  falsehood,  and  these  our  officers  certainly  found.  The 
Lew  Chewans  pretend  ignorance  of  offensive  weapons,  and  of  such  no  open  display  is  made  by 
the  people,  but  Dr.  Bettelheim  says  that  he  has  seen  fire-arms  in  their  possession,  though  they 
seek  to  conceal  them  from  strangers  ;  and  they  are  doubtless,  by  nature,  a  pacific  people.  As 
to  money,  they  know  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  very  well,  and  they  traffic  for  the  Chinese 
"cash,"  of  which  from  twelve  to  fourteen  hundred  are  equivalent  to  the  Sjjanish  dollar.  They 
are  an  eminently  shrewd  people,  and  proved  themselves  to  be  somewhat  "smart"  in  the  matter 
of  exchange,  when  the  disbursing  officers  of  the  squadron  came  to  settle  with  them  the  value  of 
the  "cash."  They  showed  no  reluctance  to  take  our  eagles  and  half-eagles,  though  Captain 
Hall  says  they  would  not,  in  his  day,  touch  the  British  gold  coins.  They  have,  on  the  whole, 
many  excellent  natural  traits,  and  their  worst  vices  are  probably  the  result,  in  a  great  measure, 
of  the  wretched  system  of  government  under  which  they  live. 

or  were  detained  so  that  they  were  unable  to  return  on  board  before  night,  there  was  no  place  to  rest  at,  unless  they  abruptly 
entered  the  houses  of  the  people;  tl.ai.,  as  the  men  on  board  ship  were  ignorant  of  the  Lew  Chewan  language,  if  they  wanted 
only  a  cup  of  water  they  could  not  get  it ;  for  these  reasons,  one  or  two  houses  were  required,  and  if  they  were  wanted  for  other 
purposes,  these  were  all  of  a  peaceable  and  friendly  nature,  but  it  was  indispcnsible  to  have  one.  The  mayor  (of  Napha)  having 
intimated  that  the  building  already  occupied  by  the  sailors  was  a  kung-kican,  or  public  hall,  if  the  olliccrs  would  designate 
another  building,  they  would  remove  to  it  according  to  their  wishes."  I  find  that  the  building  now  occupied  is  a  public  house, 
for  the  deliberations  of  officers  and  police,  and  meetings  on  public  business  ;  but  having  sought  out  a  place  which  can  be  used, 
I  find  that  the  .S/iriisr-Atcn-s:',  or  Holy  Manifesting  monastery,  for  preserving  the  anchorage  of  ships,  can  bo  obtained  for  a 
residence;  and  I  beg  that  orders  for  removal  to  this  place,  as  a  tempor.iry  residence,  may  be  given.  Then  will  the  prince  and 
authorities,  one  and  all,  be  greatly  obliged  by  this  great  kindness.  An  important  petition. 
Ilicn  fung,  3d  year,  4th  moon,  27th  day,  (June  3d,  IS.'JS.) 

This  building  might  readily  have  been  granted  on  the  first  application.  It  was,  we  believe,  the  same  used  by  the  English,  on 
Captain  Iliill's  visit.  As  to  the  young  prince,  the  reader  will  bo  surprised  to  learn  that  there  were  the  strongest  reasons  in  the 
minds  of  many  for  suspecting  him  to  bo  an  imaginary  personage.  No  one  believed  a  syllable  of  the  story  about  the  queen 
dowager's  illness;  indeed,  there  was  no  evidence  to  the  Americans  that  there  was  a  queen  dowager. 


LEW     CHEW      ME  urn  ANT. 


161 


The  officers  of  the  squadron  were,  during  the  period  of  the  visit,  most  usefully  and  diligently 
employed  in  making  hydrographic  smvcys,  and  the  results  are  all  embodied  in  the  charts  which 
form  part  of  the  records  of  the  expediticni.     Boat  exercise  in  tlio  barhor  formed  also  jtart  of  the 


^-^.^^b^^     j:^- 


Lt-w  CJiew  Mercli;iiil. 


occupation  of  the  several  crews  ;  while  the  marines  were  on  shore,  drilling  under  the  charge  of  their 
officers.  These  things  indicated  that  the  Commodore  was  determined  to  have  every  department 
in  tlie  highest  state  of  discipline,  that  he  might  be  prejiared  for  any  event. 

On  Saturday,  the  4tli  of  June,  the  part}'  that  had  been  sent  to  explore  the  interior  of  the 
island   returned  in  safety,  and  the  result  of  their  labors  will  be  found  in  the  following  chapter. 


21   r 


r»r.  Ttwlt*>lh*>ini*a  r«»!«in. 


102 


EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 


CHAPTER  Vlir. 


RKI'ORT     OF     AN     INLAND     EXPLORATION     OF     GREAT     LEW     CIIF.W,    BT     A     PARTY     FROM    THE    SQUADRON,    UNDER    THE    COMMAND    OF 

COMMODORE  PERRY. 


wmmm 


ONDAY,  the  HOtli  of  May,  says 
the  re^jort,  was  the  day  fixed 
upon  by  Commodore  Perry 
for  our  departure.  We  were 
ordered  to  cross  the  island  to 
the  eastern  shore,  folh)w  the 
line  of  coast  nortliward,  and 
return  through  the  interior, 
pushing  our  course  as  far  as 
practicable,  under  our  instructions  to  return  within  six  days.  All  the 
stores  having  been  procured,  and  packed  in  convenient  parcels, 
together  with  portfolios  and  drawing  materials,  implements  for  pre- 
paring birds,  &c.,  we  landed  about  10  o'clock,  and  proceeded  to  the  house  of  the  missionary, 
Dr.  Bettelhcim,  which  had  been  chosen  as  the  rendezvous.  The  authorities  had  not  been 
previously  informed  of  our  intention ;  and,  as  it  was  evident  that  we  should  not  be  allowed  to 
advance  liir  without  an  escort,  or  espionage  of  some  kind.  Dr.  Bcttelheini  sent  to  request  that  a 
proper  officer  should  accompany  us  as  guide.  After  waiting  about  an  hour,  and  no  person 
appearing,  we  decided  to  set  out,  believing  that  our  giiide  would  be  forthcoming  before  we  left 
the  city.  In  fact,  we  had  no  sooner  reached  the  main  street,  communicating  with  the  road  to 
Sheudi,  than  a  portly  personage,  with  a  long  white  beard,  and  two  younger  officers,  with  black 
beards  and  swarthy  complexions,  joined  us.  A  crowd  of  curious  natives  had  also  collected,  and 
followed  us  until  we  left  the  city. 

"Each  of  the  men  carried  a  haversack,  in  addition  to  his  arms,  leaving  about  120  pounds 
weight  of  baggage  to  be  divided  among  the  four  coolies.  The  men,  Terry  and  Mitchell, 
marched  in  advance,  the  former  carrying  the  flag,  while  the  other  men,  Smitli  and  Davis, 
remamed  in  the  rear  of  the  baggage;  this  order  was  preserved  during  the  whole  expedition. 
We  had  not  proceeded  half  a  mile  before  our  coolies  showed  signs  of  breaking  down  under. their 
loads,  and,  even  though  we  might  force  them  to  keep  up  for  some  time  longer,  it  was  evident 
that  we  could  not  make  much  progress  without  furtlier  help;  Mr.  Jones,  therefore,  requested 


E  X  r  L  0  K  A  T  I  0  N      OF      I.  K  W      C  H  K  W .  163 

tlic  iiortly  old  officer,  who  seemed  to  have  spceial  charge  over  us,  to  supply  us  with  four  more 
coolies,  promising  that  they  should  bo  i)aid  on  our  return.  After  waiting  half  an  hour  at  the 
northern  end  of  the  city,  four  spare  young  natives  came  up  witii  hamhoo  poles,  and  relieved  the 
Chinamen  of  half  their  load.  We  now  took  the  high  road  to  Sheudi,  passing  the  salt  creek 
which  comes  up  from  the  village  of  Tam6,  hy  a  hridge  of  one  arch;  the  crowd  turned  hack  at 
this  point,  leaving  us  about  a  dozen  followers,  ^^•ho  seemed  to  be  attendants  or  subordinates  of 
the  principal  officers. 

Ecyund  the  bridge  we  passed  over  a  meadow,  studded  with  singular  broken  rocks,  of 
secondary  limestone,  covered  witli  clumjis  of  pine  trees.  The  road  then  passed  around  the  base 
of  a  hill,  the  front  of  which  was  occupied  by  a  temple  of  massive  stone  masonry,  It  was  shaded 
with  large  trees,  resembling  in  foliage  the  Indian  fig  or  sycamore.  Paths,  over  which  the 
hedges  of  bamboo  formed  complete  arches,  ran  up  the  sides  of  the  hill.  On  our  right  were 
meadows  of  bearded  rice,  a  variety  which  Dr.  Lynah  declared  to  be  unknown  in  the  southern 
States.  The  country  now  became  o])cn  and  undulating,  and  covered  with  the  richest  vegeta- 
tion ;  not  only  was  all  the  low  land  planted  with  rice,  but  the  hills  were  in  many  places 
terraced  nearly  to  the  top,  and  the  water  carefully  conducted  from  field  to  field  by  artificial 
channels.  The  streams  were  lined  with  thick  hedges  of  banana,  and  the  knolls  which  dotted 
the  landscape  were  crowned  with  groves  of  the  Lew  Chew  pine,  a  beautiful  tree,  strongly 
resembling  the  cedar  of  Lebanon  in  its  flat  horizontal  layei-*  of  foliage;  it  is  probably  a  new 
species.  There  was  something  in  the  forms  of  the  landscape  which  reminded  me  of  the  richest 
English  scenery,  mixed  with  the  superb  vegetation  of  the  tropics.  The  views  on  each  side 
increased  in  beauty  as  we  approached  Sheudi,  the  capital  city  of  the  island,  which  is  scattered 
along  the  southwest  slope  of  a  group  of  hills.  The  houses  are  half  buried  in  foliage,  and  stretch 
over  an  extent  of  a  mile,  the  citadel,  or  residence  of  the  viceroy,  occupying  an  elevated  central 
position. 

The  day  was  dark  and  cloudy,  threatening  rain,  and  fresh  wind  blew  in  our  fixces  as  we 

climbed  the  heights.     Near  the  summit  we  passed  through  a  high  wooden  gate,  upon  which 

were  inscribed  two  Chinese  chai'acters,  signifying  "the  central  hill,"  or  "place  of  authority,") 

and  entered  the  main  street  of  the  city,  which  is  broad,  handsomely  paved,  and  lined  with  high 

walls,   behind  which,   and  the  foliage  of  their  gardens,   the  principal  dwellings  are  mostly 

concealed.     As  we  reached  the  gate,  the  flag  was  unrolled,  and  fastened  upon  the  end  of  a 

mu.sket.     A  fine  grove  of  old  trees,  witli  crooked  trunks,  gnarled  boughs,  and  thick,  dark-green 

foliage,  attracted  my  attention  on  entering.     We  had  not  proceeded  fifty  ])aces  before  the  officers 

attending  us  beckoned  to  us  to  enter  a  doorway  on  the  right  side  of  the  street.     We  made  a 

halt,   and,   leaving  men  and  coolies  outside,  went  in.     It  proved  to  be  a  Cung-qud,  or  resting 

place  for  travellers,  or  rather  for  officers  of  government,   since  in  Lew  Chew  there  are  no  other 

travellers.     The  Cung-qud  corresponds  very  nearly  to  the  Turkish  khan,  except  that,  being  used 

only  by  persons  of  some  consideration,  it  is  far  more  neat  and  elegant  in  every  respect.     The 

house  into  which  we  were  ushered  resembled  a   ])rivate  dwelling  of  the  better  class.     The 

])rincipal  apartment  was  carpeted  with  very  fine  soft  mats,  and  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  an 

open  verandah.     Adjoining  the  building  were  kitchens  and  ()>it-hou8es  for  servants,  and  in  front 

a  small  yard  ]danted  with  sago  palms  and  a  tree  resembling  the  Inocarpus.     We  were  politely 

received  by  a  gentleman  in  a  gray    robe,  who  performed  the  ko-tow  towards  us  in  the  mofit 

approved  style.     Seats  were  brought,  and  tea,  prejjared  alter  the  Cliinese  fashion,  served  in 


164  EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN. 

small  cups.  The  attendant  was  directed,  by  signs,  to  wait  first  upon  Mr.  Jones,  who  was 
tlicnccfortli  recognized  as  the  head  of  the  party.  The  former  served  us  on  his  knees,  hoth  when 
he  oflered  and  when  he  took  away  the  cups.  "We  remained  but  a  few  minutes,  and  took  our 
leave,  evidently  to  the  surprise  and  perplexity  of  our  conductors,  who  did  not  as  yet  comprehend 
our  object. 

On  leaving  Napha,  we  had  noticed  an  expression  of  doubt  and  anxiety  upon  the  faces  of  the 
natives,  and  this  rather  increased  as  we  ])roceeded.  No  remonstrance  whatever  was  made  to  us, 
but  our  movements  were  suspicioush'  scrutinized.  AVhen,  therefore,  we  left  the  Cung-qua,  and, 
instead  of  returning,  took  our  course  directly  onward  through  the  city,  the  faces  of  our  convoy 
became  clouded,  and  an  expression  of  alarm  commimicated  itself  to  those  of  the  natives  whose 
curiosity  had  attracted  them  around  us.  We  soon  reached  the  gate  of  the  citadel,  at  the  foot  ot 
the  massive  walls,  which,  rising  through  groves  of  trees,  dominate  over  the  city.  The  gate  was 
closed,  but  had  it  been  open,  we  should  not  have  presumed  to  enter.  The  northern  and  eastern 
slope  of  the  hill  is  covered  with  splendid  old  trees,  divided  by  winding,  shaded  avenues,  on  the 
sides  of  which  many  natives  were  sitting,  with  fans  in  their  hands.  The  sun,  which  shone  out 
hot  and  clear  for  an  instant,  chequered  this  rich,  park-like  scenery  with  strong  contrasts  of  light 
and  shadow,  and  down  through  the  depths  of  the  trees  illuminated  the  face  of  a  pool  of  water,  so 
completely  covered  with  the  floating  leaves  of  a  species  of  lily  as  to  appear  like  a  patch  of  green 
sward.  We  passed  around  the  IJase  of  the  citadel  to  its  eastern  side,  and,  after  some  delibera- 
tion, took  a  paved  road  which  led  through  the  suburb.s  of  the  city  in  an  E.S.E.  direction. 
Wherever  we  turned  we  could  see  scouts  running  in  advance,  and  driving  the  inhabitants  away 
from  our  path,  so  that  a  silence  and  desertion,  like  that  which  follows  pestilence,  took  place 
wherever  we  moved.  All  with  whom  we  accidentally  came  in  contact  saluted  us  politely,  but 
with  a  settled  air  of  melanclioly,  which  I  ascribed  to  the  surveillance  exercised  over  them  by  an 
unnatural  government,  rather  than  any  ill-will  towards  us. 

The  northern  side  of  Sheudi  is  a  wilderness  of  rich  vegetation.  Tlie  appearance  of  a  flourish- 
ing cocoa-palm,  now  and  then,  showed  that  the  climate  is  entirely  tropical.  The  eastern  suburb 
of  the  capital  is  composed  principally  of  bamboo  huts,  thatched  with  rice  straw.  The  inhabi- 
tants were  all  hidden  away  out  of  sight,  and  blinds  of  split  bamboo  let  down  before  the  doors. 
We  took  a  road  which  led  along  the  hills  towards  the  southeast,  and  after  issuing  from  the 
capital,  gained  a  ridge  whence  we  could  see  a  long  line  of  the  western  coast,  with  the  squadron 
riding  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  of  Napha.  From  this  point  the  interest  of  the  journey  properly 
commenced,  as  we  were  entering  upon  ground  which  no  one  before  us  had  ever  explored.  The 
limit  of  the  excursions  made  by  others  was  Sheudi,  and  very  few  succeeded  in  entering  that  capi- 
tal. We  were,  therefore,  greatly  enlivened  by  the  prospect  before  us,  and  pursued  our  way  with 
more  alacrity  than  comported  with  the  comfort  of  our  disheartened  conductors. 

About  a  mile  from  Sheudi,  the  road  turned  more  to  the  east,  and  after  passing  through  a 
dense  wood,  came  out  upon  a  hill,  whence  we  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  sea  on  the  eastern  side. 
A  temple,  apparently  erected  during  the  past  year,  (for  it  was  destitute  of  either  altar  or  god,) 
stood  in  the  shade  of  a  clump  of  pines,  and  as  it  was  now  one  o'clock  we  halted  for  refreshment. 
Some  of  the  natives  brought  water,  while  the  men  picked  up  suliieieut  dead  wood  to  boil  our 
kettle,  and  in  the  course  of  time  we  were  regaled  with  tea  and  ship's  biscuit.  We  oflered  the 
former  to  the  ofiicers,  but  they  did  not  appear  to  relish  it.  The  Lew  Chew  coolies,  however,  ate 
heartily  of  the  biscuit,  which  they  had  better  earned  than  our  vagabond  Chinese.     They  gave 


EXPLORATION     OF     LEW     CHEW.  165 

the  name  of  the  place  as  Pifio.  Mr.  Heine  took  a  sketch  of  it,  and  astonished  the  natives,  some 
forty  or  fifty  of  whom  had  collected  to  look  at  us,  hy  firing  at  a  mark  with  his  rifle.  Immediately 
after  leaving  Pino,  whence  we  started  at  3  p.  m.,  the  paved  road  ceased,  and  the  way  hecame 
deep  and  miry.  The  soil  was  a  lead-colored,  stiff  clay,  the  disintegration  of  shale  rock,  which 
here  appeared  for  the  first  time.  We  had  not  proceeded  more  than  half  a  mile  hefore  we  reached 
the  dividing  ridge  or  crest  of  the  island,  and  a  magnificent  panorama  opened  helow  us  to  the 
eastward.  The  sea-line  of  the  Pacific  formed  the  horizon,  and  a  spacious  sheet  of  water  hetween 
two  headlands  which  made  out  from  the  island  led  us  to  suppose  that  we  were  looking  upon 
Barrow's  Bay.  Between  us  and  the  sea  lay  an  amphitheatre  of  hills,  cultivated  to  their  very 
tops  and  clothed  with  the  greenest  verdure.  Tlieir  sides  were  carefully  terraced,  and  every 
advantage  taken  of  the  inclination  of  the  soil,  so  as  to  collect  the  rains  for  irrigation.  The 
cultivation  was  quite  as  patient  and  thorough  as  that  of  China.  The  picturesque  formation  of 
the  hills  gave  a  great  variety  of  outline  to  the  landscape,  which  embraced  a  compass  of  perhaps 
twenty  miles.  Towards  the  west  we  overlooked  all  the  country  we  had  passed,  as  far  as  a 
headland  in  the  northwest,  which  I  took  to  he  Cape  Broughton.  Mr.  Heine  took  a  sketch  of  the 
view,  looking  eastward,  while  I  attempted  to  take  the  western  side. 

Resuming  our  march,  we  descended  the  ridge,  which  was  about  600  feet  above  the  sea-level. 
The  clayey  path  leading  down  was  very  wet  and  slippery,  and  the  coolies  fell  and  rolled  over 
several  times  with  the  baggage.  Passing  through  gaps  between  the  lower  hills,  we  reached  a 
semi-circular  plain,  nearly  two  miles  in  breadth,  extending  around  the  head  of  the  bav.  On 
either  side  was  a  village  of  thatched  huts,  buried  in  trees.  The  scouts  had  already  been  before 
us,  and  the  natives  lay  concealed  in  their  habitations.  The  former  supposed  that  we  would  take 
a  road  leading  to  a  large  village  at  the  head  of  the  bay,  but  as  we  turned  abruptly  to  the 
northward,  we  soon  saw  them  running  across  the  fields  to  regain  the  road  ahead  of  us.  There 
were  a  number  of  villages  at  the  base  of  the  hills,  on  our  left,  but  so  thickly  studded  with  trees 
that  they  were  almost  concealed  from  view.  I  collected  a  number  of  plants,  one  of  tliem  a 
species  of  althaea,  with  a  splendid  scarlet  blossom.  The  road  which  we  took  led  throuo-h  the  rice 
fields  and  was  very  deep  and  muddy.  Wliile  stopping  to  rest  on  a  bridge  over  one  of  the  irrio-atinf 
streams,  our  old  conductor  came  up  with  his  two  assistants,  and  intimated  to  us  by  signs  that 
it  was  time  we  should  return  to  the  ships.  The  sun  would  soon  set,  they  said,  and  we  should 
have  no  place  to  sleep.  We  replied,  (also  by  signs,)  that  instead  of  returning  we  were  goin"- 
northward,  and  would  not  reach  the  ships  again  for  five  or  six  days.  They  appeared  greatly 
surprised  at  this  and  a  little  troubled,  since  it  was  part  of  their  duty  not  to  lose  sight  of 
us.  The  old  fellow,  who,  in  his  haste  to  keep  up,  had  slipped  down  in  the  muddy  road 
and  soiled  the  hinder  part  of  his  robe,  laughed  heartily  at  the  accident,  and  finally  became 
resigned  to  the  prospect  of  the  long  tramp  before  him.  They  then  pointed  to  the  west,  saying 
that  there  was  a  Cung-qua  in  that  direction,  where  we  could  spend  the  night.  Our  course, 
however,  was  nearly  northeast,  and  about  half  past  five,  having  reached  a  hill  overlooking  the 
bay,  on  the  summit  of  which  was  an  open  space  surrounded  with  young  pines,  we  determined  to 
encamp  there.  The  people  objected  to  our  cutting  down  the  trees,  and  we  made  tent  poles  by 
fastening  together  the  bamboo  staves  used  by  the  coolies.  There  was  a  village  on  tlie  .slope  of 
the  hill  below  us,  and  after  some  delay,  caused  by  the  difficulty  of  interpreting  our  wants  to  tlie 
native  officials,  we  obtained  four  fowls,  forty  eggs,  and  two  bundles  of  firewood.  One  of  our 
Chinamen,  "A-shing,"  professed  to  speak  the  Lew  Chew  language,  but  we  soon  found  him  as 


IGG 


EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 


miserably  deficient  iu  tliis  as  he  was  in  all  other  useful  qualities.  His  comrade,  however,  who 
spoke  no  English,  could  write  Chinese,  and  the  message  having  been  thus  communicated  and 
written,  was  tinally  read  hy  the  old  Pe-chiug.  The  latter  refused  to  accept  either  cash  or  didlars, 
saying  that  they  were  of  no  use  to  the  people  whatever,  hut  that  everything  we  needed  would  he 
furnished  us.  The  Chinese  suggested — probably  on  their  own  account — that  we  should  j)ay  the 
peojile  in  ship's  biscuit,  but  we  had  scarcely  enough  for  our  own  wants.  It  was  at  length 
decided  that  we  should  take  what  we  required  and  settle  for  its  value  with  the  Pe-ching  on  our 
return. 

The  people  were  tardy  in  bringing  our  firewood,  and  we  were  obliged  to  eat  our  8Uj)por  by  the 
light  of  our  camp  fire.  I  succeeded  in  getting  a  sketch  of  the  bay,  while  daylight  remained.  It. 
is  deep  and  spacious,  and  protected  by  reefs  across  the  mouth,  but,  judging  from  the  appearance 
of  the  water,  too  shallow  to  be  made  available  for  naval  purposes.  A  large  village  lies  at  its 
head,  and  several  fishing  junks  were  at  anchor  before  it.  At  night  tlic  plain  sparkled  witii 
lights,  some  of  them  moving  to  and  fro — probably  lanterns  carried  by  persons  passing  from  one 
village  to  another.     The  officers  determined  to  remain  with  us  at  all  hazards,  and  at  their 


Kxpluit-r.-i. — 1-'  1^   \  hi  iv.  — .Nijjhl  Camp. 

command  the  people  brought  up  bamboo  poles  and  matting,  out  of  which  they  erected  a  tempo- 
rary structure  beside  our  tent.  They  were  perfectly  good-humored  iii'tlicir  dcmeaiKir,  and 
subiTiittcd  with  great  patience  to  what  they  could  not  avoid.  Before  going  to  sleep  we  arranged 
four  watclies  of  two  hours  each,  from  9  p.  m.  until  5  a.  m.,  and  the  subordinate  native  policemen 
kindled  a  fire  and  kept  a  counter-watch.     We  were  all  somewhat  fatigued  with  our  first  march 


E  X  P  L  O  n  A  T  T  O  N      OF      LEW      CHEW.  1 G7 

of  ten  miles,  but  the  mosquitoes  were  so  terril)ly  annoying  that  few  of  us  slept  more  than  half  an 
hour  during  the  whole  night. 

We  rose  at  dawn,  and  found  the  natives  already  stirring.  The  morning  gave  promise  of  fair 
weather.  The  Pe-ching  and  his  associates  came  up  and  saluted  us  gravely  as  soon  as  we  arose. 
It  required  about  two  hours  to  cook  and  eat  breakfast,  strike  the  tent,  and  pack  the  baggage  for 
carrying.  When  we  were  all  ready  we  found  eight  native  coolies  on  hand,  those  whom  we  took 
from  Napha  having  returned  the  evening  previous.  Leaving  Camp  Perry  (as  we  named  the 
spot)  we  took  a  path  leading  up  a  steep  hill  to  the  north.  Winding  around  its  brow,  we 
descended  into  a  valley,  surrounded  by  abrupt,  scarped  hills.  A  stream  flowing  at  the  bottom 
of  a  deep  gully,  overhung  with  large  banana  trees,  made  its  way  out  of  this  broad  cul-de-sac 
towards  the  sea.  We  crossed  the  valley  on  the  ridges  of  swampy  grass,  between  the  flooded 
rice-fields,  and  climbed  a  long  and  toilsome  ridge,  bj^wet,  slipjiery  jiaths,  leading  up  through 
copses  of  young  pine.  We  had  now  gained  the  spinal  ridge  of  the  island,  and  turned  north- 
westward, over  alternate  hills  and  meadows,  along  its  summit.  The  wood  was  principally  pine, 
but  I  observed  several  new  varieties  of  shrubs,  not  in  flower.  Now  and  then  we  passed  the  liuts 
of  the  natives,  generally  in  clusters  of  two  and  three,  T)ut  even  in  this  secluded  region  notice  of 
our  coming  had  reached  them,  and  the  inhabitants  were  hidden.  I  looked  into  some,  and  found 
the  interiors  to  consist  of  a  single  room,  smoke-blackened,  and  furnished  with  the  rudest  utensils. 
Two  of  them  had  a  grating  of  bamboo,  raised,  like  a  floor,  about  six  inches  above  the  ground, 
and  the  thick  mats  which  serve  the  Lew  Chewans  as  beds  were  spread  upon  this. 

Mr.  Jones  left  the  camp  before  us,  and  we  had  not  yet  found  him.  Coming  to  a  deep,  wooded 
gorge,  with  a  stream  flowing  westward,  we  discovered  that  our  true  course  lay  further  to  the 
east,  and  retraced  our  steps  through  the  pine  woods,  and  over  upland  rice-meadows  to  an  open, 
grassy  height,  whence  we  saw  Mr.  Jones,  surrounded  by  a  group  of  natives,  about  half  a  mile 
-to  the  south  of  us.  In  a  short  time  we  again  reached  the  summit  ridge,  overlooking  the  bay, 
and  enjoyed  the  view  of  a  superb  landscai^e.  The  dividing  ridge  of  the  island,  as  we  had  already 
noticed,  is  nearest  the  eastern  shore,  to  which  the  descent  is  much  more  abrupt  than  on  the 
western.  The  cultivation  on  this  side  is  also  more  thorough,  and  the  crops  more  luxuriant. 
The  knees  of  the  mountains  below  us  were  feathered  with  beautiful  groves  of  the  Lew  Chew  pine, 
intermingled  with  terraced  fields  of  grain  and  vegetables,  while  the  jflain  below,  through  its 
whole  sweep  of  fifteen  miles,  was  brown  with  its  harvest  of  rice.  We  counted  a  dozen  villages, 
some  of  them  of  considerable  size,  dotting  its  expanse.  To  the  northward  extended  a  long  head- 
land, far  beyond  what  we  had  supposed  to  be  the  extremity  of  the  bay,  and  projecting  from  the 
island  in  a  southeasterly  direction.  It  was  now  plain  that  we  had  not  yet  reached  Barrow's 
Bay,  of  which  this  headland  formed  the  southern  boundary.  While  halting  to  rest  our  coolies, 
in  the  shade  of  a  clump  of  pines,  Mr.  Heine  shot  a  raven,  with  a  beak  mucli  broader  than  the 
Euro])ean  species.  Tliere  was  a  very  large  tonib,  of  a  shape  nearly  circular,  on  the  northern 
side  of  the  ridge.  About  two  miles  further,  the  road  swerving  a  little  to  the  west,  we  came  upou 
a  singular  rock,  rising  high  out  of  a  forest  of  pines.  Tiie  summit,  which  was  very  sharp  and 
jagged,  was  seventy  or  eighty  feet  above  the  crest  of  the  ridge,  and  being  composed  of  secondary 
limestone,  honeycombed  by  the  weather,  it  was  an  exceedingly  striking  and  picturesque  object. 
While  Mr.  Heine  stopped  to  sketch  it,  and  Mr.  Jones  to  examine  its  geology,  I  climbed  to  the 
summit,  which  was  so  shari)  as  to  inake  it  a  most  uneasy  seat.  Finding  that  it  was  the  highest 
])eak  in  that  part  of  the  island,  conunanding  a  view  which  embraced  a  considerable  reach  of  both 


168 


EXPEDITION     TO     J  AT  AN. 


sliores,  I  ordered  the  flag  to  be  brought,  and  unfurled  it  from  the  top  of  the  rock,  while  tlie  men 
fired  a  salute  from  the  base  and  hailed  it  with  three  hearty  cheers.  We  bestowed  upon  it  the 
name  of  "Banner  Rock."     The  natives  looked  on,  iinable  how  to  understand  our  proceedings, 


Banner  Uock. 

but  not  in  the  least  troubled  by  them.  A  little  to  the  north  of  where  we  were  the  island 
narrowed  suddenly,  between  the  head  of  the  eastern  bay  and  a  deep  bight,  which  makes  in  on 
the  western  side,  between  Cape  Broughton  and  the  headland  bounding  Port  Melville  on  the 
west.  I  judged  its  breadth,  at  this  point,  to  be  about  four  miles,  in  a  straight  lino.  To  the 
southwest  I  could  see  the  position  of  Sheudi,  eight  or  ten  miles  distant.  Tlie  landscape  was 
rich  and  varied,  all  the  hills  being  coated  with  groves  of  pine.  We  found  on  the  rock  tlie 
"Wax  plant"  of  our  greenhouses,  in  full  bloom,  the  splendid  scarlet  Alflum,  and  a  variety  of 
the  3falva,  with  a  large  yellow  Idossom. 

Continuing  our  march  along  the  summit  ridge,  we  came  gradually  upon  a  wilder  and  more 
broken  region.  Huge  fragments  of  the  same  dark  limestone  rock  overhung  our  patli,  or  hiy 
tumbled  along  the  slopes  below  us,  as  if  luirled  tliere  by  some  violent  natural  convulsion.  As 
the  hill  curved  eastward,  we  saw  on  its  southern  side  a  series  of  immense  square  masses, 
separated  by  deep  fissures,  reacliing  down  the  side  nearly  to  its  base.  Tliey  were  ajijiarcntly 
fifty  feet  higli,  ami  at  least  a  liundred  feet  .square,  and  tlieir  tops  were  covered  witli  a  thick 
growth  of  trees  and  shrubbery.  In  the  absence  of  any  traces  of  volcanic  action,  it  is  difficult  to 
conceive  how  these  detached  masses  were  distributed  with  such  regularity,  and  carried  to  sucli  a 
distance  from  their  original  place.     The  eastern  frr)nt  of  the  crags  under  wliicli  we  passed  was 


EXPLORATION      OF      LEW      CHEW 


169 


studded  with  tombs,  some  of  them  built  against  tlie  rock  and  whitewashed,  like  the  tombs  of 
the  present  inhabitants,  but  others  excavated  within  it,  and  evidently  of  great  age.     Looking 


Tombs  in  Lew  Chew. 


down  upon  the  bay  it  was  easy  to  see  that  the  greater  part  of  it  was  shallow,  and  in  some  places 
the  little  fishing  junks  could  not  approach  within  half  a  mile  of  the  shore.  The  rice-fields  were 
brought  square  down  to  the  water's  edge,  which  was  banked  up  to  prevent  the  tide  from  over- 
flowing them,  and  I  noticed  many  triangular  stone  dykes,  stretching  some  distance  into  the 
water,  and  no  doubt  intended  as  weirs  for  fish. 

In  less  than  an  hour  after  leaving  Banner  Rock  we  were  surprised  by  tlie  discovery  of  an 
ancient  fortress,  occupying  a  commanding  position  upon  the  summit  of  one  of  the  spurs  of  the 
central  ridge.  Its  outline  was  irregular,  but  with  a  general  direction  frcun  northeast  to  south- 
west; and  while  some  parts  of  it  were  in  perfect  preservation,  other  portions  were  overgrown 
with  vines  and  shrubbery,  and  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  the  natural  rock  upon  which  it 
was  based.  Passing  through  an  arched  gateway,  the  road  led  to  a  terrace,  overgrown  with  trees, 
upon  which  stood  a  structure  of  masonry  resembling  a  cenotaph.  A  flight  of  stone  steps  con- 
ducted us  to  another  gateway,  after  passing  which,  and  a  spacious  ve.stibule,  we  entered  the 
interior  of  the  fortress.  The  space  was  occupied  by  a  luxuriant  grove  of  trees,  and  at  the  further 
end  was  a  private  dwelling  of  respectable  appearance.  Our  Pe-cliing  was  already  there,  and 
the  master  (whom  our  Chinese  coolies  designated  the  "Japanese  Consul")  respectfully  invited 
us  to  enter.  The  day  was  oppressively  hot,  and  we  found  two  or  three  cups  of  Lew  Chew  tea  an 
agreeable  refreshment.  Returning  to  the  terrace,  at  the  base  of  the  outer  wall,  we  halted  in  the 
22  J 


IVO 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


shade  to  allow  the  men  their  mid-day  rest  and  meal.  A  flight  of  steep  steps,  cut  in  the  rock, 
led  downward  on  the  northern  side  to  a  grotto  under  the  foundation  of  the  castle,  at  the  bottom 
of  which  was  a  pool  of  cold,  sweet  water.  The  place  was  completely  overhung  by  dense  foliage, 
and  inaccessible  to  the  beams  of  the  sun. 

While  our  meal  was  preparing,  Mr.  Jones  traced  out  a  rough  plan  of  the  fortress,  and  the 
men  took  measurements.     The  following  are  its  dimensions,  ascertained  with  tolerable  accuracy : 


Ground-Plan  of   Nagagusko. 

Length      --------------  235  paces. 

Breadth     --------------  70     " 

Thickness  of  walls  at  bottom      -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -6  to  12" 

Thickness  of  walls  at  top             --_.-..---  12  feet. 

Greatest  height  of  outer  wall,  measuring  along  the  slope    -        -        -        -        -  66     " 

Height  of  wall,  from  inside        -        -        -         -         -        -         -         -         -         -  12" 

Angle  of  outer  wall            .-.-.------  60 


EXPLORATION      OF     LEW      CHEW. 


171 


The  material  was  limestone,  and  the  masonry  of  admirable  construction.  The  stones,  some 
of  which  were  cubes  of  four  feet  square,  were  so  carefully  hewn  and  jointed  that  the  absence  of 
any  mortar  or  cement  did  not  seem  to  impair  the  durability  of  the  work.  There  were  two 
remarkable  points  about  the  work.     The  arches  were  double,  the  lower  course  being  formed  of 


Nagagusko — Interior. 


two  stones  hewn  into  almost  a  parabolic  curve,  and  meeting  in  the  centre,  over  which  was  the 
regular  Egyptian  arch,  with  its  key-stone,  as  represented  in  the  annexed  outline.  No.  1. 


The  other  peculiarity  was,  that  in  place  of  bastions, 
there  were  square  projections  of  masonry,  presenting  a 
concave  front,  (No.  2,)  which  would  catch  and  concen- 
trate the  force  of  a  cannon  ball,  rather  than  ward  it 
off.  But  this  fortress  must  have  been  erected  many 
centuries  before  the  use  of  fire-arms  of  any  kind  could 
have  been  known  to  the  Lew  Chewans.  Our  Chinese 
pretended  to  give  the  name  of  the  place  as  Ching-King, 
which  are  Chinese  words,  signifying  the  chief  or  capital 
citadel. 


feo^ 


Jfiz 


} 


172 


EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN*. 


We  resumed  our  march  at  half  past  one  o'clock.  The  old  Pe-ching,  "Chang- Yuen,"  who 
bad  become  a  little  fatigued  by  this  time,  took  a  ka-goo,  or  Lew  Chew  chair,  and  followed  in 
our  rear,  leaving  the  particular  charge  of  us  to  his  subordinates.  The  scouts  were  sent  ahead, 
as  usual,  for  our  path  descended  again  to  the  populous  plain  at  the  base  of  the  hills.  We 
already  perceived  indications  of  a  fixed  system  in  the  espionage  to  wliich  we  were  subjected. 


Ruins  of  Nagjigusko — North. 

Chang-Yuen  and  his  two  secondary  officers  were  deputed  to  accompany  us  during  the  whole 
journey,  while  their  dozen  or  more  attendants  and  helpers  were  changed  as  we  passed  from  one 
district  of  the  i.sland  into  another.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  vigilance  with  which  they  watched 
us.  We  might  separate  into  as  many  divisions  as  there  were  men,  and  yet  each  of  us  would  still 
retain  his  native  convoy.  We  could  neither  tire  them  down,  nor  run  away  from  them.  When, 
by  chance,  we  suddenly  changed  our  course,  we  still  found  them  before  us.  And  though  this 
was  the  result  of  a  jealous  and  exclusive  system,  yet  they  managed  to  give  it  the  appearance  of 
being  done  through  respect  for  us. 

I  was  curious  to  obtain  some  information  regarding  the  domestic  life  of  the  natives,  and 
frequently  entered  their  huts  unawares,  in  the  hope  of  finding  them  at  their  avocations  within. 
In  most  cases  I  found  the  huts  deserted,  but  in  some  others  caught  the  merest  glimpses  of  Lew  Chew 
life,  in  its  more  humble  aspects.  Near  the  castle,  while  our  convoy  was  passing  around  a  village, 
I  slipped  into  one  of  the  alleys  and  entered  a  bamboo  enclosure,  within  which  were  five  neat 
dwellings.  The  mats  were  let  down  before  the  doors,  but  the  people  were  all  hidden  behind 
screens  and  in  lofts  under  the  thatch,  for  on  looking  in    I  found  no  one  but  a   child  and  an  old 


EXPLORATIONOFLEWCHEW.  17 

man,  who  immediately  knelt  down  and  knocked  his  forehead  on  the  floor  before  me.  In  another 
hut,  in  a  village  on  the  plain,  I  found  an  old  woman  and  a  girl  of  about  twelve  years  of  age, 
both  of  whom  fell  on  their  knees,  and  held  up  their  hands  with  an  expression  which  was  at  once 
imploring  and  reverential.  A  few  words  of  friendly  greeting,  though  in  English,  encouraged 
them,  and  I  should  no  doubt  have  been  able  to  inspect  the  interior  of  the  hut,  had  not  one  of 
the  spies  come  up  at  that  moment  and  driven  them  away. 

In  the  rich  rice  plains  to  which  we  descended  we  found  sugar-cane  for  the  first  time,  sorghum, 
or  millet,  and  three  varieties  of  tlie  grain  known  in  the  United  States  as  "  broom-coi-n."  The 
road  struck  out  into  the  swampy  rice  fields,  and  we  made  for  a  green  headland  covered  with 
pines.  A  village,  almost  completely  buried  in  bowers  and  arcades  of  bamboo,  lay  at  its  foot. 
As  we  were  about  entering,  we  came  upon  two  curious  stones  planted  in  the  earth.  The  largest 
was  about  four  feet  high,  and  from  its  peculiar  form  struck  me  at  once  as  a  lingam,  or  emblem 
of  the  Phallic  worship.  The  same  idea  occurred  to  Mr.  Heine,  who  made  a  sketch  of  it.  It  was 
a  very  hard,  dark-colored  stone,  resembling  porphyry,  and  the  only  thing  we  could  learn  from 
the  natives  respecting  it  was,  that  they  called  it  "  ishee."  There  is  no  trace  of  this  feature  of 
the  Hindoo  religion  existing  either  in  Japan,  China,  or  Lew  Chew.  The  discovery  of  this 
stone,  if  it  should  prove  to  be  a  Phallic  emblem,  is  therefore  exceedingly  curious.  In  the  course 
of  the  afternoon  we  found  two  more,  one  of  which  was  prostrate  and  broken.  In  conjunction 
with  these  remains,  the  face  of  the  hill  behind,  for  a  distance  of  two  miles,  is  almost  entirely 
covered  with  excavated  tombs,  resembling  the  simpler  forms  of  the  rock  tombs  of  Egypt  and 
Syria.  Our  native  conductors,  when  interrogated  respecting  them,  called  them  "  the  houses  of 
the  devil's  men,"  and  seemed  amused  at  our  taking  notice  of  them.  This  fact,  in  a  country 
where  ancestral  tombs  are  considered  sacred,  as  among  the  Chinese,  seems  to  point  to  the 
existence  of  another  race  on  the  island,  in  ancient  times — a  race  who  may  have  received  the 
worship  of  the  Lingam  from  Java,  or  other  islands  where  memorials  of  it  exist. 

After  an  unavailing  attemjit  to  shoot  a  couple  of  herons  in  a  rice  field,  we  kept  a  course  nearly 
due  north,  passing  through  several  beautiful  villages.  The  houses  were  surrounded  with 
banana  trees,  and  the  alleys  completely  overarched  with  bamboo.  In  one  of  the  houses  I  found 
a  woman  weaving  grass-cloth,  in  a  loom  of  primitive  construction.  She  ceased  from  work  as  I 
approached  the  door,  but  commenced  again,  in  obedience  to  my  gestures.  The  shuttle  was  a 
little  longer  than  the  breadth  of  the  stufl",  and  thrown  by  hand.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill  Dr. 
Lynah  found  a  piece  of  lignite,  which  resembles  coal,  but  is  unfortunately  no  indication  of  its 
presence.  We  had  a  long  and  toilsome  ascent  up  a  barren  hill  which  brought  us  again  upon  a 
cultivated  upland.  There  were  three  or  four  catde  grazing  here,  the  first  we  had  noticed  since 
leaving  Napha.  We  saw  a  horse  now  and  then,  but  this  animal  aj)peared  to  be  scarce.  The 
dividing  ridge  between  the  bays  was  about  three  miles  in  advance,  and  though  the  afternoon 
was  nigh  spent,  and  the  whole  party  was  considerably  fatigued,  we  determined  to  get  sight  of 
Barrow's  Bay  before  encamping.  At  last  we  reached  a  large  village  on  the  western  slope  of  the 
ridge.  It  was  surrounded  with  plantations  of  banana,  and  a  tall  pine  grove  towered  over  it. 
Through  a  deep  road  gate,  cut  in  the  crest  of  the  hill,  a  fine  picture  of  Barrow's  Bay  and  the 
mountains  beyond  presented  itself  to  our  view.  The  southern  shore  of  the  bay  was  about  three 
miles  distant,  and  a  singular  range  of  rocks,  rising  in  detached  square  masses  like  the  walls  and 
towers  of  a  ruined  city,  intervened.  The  landscape  was  more  richly  wooded  than  those  on  the 
southern  bay,  and  the  outlines  of  the  hills  were  rounder  and  more  gently  undulating.     We 


174  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

seemed  to  have  reached  a  region  of  a  diiferent  geological  character.  We  were  about  to  pitch 
our  tent  at  this  place,  when  the  native  officers  gave  us  to  understand  that  there  was  a  Cung-qiid 
a  short  distance  further,  and  urged  us  so  strongly  to  go  on  that  we  shouldered  our  muskets  and 
haversacks  and  started  again.  But  we  had  a  rough  tramp  of  nearly  three  miles  further,  and 
finally  came,  with  bruised  feet  and  aching  shoulders,  upon  the  last  descent  to  Barrow's  Bay. 
Picturesque  crags  studded  the  hillside,  and  a  large  village,  completely  covered  with  thickets  of 
banana  and  bamboo,  lay  before  us.  Over  it  towered  a  tall  crag,  rent  through  the  centre  and 
surmounted  with  a  square  rock,  like  a  ruined  tower.  We  threaded  the  village  by  shaded  alleys, 
and  at  the  further  end,  on  a  spot  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  bay,  found  a  handsome  Cung-qud, 
in  an  enclosure  planted  with  trees.  A  dignitary  of  some  kind  welcomed  us,  and  we  were  at 
once  served  with  small  cups  of  excellent  tea.  The  soft,  thick  mats,  the  shelter  and  comfort  of 
the  building,  were  well  worth  the  fatigue  of  our  forced  march.  Fresh  water  in  earthen  jars, 
with  a  square  wooden  ladle  floating  on  the  top,  stood  ready  for  us,  and  there  was  a  kitchen  in 
the  rear  where  our  men  could  cook  conveniently.  The  Pe-ching  came  in  after  sunset  and  greeted 
us  with  much  cordiality.  Eggs  and  fowls  were  immediately  furnished,  and,  as  at  our  former 
camp,  all  payment  was  refused.  The  utmost  curiosity  appeared  to  prevail  in  the  village 
respecting  us,  and,  as  it  grew  dark,  the  circle  of  heads  peering  over  the  wall  enclosing  the 
Cung-qua  increased  rapidly,  till  there  could  not  have  been  less  than  two  or  three  hundred.  Fires 
were  kindled  all  around  us,  and  the  ruddy  glow  thrown  up  by  them  and  by  the  torches  carried 
back  and  forth  flickered  brilliantly  over  the  dusky  foliage  of  the  trees. 

A  watch  was  set  as  before,  and  the  mosquitoes  being  less  annoying  we  all  enjoyed  a  tolerable 
rest.  The  Chinamen  were,  or  feigned  to  be,  completely  spent,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
day  the  baggage  had  been  carried  by  Lew  Chew  coolies.  The  patience,  good  humor,  and 
endurance  of  the  latter,  quite  put  to  shame  the  worthless  and  deceitful  creatures  whom  we  had 
been  indiscreet  enough  to  bring  with  us.  The  natives  kept  their  counter-watch,  and  on  rising 
before  sunrise  the  next  morning,  we  found  that  fifty  or  sixty  of  them  had  passed  the  night  at 
their  camp  fires.  The  object  of  the  officers  in  having  a  watch  kept  seemed  to  be  both  to  prevent 
any  of  us  from  stealing  a  march  upon  them  during  the  night,  and  to  hinder  any  of  the  natives 
from  annoying  us. 

Mr.  Jones  made  application  for  a  boat  to  carry  us  across  the  bay,  but  there  was  none  to  be 
had.  The  name  of  the  village  to  which  the  Cung-qua  belonged  was  "Missikya."  We  set  our 
little  file  in  motion  and  proceeded,  by  a  pleasant  path,  over  level  land,  a  mile  or  two  inland. 
The  cultivation  was  thorough,  but  confined  mostly  to  beans  and  sweet  potatoes.  The  villages 
were  so  hidden  away  behind  their  alleys  of  tall,  arched  bamboo  that  the  police  scouts  had  little 
need  to  precede  us.  A  native  guide  ran  ahead  ;  but  as  he  constantly  took  the  left-hand  road, 
leading  into  the  middle  of  the  island,  evidently  with  a  view  of  conducting  us  back  to  Sheudi,  we 
finally  lialted  at  the  foot  of  an  isolated  hill,  covered  with  wood,  and  held  a  consultation.  The 
wild  mountain-range  north  of  Barrow's  Bay  now  appeared  on  our  right,  and  it  was  plain  that 
our  course  was  leading  us  away  from  the  head  of  the  bay,  which  we  desired  to  reach.  We, 
therefore,  turned,  in  spite  of  the  protestations  of  the  guide  and  the  native  officers,  and  passed 
around  the  eastern  brow  of  the  hill,  whereon  we  found  two  grottoes  of  soft  limestone  rock.  The 
scenery  here  was  a  charming  mixture  of  pine  forest  and  cultivated  field  ;  and  both  in  its  features 
and  its  prevailing  hue  of  dark-green  resembled  the  landscapes  of  soutliern  Germany. 

In  the  bottom  of  the  valley  was  a  stream  lined  with  bristling  ranks  of  the  pandanus,  or  false 


EXPLORATION     OF     LEW     CHEW.  175 

pine  apple.  We  were  obliged  to  pull  off  our  Loots  and  wade.  We  here  found  a  shrub  with 
small  white  blossoms  and  bright-green  milky  leaves  ;  another  with  yellow  berries  of  a  powerful 
aromatic  taste  ;  and  a  liliaceous  plant,  with  a  racine  of  flowers  resembling  those  of  the  snap- 
dragon, but  white  in  hue,  with  a  fringed  lip  of  the  richest  orange.  At  one  of  the  villages  on 
the  plain  I  noticed  the  plum  and  the  orange,  and  a  new  variety  of  the  banyan,  with  very  small 
glossy  leaves.  Beyond  the  stream  we  struck  into  fragrant  pine  woods,  and  finally  into  a  dense 
forest,  where  the  path  was  still  wet  and  slippery  from  the  rains,  and  the  branches,  meeting 
overhead,  made  a  perpetual  shade.  There  were  few  flowers,  and  still  fewer  birds,  in  this 
wilderness.  In  fact,  the  scarcity  of  birds  all  over  the  island,  considering  that  they  are  not 
destroyed  by  the  natives,  is  rather  singular.  The  day  was  very  clear  and  hot,  and  the  trees, 
while  they  shaded  us,  quite  shut  off  the  sea  breeze.  The  foliage  was  almost  tropical,  consisting 
of  dense  glossy-leaved  shrubs  and  luxuriant  ferns,  overtopped  by  woods  of  pine.  Smaller  paths 
branched  off  here  and  there  to  the  distant  huts  of  the  woodmen.  After  ascending  for  more  than 
two  miles,  we  crossed  a  ridge  and  the  path  became  gradually  more  open,  exposing  a  view  to  the 
west,  over  high  hills,  covered  entirely  with  copsewood  and  patches  of  pine  forest.  The  country 
resembled  the  wild  lands  of  America.  There  were  swamps  in  the  hollows,  and  we  began  to 
look  out  for  the  wild  boars  which  are  said  to  exist  in  this  part  of  the  island.  Catching  another 
view  to  the  eastward,  we  found  ourselves  near  the  head  of  Barrow's  Bay,  and  after  a  half  hour's 
halt,  to  rest  the  coolies,  set  out  again.  Our  official  escort  came  up  during  the  halt,  much 
fatigued,  but  as  cordial  and  good  humored  as  ever.  Indeed,  considering  that  all  their  trouble  and 
fatigue  were  caused  by  ourselves,  we  had  every  reason  to  admire  the  unshaken  patience  with 
which  they  submitted  to  our  apparently  wayward  course. 

Crossing  another  hill,  we  passed  down  broad,  well-trodden  paths,  shaded  by  magnificent 
arches  of  foliage,  through  a  neat  village.  The  houses  were  larger  than  usual,  and  there  was  an 
aspect  of  greater  wealth.  Among  the  trees  was  one  fifteen  feet  high,  covered  with  cream-colored 
blossoms,  which  exhaled  the  fragrance  of  nutmeg.  An  avenue  of  pines  led  ,down  from  this 
lovely  spot  to  a  narrow  plain  at  the  head  of  Barrow's  Bay.  The  rice  growing  in  these  parts 
was  very  scanty  and  not  yet  in  head.  A  large  village,  buried  in  trees,  extended  for  half  a  mile 
inland  from  the  sea  shore.  We  took  a  path  leading  down  to  the  beach  ;  but  Mr.  Jones,  who 
was  in  advance,  entered  the  village,  where  he  was  very  courteously  received  and  twice  presented 
with  tea  and  pipes.  The  exhibition  of  his  watch^  and  a  pocket  microscope,  excited  the 
unbounded  wonder  of  the  natives.     The  village  was  named  "Isitza." 

We  forded  a  salt  creek  and  pitched  our  noonday  camp  on  a  piny  knoll,  at  the  foot  of  the  hills. 
As  Mr.  Jones  had  not  arrived,  we  fastened  our  flag  to  the  top  of  a  tree  and  fired  signals.  I 
took  a  bath  in  the  sea,  with  the  men,  while  our  kettle  was  boiling.  The  water  was  excessively 
saline,  and  the  fine  white  particles  of  salt  covered  my  face  like  dust  as  it  became  dry.  At  thi.s 
point  Mr.  Jones  found  a  stratum  of  gneiss,  for  the  first  time,  at  the  water's  edge.  Our  native 
friends  drank  three  cups  of  our  tea  and  asked  for  some  biscuits,  which  they  seemed  to  relish. 
Before  starting  again  we  had  a  talk  with  them  about  the  route.  We  wished  to  reach  a  point  on 
the  coast  north  of  Barrow's  Bay,  marked  as  "Kaneja"  on  our  copy  of  the  Japanese  chart  of 
Lew  Chew.  The  officers  did  not  seem  to  recognize  any  such  place,  though  they  spoke  of 
"Kannah,"  where  there  was  a  Cung-qua,  30  li,  or  ten  miles  distant,  and  we  decided  to  reach 
it,  if  possible. 

We  left  at  half-past  one,  taking  one  of  the  natives  as  a  guide.     Tlie  path  fulluwud  llio  line  ot 


176  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

the  bay,  and  vre  walked,  for  two  hours,  in  deep  sand  and  crushed  shells,  around  curve  and  head- 
laud.  It  was  very  toilsome  work,  especially  as  the  glare  of  the  sand  struck  directly  in  our 
faces.  The  beach  was  narrow  and  bordered  with  thick  hedges  of  the  pandanus,  the  fruit  of 
which  resembles  that  of  the  pine  apple.  The  mountains  on  our  left  were  wild  and  uncultivated. 
There  were  occasional  paths  striking  up  their  sides  ;  but,  although  the  compass  told  us  that  the 
shore-path  led  us  out  of  our  true  course,  the  guide  refused  to  take  any  of  them.  At  the  end  of 
two  hours  we  reached  a  large  village,  where  the  guide,  who  had  followed  us  from  "Isitza," 
levied  a  substitute  and  turned  back.  A  two-masted  junk,  of  thirty  or  forty  tons  burden,  lay  at 
anchor  in  a  cove  near  this  place.  We  were  now  approaching  the  northern  extremity  of  Barrow's 
Bay,  and  had  a  full  view  of  the  long  headland  south  of  it,  and  the  four  islands  which  lie,  like  a 
breakwater,  across  its  mouth.  The  bay  appeared  to  be  extremely  shallow,  except  near  the 
entrance  ;  and  I  doubt  whether  it  would  be  of  much  value,  as  a  harbor,  for  shipping  of  large  size. 
The  path,  finally,  turned  off  to  the  north,  up  a  steep  hill,  which  brought  us  upon  a  rolling 
upland,  covered  with  abundance  of  wood.  The  mountains  we  had  passed  exhibited  an  outline 
similar  to  the  Catskills,  and  there  was  nothing  in  the  scenery  to  remind  us  of  the  vicinity  of  the 
tropics.  We  presently  entered  a  fine,  broad  avenue  of  pines,  at  the  extremity  of  which  appeared 
a  handsome  house,  with  a  tiled  roof.  Our  native  conductors  passed  on  into  some  bamboo  arches, 
which  denoted  a  village  beyond  ;  but  I  slipped  suddenly  into  the  open  entrance  and  found  a 
spacious  house  in  the  midst  of  a  garden,  with  a  small  Buddhist  temple  beside  it.  Quick  as  my 
motions  had  been,  the  mats  were  already  let  down  before  all  the  doors,  and  nobody  was  to  be 
seen.  Before  the  house  was  a  plant  about  ten  feet  high^  with  large  scarlet  panicles  of  flowers. 
I  had  barely  time  to  break  oif  a  cluster  when  one  of  our  officers  came  hurrying  up  and  urged 
me,  by  signs  and  words,  to  leave,  saying  that  the  Bunyo,  or  Governor,  as  he  designated  Mr. 
Jones,  had  gone  on.  I,  therefore,  followed  him  through  the  village  to  a  Cung-qua,  which  was 
larger  and  finer  than  any  we  had  yet  seen.  It  was  like  an  elegant  private  residence;  having  a 
garden,  enclosed  by  a  square,  clipped  hedge  of  jessamine,  and  a  separate  establishment  for 
servants  and  attendants.  There  were  rows  of  chrysanthemums  (a  flower  much  esteemed  by  the 
Japanese)  and  two  peach  trees  in  the  garden,  besides  a  stout  camellia,  clipped  into  a  fanciful 
shape.  We  installed  ourselves  in  the  chief  apartment,  on  the  soft  matting,  while  the  Pe-ching 
and  his  train  took  the  other  building.  The  only  supplies  we  could  procure  were  raw  salt  fish  and 
sweet  potatoes,  with  some  roots  of  a  native  onion,  pickled  in  salt.  Neither  fowls  nor  eggs  could 
be  found.  The  natives  gave  the  name  of  the  village  as  "Ching,"  which,  being  a  Chinese  word, 
is  evidently  incorrect ;  but  we  could  get  no  other.  The  jiajier  screens  between  the  rooms  were 
removed  on  our  arrival,  tea  was  brought  in,  and  the  natives  busied  themselves  to  make  us  com- 
fortable; but  the  same  unrelaxing  espionage,  as  at  "Missikya,"  was  kept  up  through  the  whole 
night.  Again  camp-fires  were  kindled  and  guards  posted  around  us,  while  crowds  of  curious 
natives  peeped  from  behind  the  bushes  and  walls  to  gratify  their  desire  of  seeing  us.  Mr. 
Heine,  who  had  the  first  watch,  went  out  to  the  camp  fire,  showed  the  people  his  watcli,  and 
other  curiosities,  and  soon  had  a  large  crowd  of  villagers  gathered  about  him  ;  but  one  of  the 
officers  making  his  appearance,  a  single  word  of  command  scattered  them  in  all  directions,  and 
they  did  not  return  again.  In  the  evening  I  off'ered  a  handful  of  cash  to  one  of  the  boys  who 
had  accompanied  us  from  Napha.  He  refused  it  very  earnestly,  as  tbere  were  two  other  boys 
standing  near  ;  but,  watching  an  opportunity,  when  he  was  alone,  I  oftered  it  again,  when  he 
immediately  accepted  it,  with  gestures  expressive  of  his  thanks. 


EXPLORATION     OF     LEW     CHEW.  177 

The  Pe-cliing,  who  had  fallen  in  the  rear,  came  up  after  dark,  and  immediately  sought  us,  to 
make  his  salutations.  We  found  that  he  and  his  associates  had  been  keeping  a  journal  of  our 
proceedings,  and  had  already  filled  a  roll  of  paj^er  several  yards  in  lengtli  with  their  remarks. 
We  had  but  few  mo.squitoes,  and  slept  so  well  that  I  had  some  difhculty  in  rising  for  the 
mid-watch.  After  much  search,  two  tough  old  hens  were  found  for  our  breakfast,  which  we 
ate  under  the  scrutiny  of  an  hundred  eyes,  continually  peering  at  us  over  walls,  or  popping  out 
from  behind  bushes.  Whenever  we  noticed  any  of  them  the  heads  disappeared,  but  they 
returned  again  as  soon  as  our  gaze  was  removed. 

We  were  now  commencing  our  fourth  day,  and  it  was  time  to  think  of  turning  back  shortly. 
After  some  consultation,  it  was  determined  to  follow  the  coast  for  a  short  distance  further,  then 
strike  across  the  island  in  the  direction  of  Port  Melville,  and  reach  in  the  evening  a  point  on 
the  western  shore  corresponding  to  the  latitude  of  our  present  camp.  On  starting,  the  native 
officers  were  very  urgent  in  requesting  us  to  take  a  road  leading  westward.  We  kept,  however, 
a  course  nearly  due  north,  and  soon  reached  a  hill,  whence  there  was  an  excellent  view  of  the 
country  on  all  sides.  The  northern  headland  of  Barrow's  Bay  lay  behind  us.  The  general 
direction  of  the  coast  in  advance  was  N.E.,  stretching  away  to  a  distant  promontory.  A  spinal 
ridge  of  mountains,  covered  with  a  wilderness  of  forests,  ran  parallel  with  the  coast,  leaving  a 
narrow  strip  of  cultivated  land  next  the  sea.  A  column  of  smoke  ascended  from  one  of  the 
northern  peaks,  which  we  judged  (and  rightly,  as  it  afterwards  proved)  to  be  a  fire  in  the 
woods. 

Mr.  Jones  decided  to  make  for  a  gorge  between  two  peaks,  about  six  miles  distant,  and 
rather  to  the  east  of  north.  We  crossed  a  deep  valley,  with  a  salt  creek  at  its  bottom,  and, 
after  following  the  coast  for  some  time,  took  a  road  which,  after  ascending  a  long  barren  ridge, 
plunged  into  the  woods.  The  further  we  advanced,  the  more  dense  became  the  wilderness. 
The  only  persons  we  met  were  woodmen,  whom  we  saw  occasionally  felling  trees  with  their 
rude  axes.  The  path  was  narrow,  wet,  and  slippery,  and  for  two  or  three  miles  a  continual 
ascent.  At  length  we  reached  a  conical  peak  covered  with  trees.  The  ascent  was  very  difficult, 
and  I  halted  with  the  coolies  at  the  base,  while  Mr.  Jones,  Dr.  Lynah,  and  Mr.  Heine,  went  up 
to  obtain  a  view.  By  climbing  the  trees  and  cutting  away  some  of  the  limbs,  they  opened 
space  for  a  grand  central  panorama  of  the  island,  which  Mr.  Heine  set  about  sketching  from  the 
tree-top.  The  path,  which  by  this  time  had  dwindled  almost  out  of  sight,  passed  directly  over 
the  summit.  We  found  the  ascent  like  a  staircase,  and  were  obliged  to  use  hands  and  feet  to 
reach  the  top.  The  Lew  Chew  coolies  who  carried  our  baggage  made  their  way  up  with  great 
difficulty.  As  we  were  all  suffering  from  thirst,  I  started  in  advance,  with  the  seaman  Mitchell, 
the  Chinamen,  and  the  coolies.  The  path,  which  was  now  a  faint  woodman's  trail,  did  not 
appear  to  have  been  travelled  for  months.  It  was  shut  in  by  a  species  of  small  bamboo,  so 
dense  as  almost  to  exclude  light,  and  a  large,  red,  hairy  spider  had  woven  innumerable  webs 
across  it.  Now  ascending,  now  descending,  we  pushed  ourselves  or  crept  through  the  almost 
impervious  copse  wood,  for  nearly  two  miles,  till  the  path  became  more  open,  and  a  ])artial 
look-out  to  the  westward  showed  us  the  China  sea.  On  the  side  of  the  nearest  peak  to  the 
northward,  we  distinctly  saw  the  woods  on  fire  and  a  bare  space  of  about  ten  acres  studded  with 
charred  trunks.  The  descent  was  very  slippery,  but  becoming  more  and  more  open,  I  at  length 
recognized  our  position.  We  were  approaching  the  head  of  the  deep  bight  south  of  Port 
Melville,  and  separated  from  it  by  an  arm  of  the  island,  which  stretches  out  to  the  northwest, 
23  J 


178 


EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 


at  right  angles  to  tlic  main  hodj.  The  curious  peaked  island  called  the  "Sugar  Loaf,"  off  the 
point  of  this  promontory,  was  in  view  before  us.  The  western  slope  of  the  island  at  this  point 
is  covered  almost  entirely  with  forests,  the  cultivation  being  confined  to  the  bottoms  of  valleys 
and  ravines  opening  upon  the  sea. 

The  path  led  across  the  top  of  a  narroM'  ledge  about  a  yard  wide,  with  chasms  more  than  a 
hundred  feet  deep  on  each  side,  and  then  dropped  to  the  bottom  of  the  glen,  where  we  found  a 
stream  of  deliciously  cool  and  sweet  water.  We  all  drank  to  excess,  and  then  climbed  a  little 
ridge  beyond,  where  the  air  blew  fresh,  and  sat  down  to  await  the  rest  of  the  party.  Mr. 
Jones  found  granite  of  fine  quality  in  the  ravine,  and  we  afterwards  met  with  another  broad 
stratum  in  a  rocky  gateway  further  below.  Our  only  path  made  for  a  village  on  the  shore, 
whither  we  repaired  for  our  mid-day  halt.  The  houses  were  lined  with  luxuriant  bananas,  in 
blossom,  and  the  lanes  between  them  hedged  with  the  glossy  inocarpiis,  forming  walls  of  foliage 
twenty  feet  in  height,  outside  of  which  were  neat  wicker  fences  of  split  bamboo.  Near  the 
village  were  three  structures  raised  ui^on  timber  frames,   and  covered  with   thatched   roofs 


Valley  and  Uice  Houses. 

They  appeared  to  be  storehouses,  elevated  in  this  manner  to  preserve  the  grain  from  the 
moisture  of  the  earth.  Beneath  them  were  wooden  platforms,  offering  us  shade  and  convenience 
for  our  halt.  The  people  brought  us  sweet  potatoes,  a  small  pan  of  salt  fish,  and  a  pumpkin, 
which  was  all  they  could  supply.  Even  these  were  refused  us  until  the  arrival  of  the  Pe-ching^ 
to  wlid.se  authority  all  the  others  deferred.     Tlie  rapidity  of  our  inarch  had  left  him  in  the  rear, 


EXPLORATION      OF      LEW     CHEW.  1V9 

but  he  came  up  after  an  hour,  and  set  himself  to  work  with  great  good  humor  to  supply  our 
wants.  In  order  to  shield  themselves  from  the  heat  of  the  sun,  some  of  his  attendants  had  tied 
banana  leaves  around  their  heads,  and  they  all  complained  of  fatigue. 

We  left  Ny-komma,  as  the  village  was  called,  about  half  past  two.  At  this,  the  most 
northern  point  we  reached,  we  could  not  have  been  more  than  eight  or  nine  miles  distant  from 
Port  Melville.  The  intervening  land  was  low,  and  another  day  would  have  enabled  us  to 
reach  the  head  of  that  harbor.  The  native  officials  explained  to  us  by  signs,  and  by  tracing 
lines  on  the  sand,  that  the  road  to  Sheudi  lay  along  the  beach,  and  that  there  was  a  Cung-qua 
about  20  U  distant.  We  tramped  along  sandy  beaches  and  over  stony  headlands,  following  the 
general  course  of  the  shore,  and  never  diverging  far  from  it.  The  bay,  or  bight,  marked  with 
numerous  abrupt  indentations,  presented  some  fine  bold  outlines  of  shore.  Off  the  many 
inferior  promontories  lay  rocky  islets,  covered  with  rich  vegetation.  The  wooded  mountains  on 
our  left  were  the  same  which  we  had  skirted  the  day  previous  on  the  northern  side  of  Barrow's 
Bay.  The  lower  slopes  on  this  side  were  partially  cultivated,  but  the  principal  thoroughfare  of 
the  island,  which  we  were  following,  kept  near  the  sea,  and  often  ran  for  half  a  mile  through 
deep  sand  and  shells.  The  scenery  was  extremely  picturesque,  reminding  me  of  the  coast  of 
Sicily.  Inside  of  the  Sugar  Loaf  we  espied  two  small  boats,  with  lug-sails  of  white  canvass, 
which  the  men  declared  were  our  ship's  boats;  but  this  has  since  proved  to  be  a  mistake. 

Notwithstanding  the  sultry  heat  of  the  afternoon,  the  Lew  Chew  coolies  kept  pace  with  us, 
under  their  heavy  loads,  while  our  lazy  and  complaining  Chinamen  lagged  behind.  These 
coolies  were  mostly  boys,  from  twelve  to  sixteen  years  of  age.  I  noticed  as  a  curious  fact  that, 
in  spite  of  the  heavy  loads  they  carried,  and  the  rough  by-ways  we  frequently  obliged  them  to 
take,  they  never  perspired  in  the  least,  nor  partook  of  a  drop  of  water,  even  in  the  greatest 
heat.  They  were  models  of  cheerfulness,  alacrity,  and  endurance,  always  in  readiness,  and 
never,  by  look  or  word,  evincing  the  least  dissatisfaction.  Our  official  conductors  drank  but 
two  or  three  times  of  water  during  the  whole  journey.  Tea  appears  to  be  the  universal 
beverage  of  refreshment.  It  was  always  brought  to  us  whenever  we  halted,  and  frequently 
offered  to  Mr.  Jones,  as  the  head  of  the  party,  in  passing  through  villages.  Once,  at  an 
humble  fisherman's  village,  when  we  asked  for  mizt,  which  signifies  cold  water,  they  brought 
us  a  pot  of  hot  water,  which  they  call  yu,  and  were  much  surprised  when  we  refused  to  drink  it. 

After  a  march  of  ten  miles  along  the  picturesque  shore,  we  reached  one  of  the  loveliest  spots 
on  the  island.  It  was  a  village  perched  on  a  bold  promontory,  overgrown  with  the  pine,  banyan 
and  sago  palm,  at  the  mouth  of  a  charming  valley  which  opened  up  between  the  hills  to  the 
base  of  the  lofty  peak  behind  Barrow's  Bay.  A  stream  of  sweet  water  threaded  the  valley,  which 
was  covered  with  the  freshest  verdure,  and  overhung  with  beautiful  groves  of  pine.  It  was  a 
picture  of  pastoral  loveliness,  such  as  is  rarely  found  in  any  country.  Nothing  struck  me  more 
during  the  journey  than  the  great  variety  of  scenery  which  the  island  encloses  in  its  narrow 
compass.  We  passed  through,  at  least,  four  different  districts,  which  bore  but  the  slightest 
resemblance  to  each  other,  either  in  features  or  character.  We  had  both  the  groves  of  the 
tropics  and  the  wild  woods  of  the  north ;  the  valleys  of  Germany  and  the  warm  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean. 

The  village  was  large,  thriving,  and  as  neatly  laid  out  and  hedged  in  as  an  English  garden. 
The  scrupulous  neatness  and  regularity  of  the  Lew  Chew  villages  was  doubly  refreshing  to  one 
familiar  with  the  squalor  and  filth  of  China.     The  sight  of  the  Cung-qua,  which  occupied  the 


180 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


place  of  honor  at  tlie  top  of  tlio  promontory,  completed  our  raptures.  Its  roof  of  red  tilea 
glittered  in  the  sun;  a  row  of  feathery  sago  palms  threw  their  hrilliant  leaves  over  the  wall  of 
the  enclosure ;  the  whitest  and  softest  of  mats  covered  the  tioor  ;  the  garden  blazed  with  a 
profusion  of  scarlet  flowers;  and  stone  basins,  seated  on  pedestals,  contained  fresh  water  for  our 
use.  Its  aspect  of  comfort  and  repose  was  a  balm  to  travellers  as  weary  as  ourselves,  and  I 
directed  Terry  at  once  to  hoist  the  stars  and  stripes  upon  the  roof.  I  hastened  back  to  make  a 
sketch  of  the  beautiful  valley  before  sunset,  while  Mr.  Heine  occupied  himself  with  a  view  of  the 
Cung-qua.  A  venerable  old  man,  with  a  snowy  beard  reaching  nearly  to  his  knees,  approached 
the  bank  where  I  sat,  but  upon  noticing  me,  made  a  profound  yet  dignified  reverence  and  retired. 
Tlie  village  was  named  Un-fia.  We  had  not  yet  reached  the  region  of  fowls,  but  the  people 
sent  us  two  small  fresh  fish,  with  a  2>urapkin  and  some  cucumbers.  Our  own  stores  were  quite 
low,  both  sugar  and  pork  having  been  exhausted,  so  that  wo  had  nothing  left  but  tea,  coifee  and 
ship  biscuit. 


Kutig-Kwa  near  On-na,  Lew  Cliew. 

The  natives  kindled  a  fire  inside  the  grounds  of  tlie  f'ung-(|na,  and  half  a  dozen  of  them  sat 
around  it  all  night.  The  morning  was  dull,  and  a  cap  of  mist  on  the  mountain  threatened  rain. 
A  l;atli  in  the  sea  before  sunrise  refreshed  us  for  the  day's  march.  For  our  breakfast,  there  were 
sent  two  long,  eel-like  fish,  resembling  the  gar,  a  few  young  egg-plants,  two  gourds  and  a 
basket  of  sweet  potatoes.  So  much  time  was  occupied  in  cooking  and  consuming  these  delicacies, 
that  we  did  not  get  under  way  before  8  o'clock.  Another  consultation  was  held  with  our 
attt-ndants,  who  declared  that  Hheudi  was  DO  //  distant,  and  that  it  would  re(juirc  tliree  days  for 


EXPLORATION     OF     I.  KW     CHEW.  181 

US  to  reach  Napha;    this  did  not  correspond  with  our  own  ideas  of  our  position,  and  we  deter- 
mined to  attempt  reaching  Napha  the  next  evening,  as  we  had  been  ordered. 

We  passed  through  the  village  of  Un-na,  and  over  the  headland  to  a  deep  hay.  The  tide  was 
running  out,  and  instead  of  wading  through  the  sand  around  its  entire  curve,  we  made  a  straight 
line  for  the  opposite  shore,  tramping  through  water  two  or  three  inches  deep  over  beds  of 
decomposing  coral.  We  had  proceeded  along  the  shore  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  when  A-shing, 
one  of  the  Chinese  coolies,  fell  sick  in  consequence,  as  it  aftei-wards  appeared,  of  drinking 
sackee,  and  eating  green  peaches.  His  load  was  given  to  the  Lew  Chew  coolies,  and  he  obtained 
a  temporary  relief  by  punching  his  throat,  in  three  places,  so  violently  as  to  produce  an  extra- 
vasation of  blood.  Counter  irritation  is  the  usual  Chinese  remedy  for  all  ailments,  and  it  is 
frequently  very  efficacious.  We  were  near  a  fishing  village,  and  Mr.  Jones  endeavored  to  obtain 
a  canoe,  in  which  to  send  both  our  Chinamen  back  to  the  ves.sel.  The  Pe-ching  begged  him  to 
give  up  the  idea,  since  one  of  the  native  officers  would  be  obliged  to  accompany  them,  and  they 
all  feared  to  trust  themselves  in  the  frail  craft.  They  brought  a  kagoo,  or  rude  sedan,  in  which 
they  offered  to  have  the  man  conveyed  to  Napha,  but  he  was  better  by  this  time  and  declared 
himself  able  to  proceed  on  foot.  The  officers  expressed  the  greatest  satisfaction  when  they  found 
that  none  of  them  would  be  required  to  return  in  the  canoe. 

In  the  meantime  the  rest  of  us  had  pushed  forward  with  the  baggage.  The  morning  was 
very  hot,  the  glare  from  the  white  beach-sand  struck  in  our  faces^  and  we  began  to  tire  of  an 
endless  tramp  around  cove  after  cove,  and  headland  after  headland.  We  were  now^  as  we 
calculated,  opposite  the  head  of  Barrow's  Bay,  and  8heudi  was  almost  in  a  due  southerly  direc- 
tion ;  yet  the  road  still  clung  to  the  coast,  as  if  intent  on  carrying  us  to  the  extreme  point  of 
Cape  Broughton,  thus  greatly  lengthening  our  journey,  besides  which,  our  orders  were  to  return 
through  the  centre  of  the  island.  In  answer  to  all  our  inquiries,  the  native  officers  and  guides 
pointed  along  the  shore,  and  were  extremely  anxious  to  prevent  our  taking  any  inland  paths. 
This  excited  our  suspicion,  and  we  imagined  their  object  to  be  to  prevent  our  seeing  the  interior. 
Finally,  coming  to  a  well-trodden  path,  which  struck  off  up  the  hills,  we  shut  our  ears  to  all 
remonstrance  and  took  it.  In  a  short  time  it  brought  us  to  a  handsome  village,  shaded  not 
only  with  bamboo,  but  with  splendid  banyan  trees.  Beyond  it  there  was  a  deep  ravine,  with  a 
faintly  marked  foot-path  leading  to  some  water  at  the  bottom.  Again  the  natives  entreated  us 
to  take  a  path  which  plainly  led  to  the  shore.  They  pointed  to  the  gorge,  crying  "mizi," 
intimating  that  the  path  went  no  further  than  the  water.  Nevertheless,  seeing  traces  of  a  path 
on  the  opposite  side,  we  descended,  followed  by  the  unwilling  officers  and  coolies.  The  pool  of 
water  which  supplied  the  village  was  shaded  by  the  largest  jjines  I  saw  on  the  island.  They 
were  VO  or  80  feet  in  height,  whereas  the  average  is  not  more  than  40  feet. 

Our  suspicions  did  injustice  to  the  natives,  for  we  soon  found  that  they  had  our  convenience 
in  view.  Our  path  struck  into  a  side-branch  of  the  ravine,  which,  though  not  more  than  twenty 
feet  wide,  was  a  rice-swamp  at  the  bottom.  The  sides  were  nearly  perpendicular  walls  of  earth 
and  loose  rocks,  so  that  we  were  obliged  to  plunge  up  to  the  knees  in  mud.  One  of  the  men, 
Smith,  sank  so  deep  that  it  required  the  strength  of  three  natives  to  extricate  him.  When,  at 
last  we  reached  the  top  of  the  hill,  we  found  it  covered  with  waste  thickets,  and  no  path  to  be 
seen  except  one  on  an  opposite  height,  which  we  reached  with  some  trouble.  The  path,  an  old 
and  unu.'»ed  one,  led  us  back  to  the  beach,  which  it  now  seemed  impossible  to  leave.  The  coolies, 
who  had  had  a  hard  tug  to  get  through  tlie  rice-swjinip,  took  the  wliole  matter  very  good 
humoredly,  ami  th(f  offioors  laughed,  as  I  thought,  witli  ii  sort  nf  inalicious  pleasure  at  our  dis- 


182  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

comfiture.  The  walk  over  fhe  white  sand  was  doubly  fatiguing  after  this,  and  on  the  arrival  of 
Mr.  Jones  we  determined  again  to  make  for  the  interior,  especially  as  we  had  reached  the  head 
of  the  last  cove,  whence  the  coast  appeared  to  run  almost  due  westwardly  to  Cape  Broughton. 

Mr.  Jones  and  Dr.  Lynah,  with  the  men  Davis  and  Smith,  took  a  foot-path  leading  southward 
into  the  mountains,  and  after  proceeding  a  little  further  along  the  coast  I  followed  them  with 
the  seaman  Mitchell.  Mr.  Heine,  with  Terry  and  the  Lew  Chew  coolies,  still  kept  the  shore. 
We  (Mitchell  and  I)  reached  with  great  difficulty  the  path  taken  hy  the  first  party.  It  ascended 
steeply  through  pine  forests,  alternating  with  dense  copsewood,  for  about  two  miles,  till  we 
gained  the  summit  of  the  ridge.  The  whole  expanse  of  Barrow's  Bay  came  full  into  view  to  the 
eastward,  while  to  the  south  we  looked  beyond  the  promontory  we  had  been  doubling  so  tediously, 
and  saw  the  same  deep  cove  we  had  beheld  three  days  before  from  the  top  of  Banner  Eock.  But 
all  the  interior  of  the  island  was  still  a  wilderness,  and  for  ten  miles  in  advance  stretched  an 
unbroken  forest.  Our  path  did  not  appear  to  have  been  much  travelled— other  small  paths 
branched  from  it,  but  the  party  in  advance  had  broken  off  boughs  and  left  them  as  guides  for  us. 
I  was  much  spent  with  the  heat  and  the  exertion  of  climbing  so  rapidly,  and  after  drinking  out 
of  a  muddy  hole  filled  with  leaves,  felt  an  attack  of  mingled  heat  and  cold,  with  an  oppression 
of  the  heart,  which  took  away  all  my  strength.  We  saw  the  other  party  on  the  top  of  a  high 
peak  ahead  of  us.  The  path  crossed  a  ledge  as  narrow  as  a  wall,  with  deep  gulfs  on  each  side, 
and  then  ascended  a  rocky  ladder,  the  steepness  of  which  took  away  what  little  strength  I  had 
remaining — I  was  obliged  to  lie  down  for  some  time  before  I  could  proceed  further.  A  rain- 
cloud  coming  up  rapidly  over  Barrow's  Bay  admonished  us  to  leave  our  lofty  look-out.  The  path 
kept  on  southward  through  miles  of  wilderness,  but  the  natives  who  had  accompanied  us  pointed 
to  another^  which  led  back  almost  the  way  we  came,  and  which  they  said  would  bring  us  to  a 
Cung-qua.  As  there  were  no  signs  of  the  baggage,  we  were  thus  under  the  necessity  of  retracing 
our  steps  almost  to  the  shore.  On  our  way  we  passed  through  a  singular  gorge,  which  was 
closed  up,  in  its  narrowest  part,  by  fragments  hurled  from  above  by  some  convulsion  of  nature. 
The  stream  flowing  at  the  bottom  disappeared  for  about  fifty  yards,  when  it  again  issued  to  the 
light  through  a  cavernous  opening. 

A  rain  now  came  on,  which  continued  for  two  or  three  hours,  and  made  the  road  slippery  and 
toilsome.  We  passed  through  a  village,  romantically  situated  in  a  wooded  glen,  and  over 
uplands,  covered  with  groves  of  pine^  the  path  gradually  swerving  to  the  south,  till  it  finally 
struck  directly  across  the  promontory.  A  great  part  of  the  way  was  a  waste  of  wild  thickets, 
with  mar.shy  hollows  between  the  hills.  We  saw,  several  times,  the  tracks  of  wild  boar,  which 
the  natives  assured  us  were  abundant ;  but  we  were  not  so  fortunate  as  to  get  a  sight  of  one. 
There  were  no  traces  of  our  baggage  until  we  found  the  Pe-ching,  and  two  other  natives, 
crouching  under  a  bush  to  keep  out  of  the  rain  and  smoking  their  pipes.  Finally,  about  half- 
past  two,  we  heard  the  report  of  fire-arms,  and  soon  after  reached  the  Cung-qua  of  "Chanda- 
Jcosa,"  where  M.  Heine  and  the  coolies  had  already  been  waiting  some  time  for  us.  We  were 
uncertain  whether  the  building  was  a  bona  fide  Cung-qua  or  the  residence  of  a  hunyo,  or  officer, 
for  it  was  occupied,  when  Mr.  Heine  arrived,  by  a  personage  of  some  kind  with  his  attendants, 
but  immediately  given  up  for  our  use.  There  was  a  crowd  of  at  least  a  hundred  natives  collected 
within  the  enclosure  and  looking  on,  with  great  astonishment,  while  Mr.  Heine  fired  at  a  mark. 
What  seemed  most  to  interest  them,  next  to  the  accuracy  of  his  aim,  was  the  fact  of  the  piece 
exploding  without  the  application  of  fire,  (nothing  but  Japanese  matchlocks  ever  being  seen  on 
the  island,)  and  its  being  loaded  at  the  breech.     They  appeared  familiar  with  the  nature  of 


EXPLORATION     OF     LEW     CHEW.  183 

gunpowder,  and  the  use  of  our  cutlasses  ;  but  during  our  journey  we  never  saw  a  single  weapon 
of  any  kind.  There  is  said  to  be  a  small  garrison  of  Japanese  soldiers,  both  at  Napha  and 
Sheudi ;  but,  if  so,  they  were  carefully  kept  out  of  the  way. 

The  Pe-ching,  who  soon  afterwards  came  up,  informed  us  that  we  had  come  30  It,  and  that 
Sheudi  was  still  60  li  distant,  and  we  could  not  reach  it  on  the  following  day.  Learning, 
however,  that  there  was  another  Cung-qua  20  li  further,  we  decided  to  rest  an  hour  or  two,  and 
push  on  to  it  the  same  evening.  The  people  brought  two  fowls,  with  abundance  of  eggs  and 
cucumbers,  and,  hungry  and  tired  as  we  were,  we  made  a  most  palatable  meal. 

We  left  again  at  half-past  four.  The  road  was  broad,  well  beaten,  and  shaded  by  a  double 
road  of  pine  trees.  It  ran  in  a  southeastern  direction,  parallel  with  the  coast,  and  about  two 
miles  inland.  The  country  continued  open,  slightly  undulating,  and  pleasantly  diversified  ^vith 
groves  of  pine  for  four  miles,  when  we  came  suddenly  upon  a  deep  glen,  traversed  by  much  the 
largest  stream  we  had  seen  upon  the  island.  The  road  crossed  by  a  massive  stone  bridge,  of 
three  arches,  remarkable  for  the  size  and  rude  strength  of  the  piers,  each  of  which  had,  on  the 
inner  side,  in  order  to  protect  it  from  floods,  a  triangular  abutment,  projecting  ten  or  twelve 
feet.  The  sides  of  the  glen  were  nearly  perpendicular,  and  covered  wnth  wild  and  luxuriant 
vegetation.  Towards  the  sea,  under  a  range  of  broken  limestone  crags  that  hung  high  over  the 
stream,  were  several  ancient  excavated  tombs.  A  spring  of  excellent  water  gushed  out  from  the 
foot  of  one  of  these  crags.  Mr.  Heine  took  a  sketch  of  the  place,  which  was  remarkable  for  its 
seclusion  and  picturesque  beauty.     The  natives  called  the  stream  the  "J^H-iJa." 

On  reaching  a  height  overlooking  the  sea,  we  were  agreeably  surprised  with  the  sight  of  the 
squadron,  lying  off  the  furthest  point  to  the  southwest,  and  between  fifteen  and  twenty  miles 
distant,  in  a  straight  line.  This  encouraged  us  to  believe  that  we  could  reach  Napha  at  the 
time  appointed,  and  we  pushed  on  rapidly  and  cheerily,  for  it  was  now  growing  dark,  and  no 
appearance  of  the  Cung-qua.  The  road  approached  the  shore,  and  became  a  raised  causeway, 
passing  through  rich  rice  swamps.  The  natives  whom  we  met  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening  took 
to  flight  on  seeing  us.  At  last,  at  half-past  seven,  weary  and  spent  with  a  tramp  of  twenty- 
seven  miles,  the  native  herald  who  ran  before  us  turned  into  a  gateway,  over  which  towered  a 
magnificent  banyan  tree.  We  followed,  and  discharged  our  pieces  in  a  general  feu-de-joie,  on 
seeing  a  Cung-qua  with  the  lamps  lighted,  attendants  waiting  with  their  trays  of  tea-cups,  and 
a  polite  old  gentleman  standing  in  the  verandah  to  receive  us.  The  Lew  Chew  mats  were  never 
so  soft,  nor  the  cups  of  unsugared  native  tea  so  refreshing,  as  on  that  evening.  Eggs,  cucum- 
bers, rice,  and  fowls  were  immediately  forthcoming,  and  our  men  concocted  a  soup  which,  to  our 
minds,  could  not  have  been  improved.  The  old  Pe-ching  made  his  appearance  at  a  late  hour, 
nearly  as  fatigued  as  ourselves,  but  overflowing  with  cordiality  and  good  humor.  A  company 
of  native  guards  kindled  a  fire  under  the  banyan  tree,  and  prepared  to  spend  the  night  there. 
Our  men  were  so  fatigued  that,  in  anticipation  of  another  hard  journey  on  the  morrow,  we  dis- 
pensed with  the  usual  watch.  It  was  the  less  important,  as  we  had  found  the  native  guard 
exceedingly  vigilant  in  keeping  away  all  stragglers  from  our  vicinity.  The  light  of  the  ruddy 
camp-fire,  playing  over  the  spreading  boughs  of  the  banyan-tree,  brought  into  strong  relief  the 
groups  of  swarthy  faces  clustered  around  it,  and  presented  a  picture  so  fantastic  and  peculiar 
that  I  sat  looking  at  it  long  after  I  ought  to  have  been  asleep. 

The  sound  of  rain  upon  the  tiles  of  our  Cung-qua  awoke  us  frequently  during  the  night,  and 
when  we  arose  at  daybreak  the  sky  was  overcast,  the  roads  flooded,  and  a  steady  dismal  storm 
had  set  in.     Tlie  Pe-ching  and  his  associates  wished  us  to  stay  at  "Pi-ko,"   as  the  Cung-qua 


•  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

was  called,  until  the  next  day,  slapping  their  legs  to  indicate  how  tired  they  were^  and  making 
signs  of  slipping  up  and  falling  down  in  the  mud.  But  we  were  inexorable,  and  they  sent  for 
a  new  set  of  coolies  to  carry  our  baggage.  We  had  another  discussion  about  the  distance,  which 
ended  in  their  declaring  that  Sheudi  was  65  li  and  Napha  30  U  distant.  This  was  absurd,  and 
probably  ought  to  be  attributed  to  the  ignorance  of  the  Chinese,  through  whom  we  communicated 
with  them.  The  coolies  prepared  themselves  for  the  rain  by  putting  on  shaggy  jackets  of  grass, 
resembling  the  sheep-skin  garments  of  the  Roman  herdsmen.  Our  men  had  their  pea-jackets, 
and  we  were  partially  protected  by  ponchos  of  gutta-percha  and  oilcloth.  We  were  delaj'ed  in 
getting  breakfast,  and  did  not  break  up  our  camp  until  half-past  nine,  when  we  set  out,  every- 
body stiff  and  sore  from  the  previous  day's  travel.  The  rain  was  still  falling,  though  not  so 
heavily  as  at  first,  and  the  road  was  an  alternation  of  water  and  stiff  mud,  through  which  we 
trudged  with  difficulty,  and  at  the  risk  of  leaving  our  boots  behind  us.  After  rounding  the 
head  of  the  bight,  we  struck  off  over  the  hills  to  the  southwest,  and  in  an  hour  and  a  half  came 
upon  another  deep  glen,  in  the  bottom  of  which  were  two  massive  bridges  over  a  stream  so 
broad  and  deep  that  it  was  doubtless  a  frith  of  the  sea.  We  stopped  an  hour  to  rest  and  enable 
Mr.  Heine  to  take  a  sketch  of  the  place.  I  noticed  that  the  heavy  triangular  abutments  to  the 
piers  were  here  placed  on  the  side  next  the  sea.  The  natives  gave  the  glen,  or  river,  the  name 
of  "  Machinatoo." 

The  rain  had  ceased  by  this  time,  except  an  occasional  sprinkle,  and  the  road  improved. 
After  another  hour  the  roads  branched,  that  on  the  left  striking  ofFup  the  hills  to  Sheudi.  We 
kept  on  over  the  hills  towards  Napha,  the  scenery  gradually  assuming  a  familiar  appearance, 
till  finally,  from  a  height  covered  with  pine  trees,  we  looked  down  upon  the  harbor  and  the 
American  squadron.  After  fording  a  broad  salt  creek,  and  crossing  another  ridge,  we  descended 
to  the  village  of  Tum6,  opposite  Najiha.  We  reached  our  starting  point,  the  house  of  Dr. 
Bettelheim,  at  2  p.  m.,  and  there  took  leave  of  our  worthy  Pe-ching  and  his  two  assistants, 
after  having  appointed  a  time  to  meet  them  again,  and  endeavor  to  return  some  compensation 
for  the  provision  furnished  during  the  journey. 

The  distance  we  travelled  during  the  six  days  was  108  miles,  as  nearly  as  we  could  calculate. 
Our  trip  embraced  a  little  more  than  half  the  island,  leaving  the  extremity  south  of  Napha, 
(which  is  of  limited  extent,)  and  that  part  north  of  the  head  of  Port  Melville,  and  lying  on  both 
sides  of  that  harbor,  for  future  exj^loration."* 

On  the  return  of  the  party  Mr.  Jones  submitted  the  following  report  to  the  Commodore 
of  his  observations : 

"Before  describing  the  ancient  royal  castle  of  Chun-Ching,  which  we  discovered  in  our  recent 
exploration  of  Lew  Chew,  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  few  words  about  the  geology  of  the  island,  as 
the  two  are  connected  with  each  other. 

Going  northward  from  Napha  we  find  the  general  surface-rock  to  be  argillaceous,  either 
compact  or  shaly,  which  is  intersected,  at  frequent  intervals,  by  dykes  or  ridges  of  secondary 
limestone,  of  a  very  remarkable  character.  When  we  get  as  higli  up  as  Barrow's  Bay  the 
argillaceous  rock  ceases,  and  is  succeeded  by  talcose  slate,  in  which,  however,  the  same  limestone 
dykes  occur.  At  the  most  northern  point  reached  by  us,  that  is,  at  the  village  of  Nacumma,  on 
the  west  side  of  the  island,  say  forty-two  miles  north  of  Napha,  we  reached  granite,  rising  there 

•This  report  is  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Bayard  Taylor,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  directed  by  Commodore  Perry  to  keep 

a  Journal  of  tlic  incidents  of  the  exploration,  and  make  the  report. 


GEOLOGY      OFLEW      CHEW.  185 

Into  a  hill  of  some  elevation,  but  so  soft  as  easily  to  be  cut  by  a  hatchet.  This  granite  is  of  a 
grey  color,  sometimes  almost  white  ;  and  its  mica,  which  is  black,  lies  scattered  about  in  the 
mass  in  beautiful  six-sided  crystals,  giving  it  often  a  handsome  appearance. 

The  talcose  slate  has  a  strike  of  S.  10°  W.,  and  a  dip  to  the  W.  of  60°.  It  is  mixed  with 
quartz  and  other  foreign  ingredients  of  a  hard  character,  and  comes  to  the  surface  in  sharp, 
jagged  edges  ;  very  severe  upon  the  feet. 

The  argillaceous  rock  gives  some  marked  features  to  the  island.  The  rounded  hills  south  of 
Barrow's  Bay  are  all  of  this.  Being  soft,  it  yields  readily  to  i'oreign  agencies,  and  is  often 
broken  into  bare  faces,  with  perpendicular  sides  ;  and  thus,  at  the  head  of  their  valleys,  some- 
times presents  us  with  beautiful  cascades.  It  also  forms  the  chief  ingredient  in  the  soil  of  the 
island — in  wet  weather  a  very  adhesive  clay. 

But  the  limestone  dykes  are  the  distinguishing  feature  of,  at  least,  this  portion  of  Lew  Chew. 
They  cross  the  island  in  ranges  of  N.  50°  E.  and  N.  60°  E.,  rising  up  into  peaks  and  castellated 
forms,  often  so  much  like  ruins  of  ancient  buildings  as  to  make  a  near  examination  necessary  in 
order  to  undeceive  ourselves.  The  rock  is  highly  granular,  but  still  has  in  it,  not  unfrequent 
remains  of  marine  animals.  Sometimes  it  is  sufficiently  compact ;  but,  though  always  hard,  it 
is  generally  so  vesicular  as,  when  weather-stained,  to  have  exactly  the  appearance  of  lava,  for 
which,  indeed,  it  is  often  mistaken.  Its  vesicular  character  opens  it  to  the  action  of  foreign 
agencies,  and,  in  consequence,  along  the  sea  and  bay  shores  it  is  often  undermined  by  the  waves, 
or,  if  harder  pebbles  find  their  way  there,  is  by  their  friction  worked  into  kettle-shaped  holes, 
with  ragged,  knife-shaped  edges  between.  Where  the  roads  in  Lew  Chew  are  paved  it  is  with 
this  vesicular  rock  ;  and  the  pavement  can  be  exceeded,  in  discomfort  to  the  traveller,  only  by 
the  sticky  mud,  from  which  it  is  intended  to  be  a  protection. 

On  the  second  day  of  our  journey  (Tuesday)  we  were,  towards  noon,  travelling  on  the  summit 
of  one  of  these  limestone  ridges,  with  precipitous  sides  descending  on  either  hand.  I  was  ahead 
of  the  party  and  saw  before  me,  by  and  by,  a  something,  which  I  took,  at  first,  to  be  the  natural 
rock  crossing  my  road  ;  till,  presently,  I  saw  what  looked  like  a  window,  or  some  such  opening, 
at  its  top.  A  nearer  approach  showed  it,  to  my  great  surprise,  to  be  this  old  deserted  castle  of 
Chun-Ching. 

The  builders  had  taken  advantage  of  a  spot  where  the  two  perpendicular  faces  of  the  ridges 
approached  each  other  sufficiently  near  ;  and  here,  on  the  edges  of  the  natural  rock,  had  erected 
their  walls,  giving  to  the  sides  of  their  castle  a  great  additional  height ;  one  end,  also,  was  in 
part  protected  by  a  similar  bold  face  of  the  rock.  The  road  by  which  I  came  was  conducted  along 
outside  of  the  main  castle,  though  it  was  still  carried  through  the  fortifications,  which  it  entered 
and  left  through  gateways  in  very  thick  walls.  The  walls  themselves  were  in  the  style  so  com- 
mon in  Lew  Chew,  called  in  architecture  the  Cyclopean  style,  though  the  stones  employed  here 
are  much  smaller  than  their  architypes  in  the  old  Cyclopean  walls  of  Greece.  The  builders  of 
Chun-Ching  contrived  also  to  give  their  walls  that  inward  curve  which  seems  to  have  been  the 
fashion  in  Lew  Chew  castellated  buildings,  and  which  we  see  also  in  the  royal  castle  in  Sheudi. 

Since  our  return  I  have  learnt,  through  Dr.  Bcttelheim,  that  Chun-Ching  was  once  a  royal 
residence.  There  were,  in  early  times,  seven  kingdoms  in  Lew  Chew,  each  with  its  royal  castle 
or  capitol,  and  Chun-Ching  was  one  of  them.  The  number  was  afterwards  reduced  to  three, 
then  to  one,  as  it  at  present  remains. 

What  I  have  marked  as  places  for  burning  incense  (a,  a,  &c.)  are  little  oven-like  buildings, 
which  are  common,  also,  to  their  temples  and  kung-kwas,  and  which  Dr.  B.  tells  me  are  for 
24  J 


186 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


burning  paper.  The  Lew  Chewans  have  a  regard,  somewhat  like  that  of  Mohomedans,  for  any 
paper  with  a  sacred  name  upon  it ;  and  lest  such  may  be  trodden  under  foot,  and  so  desecrated, 
they  burn  them  in  the  little  edifices  alluded  to. 

Before  dismissing  the  geology  of  Lew  Chew,  I  ought  to  say  that,  just  south  of  Nacumma,  we 
crossed,  along  the  shore,  numerous  patches  of  recently  formed  rocks.  The  rolled  pebbles  of  the 
shore,  together  with  fragments  of  coral,  and  anything  else  that  may  happen  to  come  in,  are 
agglutinized  by  carbonate  of  lime,  (probably  the  washings  of  coral  reefs,)  and  are  formed  into  a 
firm  compact  rock.  This  rock  is  only  about  a  foot  thick,  and  lies  in  table-like  fragments  upon 
the  sands,  where  it  was  formed.  I  saw  a  similar  recently  made  rock,  of  fine  sandstone,  on  the 
beach,  just  west  of  Point  de  Galle,  in  Ceylon. 


The  Lew  Chew  Islands. 


P'  nope 


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3tnRl*  ■:       ^Vf 


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*"■'«      ■'••   '      ■^rz"- 


r*.  "      ^"xApju 


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LEW     CHKW     STEATAGEMS. 


187 


CHAPTER   IX. 


EFFORTS   OF   ArTHOBITIES    OF     LEW   CHEW  TO   PRETEXT  A   VISIT  TO  THE    PALACE. ALL  rVsrCCESSFCL. LAXDING  FOR  THE   VISIT. 

PROCESSION. APPEARANCE     OF    THE    COU-VTRT.  —  RECEPTION    AT    THE    PALACE. EMBARRASSMENT    OF    THE    RECENT. ENTER- 
TAINMENT  AT  THE   regent's   HOUSE. SAKI. NEW  DISHES. COMMODORE    INVITES   AUTHORITIES    TO    A    DINNER    ON    BOARD   THE 

SrsacEHANNA.— GENERAL    IMPRESSIONS    PRODUCED  BT  THE   VISIT. ESPIONAGE    STILL    KEPT    UP. DAILT    EXERCISE   OF   SAILORS 

AND  MARINES. SETTLEMENT   OF   ACCOUNTS  WITH  LEW  CHEW  AUTHORITIES. MISSISSIPPI  AND   SUPPLY   REMAIN  AT  LEW  CHEW. 

SUSQUEHANNA   AND  SARATOGA  LEAVE  FOR  THE    BONIN    ISLANDS.— DEATH   OF   AN  OPIUM   SMOKER  ON  THE  PASSAGE. INHUMANITY 

OF  CHINESE. SUNDAY  ON  BOARD. ARRIVAL  AT  PORT  LLOYD. 

HE  determination  of  the  Commodore  to  return  the  visit  of 
the  regent,  at  the  palace,  and  nowhere  else,  had  been  seem- 
g.  ingly  acquiesced  in  by  the  Lew  Chew  dignitary  ;  hut,  in 
'-""  truth,  he  had  hut  yielded  to  a  necessity.  The  Commodore 
liad  power  to  carry  out  his  determination,  and  the  regent 
,^  deemed  it  most  prudent  to  concur,  with  the  semblance  of 
"^  I)oliteness,  in  that  which  he  could  not  prevent. 
..^  This,  however,  did  not  induce  that  functionary  and  his 
subordinate  officers  to  spare  their  efforts  in  the  attempt  to 
escape  the  much  dreaded  visit  to  the  palace.  Accordingly, 
they  resorted  to  divers  devices  and  stratagems,  too  clumsy,  however,  to  be  deemed  either  inge- 
nious or  cunning.  In  the  first  place,  they  begged  that  the  Commodore  would  return  the  visit 
at  Kapha  instead  of  Shui ;  then  the  effort  was  made  to  entrap  the  commanier  into  a  meeting 
■with  the  regent,  which  would  have  been  considered  a  return  of  the  latter's  visit.  In  pursuance 
of  this  scheme,  the  mayor  of  Napha  made  a  great  feast,  some  days  before  that  named  by  the 
Commodore  for  his  visit,  and  invited  him  to  be  present,  with  the  intention  of  having  the  regent 
attend  and  preside.  The  invitation  was  politely  declined,  on  the  ground  that  the  storeship, 
Caprice,  was  about  to  be  dispatched  on  the  appointed  day  to  Shanghai,  and  the  Commodore 
would  necessarily  be  occupied.  When  the  Lew  Chewans  found  that  the  Commodore  did  not 
attend,  they  were  determined  that  he  should  not,  at  any  rate,  lose  the  feast  that  had  been  pre- 
pared for  him,  and  accordingly  sent  off  to  the  ship  numerous  dishes  of  the  intended  banquet. 
These,  as  a  matter  of  courtesy,  were  allowed  to  come  on  board,  and  very  soon  the  quarter-deck 
exhibited  various  preparations  of  poultry,  fish,  vegetables,  and  fruits.  The  Commodore,  how- 
ever, from  considerations  of  policy,  thought  it  best  to  be  invisible. 

The  next  device  was  to  appeal  to  the  humanity  of  the  Commodore,  and  the  request  was  pre- 
ferred that  he  would  make  his  visit  to  the  palace  of  the  prince  instead  of  at  the  roynl  residence. 


188  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

The  reason  assigned  was,  that  the  queen  dowager  was  sick,  and  had  been  for  a  year,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  shock  received  on  the  visit  of  a  British  naval  officer,  who  persisted  in  entering 
the  royal  residency  to  present  a  letter  from  Lord  Palmerston  to  the  Lew  Chew  government; 
and  it  was  intimated  that  a  repetition  of  such  desecration  of  the  palace  would  add  to  the  malady 
of  the  queen,  if,  indeed,  it  did  not  produce  a  fatal  termination. 

The  Commodore,  who  did  not  believe  one  word  of  the  queen  dowager's  illness,  and  who  was 
quite  convinced  also  that  all  this  manoeuvring  and  trickery  were  designed  merely  to  satisfy  the 
spies  kept  about  the  Lew  Chewans  by  the  Japanese  government,  replied  to  this  affecting  appeal, 
that  it  was  his  duty  to  go  where  an  officer  of  the  Queen  of  England  had  been  before  him  to  have 
an  audience ;  and  that,  if  the  queen  dowager  did  not  see  fit  to  remove  to  the  palace  of  her  son 
during  his  intended  visit,  he  thought  that  the  pageantry,  music,  &c.,  attending  it  (purely 
peaceful)  miglit  divert  her  mind,  and  tend  rather  to  amuse  her ;  while,  if  she  wished,  his  learned 
physicians,  who  would  accompany  him,  would  be  most  happy  to  exercise  their  skill  for  her  bene- 
fit, and  assist  in  restoring  her  to  health. 

At  last,  all  devices  having  utterly  failed  to  move  the  Commodore  from  his  purpose,  the  day 
came  which  he  had  designated  for  his  visit  to  the  regent.  It  was  matter  of  policy  to  make  a 
show  of  it,  and  hence  some  extra  pains  were  taken  to  offer  an  imposing  spectacle.  The  day 
opened  cloudily  with  a  brisk  wind  stirring,  and  did  not  at  first  seem  to  promise  a  propitious 
season ;  but  after  a  morning  shower  the  sky  came  out  bright  and  blue,  and  until  evening  the 
aspect  of  nature  was  as  fresh  and  beautiful  as  could  have  been  desired. 

The  hour  of  departure  had  been  fixed  at  9  o'clock.  Presently  the  signal  was  made  from  the 
flag-ship,  and  all  the'boats  of  the  other  ships  pushed  off  at  the  same  time,  and  as  they  pulled  to 
the  land  presented  a  very  lively  appearance.  The  point  selected  for  landing  was  the  little  village 
of  Tumai,  about  two  miles  from  the  palace  of  Shui.  After  all  the  other  boats  had  gone^  the 
Commodore  set  out  in  his  barge,  and  on  his  arrival  the  marines  were  founds  under  arms,  and  in 
line,  under  a  grove  of  trees  by  the  road-side,  near  the  landing.  Groups  of  officers  in  uniform 
were  gathered  in  little  knots  under  the  shade  of  the  trees ;  the  boats'  crews  rested  on  their  oars, 
looking  with  interest  on  the  proceedings,  while  the  natives  to  the  number  of  hundreds  (many  of 
them  of  the  better  class)  stood  aroimd,  evidently  not  a  little  moved  and  excited  by  the  scene 
before  them. 

The  Commodore,  with  the  captain  of  the  fleet  and  Commanders  Buchanan,  Lee,  and  Walker, 
then  passed  down  the  line  of  the  marines  and  artillerymen,  when  the  procession  was  immediately 
formed.  First  came  two  field-pieces,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Bent,  each  having  above 
it  the  American  ensign,  and  immediately  preceded  by  the  master  of  the  Susquehanna,  (Mr. 
Bennett,)  with  Mr.  Williams  and  Dr.  Bettelheim,  the  interpreters.  Next  followed  the  band  of 
the  Mississippi  with  a  company  of  marines,  under  command  of  Major  Zeilin.  The  Commodore 
followed  then  in  a  sedan  chair,  which  had  been  manufactured  for  the  nonce,  by  the  carpenter  on 
board  the  ship.  It  was  emphatically  a  dignified  vehicle,  as  became  tlie  occasion,  large  and 
stately,  deeply  indebted  to  paint  and  putty,  not  quite  as  polished  as  a  tinnout  from  Newark  or 
Longacre,  but,  on  the  whole,  decidedly  a  feature  in  the  procession,  though  its  hangings  of  red 
and  blue  were  not  of  the  finest.  At  all  events,  it  was  the  most  iin]wsing  sedan  the  Lew  Chewans 
ever  saw.  It  was  borne  by  eiglit  Cliinese  coolies,  four  relieving  each  other  alternately.  Ofl  each 
side  of  it  marched  a  marine  as  body  guard,  while  a  handsome  boy  had  been  selected  as  a  page, 
who,  with  a  Chinese  steward,  were  the  immediate  personal  attendants. 


APPEARANCE    OF   THE     COUNTRY.  189 

Captain  Adams,  Liciiterant  Contee,  and  Mr.  Perrv,  followed  the  sedan.  Next  appeared  six 
coolies  bearing  the  presents  designed  for  the  prince  and  queen  dowager,  and  guarded  by  a  file 
of  marines.  Then  came  the  officers  of  the  expedition,  headed  by  Captains  Buchanan,  Lee,  and 
Sinclair,  followed  by  their  servants.  Next  were  the  band  of  the  Susquehanna,  and  a  company 
of  marines  closed  the  procession,  which  in  numbers  amounted  to  some  two  hundred  or  more. 

The  whole  procession  was  well  arranged  and  picturesque  in  effect ;  while  the  beauty  of  the 
day,  the  verdure  of  the  hills  and  fields,  and  the  cheerful  music  of  the  bands  gave  life  and  spirit 
to  the  occasion.  The  natives  clustered  thickly  on  the  sides  of  the  road  to  gaze  on  the  glittering 
novelty,  while  crowds  of  them  hung  in  the  rear  of  the  cortege.  They  did  not  manifest  the 
smallest  apprehension,  notwithstanding  the  presence  of  the  marines  under  arms,  and  evidently 
were  pleasantly  excited  by  the  spectacle  before  them.  ^Yhen  the  procession  passed  through  any 
narrow  lane  the  natives  nearest  to  them  knelt,  the  rank  behind  stooped  down,  and  the  rear 
remained  erect,  that  all  might  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing.  Very  soon  the  procession  emerged 
from  the  village,  and  came  out  upon  the  open  undulating  country  south  of  Sheudi.  The  picture 
here  was  perfect.  The  fields  of  upland  rice  were  gracefully  bending  like  waves  before  the  wind; 
the  groves  and  hill  sides  were  dark  with  the  deep-green  foliage,  so  suggestive  of  cool  shady 
retreats,  while,  in  the  distance,  the  roof-tops  of  Sheudi,  glittering  in  the  sun,  revealed,  here 
and  there,  a  spot  of  dazzling  brightness  amid  the  thick  leafy  covering  of  the  trees  in  which  the 
city  was  embosomed.  Under  clumps  of  the  Lew  Chew  pine  the  pleased  natives  were  gathered 
in  groups,  while  others  might  be  seen  running  along  the  ridges  that  divided  the  rice  fields,  that 
they  might  head  the  procession,  and  thus  gain  another  view ;  while  over  all  the  music  from  the 
bands  floated  far  around,  and  added  to  the  pleasurable  excitement  of  the  march.  As  the  pro- 
cession ascended  the  hill  of  Sliui  the  officers  and  men,  who  had  been  so  long  confined  to  the 
monotony  of  ship-board  life,  gazed  around  with  delight,  perfectly  charmed  with  the  rich  culti- 
vated landscape  that  stretched  away  to  the  southward  and  westward. 

The  officer  designated  to  receive  the  Commodore  at  the  landing,  and  conduct  him  to  the  capital, 
■was  the  Pe-ching  who  had  been,  in  the  previous  week,  with  the  exploring  party  into  the  interior. 
When  the  procession  arrived  at  the  gate  of  Shui,  it  was  met  by  a  crowd  of  native  dignitaries, 
with  their  attendants,  all  in  their  best  robes  of  grass  cloth,  and  with  the  red  and  yellow  hatchee- 
matchees,  or  peculiar  Lew  Chew  cap,  on  their  heads.  The  old  regent  and  his  three  venerable 
coadjutors  here  appeared,  and  after  salutations,  turned  and  accompanied  the  procession  into  the 
city.  It  passed  on  without  halting,  through  the  central  arch,  and  marched  up  the  principal 
street.  A  large  train  of  attendants  was  in  the  retinue  of  the  regent  and  chiefs ;  some  carried 
umbrellas,  others  bore  chow-cJioiv,  or  refreshment  boxes,  cases  for  cups,  and  other  articles. 
There  was  an  inscription  in  Chinese  characters  over  the  central  arch,  which  was  translated  by 
Mr.  Williams  to  signify  "The  place  of  authority;"  under  this  arch  the  common  people  were 
not  allowed  to  pass. 

The  main  street  showed,  on  either  side,  high  walls,  with  occasional  alleys  branching  from  it 
on  both  sides.  The  native  officers  kept  the  streets  clear  of  spectators,  except  at  one  spot,  where 
an  alley  branched  oiF  to  the  left.  Here  was  a  dense  crowd,  and  here  also  was  exhibited  the  final 
device  to  prevent  the  Commodore  from  going  to  the  ]>alace.  Tlie  regent's  own  residence  was  not 
far  from  the  entrance  of  the  street  thus  crowded,  and  here  that  dignitary  requested,  through  the 
interpreter,  that  the  procession  should  at  once  go  to  his  house  and  partake  of  the  refreshment* 
he  had  provided.     Mr.  AVilliams,  who  saw  at  once  the  object  of  the  request,  paid  no  attention 


190  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

to  it,  Imt  marched  straight  on  to  the  paLice  gate.  It  was  obvious  that  the  regent  had  anticipated 
that  his  stratagem  wouUl  prove  successful,  for  the  gate  of  the  pahice  was  closed.  A  messenger, 
however,  was  dispatched,  at  full  speed,  to  cause  it  to  he  opened,  and  make  preparations  for  the 
Commodore's  reception.  On  arriving  at  the  entrance,  the  artillery  and  marines  were  drawn  up 
in  line,  and  the  Commodore  and  his  suite  walked  past  them  into  the  castle  or  palace;  the  troops 
presented  arms,  the  ensigns  were  lowered,  and  the  band  played  "Hail  Columbia." 

On  entering  the  first  gateway,  a  second  wall  and  portal  were  seen  above,  (for  the  edifice  stood 
on  a  cliflf  or  elevation  of  rock,  which  formed,  indeed,  part  ot  its  foundation,)  and,  this  second 
gateway  formed  the  entrance  to  the  outer  court  of  the  palace,  which  crowned  the  height.  This 
court  was  surrounded  by  houses,  which  seemed  to  be  designed  for  servants  and  others  belonging 
to  the  royal  household.  On  the  eastern  side,  however,  was  another  gateway,  resembling  the 
Chinese  portals  of  honor.  This  consisted  of  hco  arches,  and  the  Commodore  was  conducted,  as 
a  mark  of  honor  and  respect  due  to  his  rank,  through  that  on  the  right  hand,  into  what 
appeared  to  be  the  central  court  of  the  palace.  It  was  about  eighty  feet  square,  with  very  plain 
wooden  buildings,  of  one  story  only,  on  its  sides,  and  was  paved  with  gravel  and  large  tiles, 
arranged  in  alternate  lozenges.  The  hall  of  reception  was  on  the  north  side.  All  the  other 
buildings,  on  the  other  sides,  were  protected  by  screens  from  the  view  of  those  in  the  court. 

The  Commodore  was  conducted  into  the  hall  of  audience,  and  placed  in  a  chair  at  the  head 
of  the  room,  on  the  right  hand  side;  the  officers  followed,  and  were  ranged  in  chairs  on  a  single 
line,  next  to  the  Commodore,  according  to  rank.  These  chairs  were  of  some  dark  wood, 
lacquered,  and  were  like  our  camp  stools.  There  was  also  a  double  line  of  members  of  the 
Commodore's  retinue  across  the  bottom  of  the  room.  On  the  left  side  of  the  apartment  sat  the 
regent,  with  his  three  principal  councillors,  and  a  double  rank  of  attendants  stood  behind  them. 
The  interpreters  stood  at  the  head  of  the  room,  near  the  Commodore,  but  between  him  and  the 
regent  All  having  been  thus  accommodated,  time  was  afforded  for  looking  around.  On  the 
wall  was  a  large  red  tablet,  inscribed  with  Chinese  characters,  which  signify,  in  English,  "The 
elevated  inclosure  of  fragrant  festivities;"  an  inscription,  by  the  way,  which  seems  more  appro- 
priate to  a  place  of  feasting  than  to  a  hall  of  diplomacy  or  state  receptions,  where  there  is 
ordinarily  little  fragrance  and  less  festivity. 

The  queen  dowager,  who  had  been  so  pathetically  represented  as  being  sick,  did  not,  of 
course,  make  her  appearance;  nor  did  the  boy  prince,  for  whom  the  regent  governed.  After 
mutual  salutations,  tables  were  brought,  and  cup.s  of  very  weak  tea  were  presented  to  the 
guests.  Smoking  boxes  were  also  distributed  aroimd  the  room,  and  twists  of  very  tough  ginger- 
bread were  placed  on  the  table.  In  short,  it  was  obvious  that  the  visit  at  the  palace  was 
unexpected;  it  had  been  supposed,  probably,  that  the  stratagem  of  the  regent  to  prevent  it,  by 
taking  the  Commodore  to  his  own  house,  would  succeed ;  and,  consequently,  no  preparations 
had  been  made  for  the  reception  of  the  company  at  the  palace.  Presently  the  Commodore  invited 
the  regent  and  his  three  colleagues  to  visit  him  on  board  the  Susquehanna.  He  stated  that  he 
intended  leaving  Napha  in  a  day  or  two,  but  that,  after  ten  days,  he  should  return  again,  and 
would  receive  them  at  any  time  they  might  choose  to  appoint,  either  before  his  departure  or  after 
his  return.  They  replied  that  they  would  leave  the  time  of  the  visit  to  be  named  by  the 
Commodore,  and  he  stated  that  he  would  prefer  it  should  be  made  after  his  return.  To  this  they 
assented  with  seeming  satisfaction.  The  next  step  in  the  ceremonies  consisted  in  the  regent's 
taking  several  large   red  cards,  similar  to  those  used  on  state  occasions  in  China,  when  he 


ENTERTAINMENT     AT     THE     KEGENt's     HOUSE.  191 

and  his  three  companions  rose,  advanced  a  few  steps,  and  bowed  profoundly.  The  Commodore 
and  all  the  officers  rose  and  bowed  in  return,  but  without  precisely  understanding  what  the 
homage  of  the  Lew  Chewans  particularly  meant ;  they  were  determined,  however,  not  to  be 
outdone  in  the  outward  symbols  of  civility. 

The  Commodore  then  tendered  to  the  regent  such  articles  as  he  might  need  or  desired  to 
possess,  provided  he  had  them  on  board  any  of  the  ships,  adding  that  it  would  give  him  pleasure 
to  supply  them.  Hereupon,  the  four  dignitaries  rose  again,  advanced,  and  bowed  as  before. 
The  interview  was  becoming  rather  uninteresting,  and  it  was  quite  plain  that  the  magnates  of 
Lew  Chew  were,  from  some  cause  or  other,  not  quite  at  their  ease. 

After  about  an  hour  the  regent  rose  and  proposed  that  the  Commodore  should  visit  him  now, 
at  his  own  house.  This  was  alike  intelligible  and  agreeable,  and  the  procession  was  formed  and 
marched  to  the  street  where  it  had  been  invited  fo  enter  on  its  way  to  the  palace.  The  house  of 
the  regent  was  spacious,  consisting  of  a  central  hall,  with  wings  open  to  the  court-yard,  from 
which  it  was  separated  by  a  narrow  verandah  only.  The  floor  was  covered  with  fine  matting. 
It  was  at  once  apparent  that  most  hospitable  preparations  had  here  been  made  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  American  visitors.  Four  tables  were  set  in  the  central  apartment,  and  three  in 
each  of  the  wings,  and  these  were  covered  with  a  most  bountiful  collation.  Immediately  on 
entering  the  guests  were  desired  to  seat  themselves,  the  Commodore,  with  Captains  Buchanan 
and  Adams,  occupying  the  highest  table  on  the  right  hand,  and  the  regent  and  his  associates 
the  one  opposite  on  the  left.  A  pair  of  chop-sticks  was  placed  at  each  corner  of  every  table  ;  in 
the  centre  was  an  earthen  pot  filled  with  saJcee,  (the  intoxicating  drink  made  by  the  Lew 
Chewans,)  surrounded  with  four  acorn  cups,  four  large,  coarse  China  cups,  with  clumsy  spoons 
of  the  same  material,  and  four  teacups.  On  each  table  were  dishes  to  the  number  of  some 
twenty,  of  various  sizes  and  shapes,  and  the  exact  basis  of  some  of  which  no  American  knoweth 
to  this  day;  possibly  it  was  pig.  Of  the  dishes,  however,  which  were  familiar  to  western  appre- 
hension there  were  sliced  boiled  eggs,  which  had  been  dyed  crimson,  fish  made  into  rolls  and 
boiled  in  fat,  pieces  of  cold  baked  fish,  slices  of  hog's  liver,  sugar  candy,  cucumbers,  mustard, 
salted  raddish  tops,  and  fragments  of  lean  pork,  fried.  Cups  of  tea  were  first  handed  round  ; 
these  were  followed  by  very  small  cups  of  sakee,  which  had  the  taste  of  French  liqueur.  Small 
bamboo  sticks,  sharpened  at  one  end,  and  which  some  of  the  guests  mistook  for  toothpicks,  were 
furnished,  to  be  used  as  forks  in  taking  balls  of  meat  and  dough  from  the  soup,  which  made  the 
first  course.  Soup  constituted  also  the  next  seven  courses  of  the  twelve,  whereof  the  repast 
consisted.  The  other  four  were  gingerbread,  salad  made  of  bean  sprouts  and  young  onion  tops, 
a  basket  of  what  appeared  to  be  some  dark  red  fruit,  but  proved  to  be  artificial  balls  composed 
of  a  thin  dough  rind  covering  a  sugary  pulp,  and  a  delicious  mixture  compounded  of  beaten  eggs 
and  a  slender  white  root  with  an  aromatic  taste. 

Novel  as  was  this  bill  of  fare,  the  gentlemen  of  the  expedition  endeavored,  with  true  courtesy, 
to  do  honor  to  the  repast,  and  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth  course  respectfully  took  leave,  though  they 
were  assured  there  were  twelve  more  to  come.  The  number  of  the  courses  indicated  the  desire 
to  do  our  countrymen  a  double  share  of  honor,  inasmuch  as  twelve  is  the  prescribed  number  for 
a  royal  entertainment.  The  Lew  Chewans,  far  removed  as  they  are  from  the  conventionalities 
of  western  civilization,  seemed,  notwithstanding,  to  understand  very  well  the  habit  of  drinking 
toasts  and  giving  sentiments,  and,  indeed,  were  ready  enough  to  drink  on  private  account, 
without  any  stately  formality,  as  the  sakee  circulated  freely  during  the  eight  courses  of  soup. 


192  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

When  the  Commodore  supposed  the  solids  were  about  to  appear,  he  rose  and  proposed  as  a  toast 
the  health  of  the  queen  mother  and  the  young  viceroy,  adding,  "Prosperity  to  the  Lew 
Chewans,  and  may  they  and  the  Americans  always  he  friends."  This,  having  been  translated 
to  the  regent,  appeared  greatly  to  gratify  him,  and  was  drunk  standing,  with  Lew  Chew  honors, 
which  consist  of  draining  the  small  cup  of  sakee,  holding  a  teaspoon  full,  at  one  gulp,  and 
turning  the  vessel  bottom  upward.  The  Commodore  afterward  proposed  the  health  of  the  regent 
and  his  associates,  which  the  latter  returned  by  proposing  the  health  of  the  Commodore  and  the 
officers  of  the  squadron.  By  this  time  the  embarrassment  and  anxious  looks  of  the  Japanese 
officials  had  entirely  vanished  ;  from  what  cause  they  had  proceeded  our  officers  could  not  learn, 
but  most  probably  from  the  consciousness  that  they  were  under  espionage,  and  that  all  they  said 
or  did  would  be  reported  to  those  above  them.  The  entertainment,  however,  proceeded  and 
terminated  with  the  best  possible  feeling  on  both  sides. 

The  interpreter  of  the  regent  was  a  young  native,  named  Ichirazichi,  who  had  been  educated 
at  Pekin,  where  he  remained  three  years.  He  could  speak  a  little  English,  but  the  Chinese  was 
the  language  of  communication.  This  youth  had  some  knowledge  both  of  the  United  States 
history  and  geography.  He  was  not  unacquainted  with  the  character  and  conduct  of  Wash- 
ington, and  called  him  "a  very  great  mandarin."  Where  is  it  that  the  honored  name  of  the 
Father  of  our  country,  this  man  for  all  time,  this  man,  whose  peerless  purity  is  the  proud 
heritage  of  a  common  humanity  the  world  over,  has  not  reached?  It  is  heard  in  tlie  Arab  tent, 
and  in  the  Chinese  village,  under  the  shades  of  Lew  Chew,  and  in  the  cities  of  Japan,  in 
southern  Asia,  and  on  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  ;  all  western  Christendom  knows  it,  all  honors  it. 

At  length  the  feast  was  over,  and  the  American  guests  took  their  departure,  tlie  procession 
forming  in  the  same  order  as  before.  The  subordinate  Japanese  officials  escorted  it  to  the  gate, 
and  the  old  Pe-ching  again  took  his  station  in  advance.  On  starting  down  the  hill,  four  little 
ponies,  which  had  gone  up  without  finding  riders,  were  now  led  by  the  grooms  to  the  rear  of 
the  procession,  and  some  of  the  younger  officers  determined  to  try  their  mettle  in  a  ride  down. 
They  were  very  small  animals,  of  bay  color,  but  exceedingly  spirited ;  and,  kicking  and 
plunging  with  untiring  vivacity,  and  somewhat  of  temper,  treated,  at  first,  with  sublime 
contempt  all  eiforts  to  reduce  them  to  a  gravity  befitting  the  occasion,  and  indignantly  resisted 
every  attempt  to  induce  them,  with  the  rational  sobriety  of  discreet  brutes,  to  take  their  places 
in  the  rear,  and  march  understandingly,  as  became  them.  Like  ill-bred  ponies,  as  they  were, 
they  kicked  up  their  heels,  and  endeavored  to  do  much  as  they  pleased.  This,  however,  merely 
afforded  more  fun  to  the  officers  than  if  the  wiry  little  creatures  had  behaved  themselves 
discreetly  as  part  of  the  American  procession. 

The  descent  of  tlie  hill  was  rather  warm,  as  it  was  not  far  from  noon,  and  the  sun  shone  full 
in  the  faces  of  the  procession ;  but,  on  reaching  the  wooded  slopes,  it  was  met  by  the  grateful 
sea-breeze,  and  the  boats  were  seen  quietly  resting  on  the  waters  of  the  bay,  while  their  crews 
were  scattered  in  groups  under  the  trees,  watching  the  coming  on  of  the  procession,  and  waiting 
to  know  whether  due  honor  had  been  shown  to  the  United  States  in  the  person  of  their  "Old 
Commodore."  Each  boat  had  the  American  colors  flying,  and  Jack  was  made  happy  by  the 
assurance  that  all  possible  respect  had  been  paid  to  his  flag.  By  half-past  two,  the  whole 
procession  was  again  on  board  the  ships,  without  any  accident  or  untoward  incident  having 
occurred  to  mar  either  the  pleasure  or  success  of  the  trip ;  and  thus  ended  the  grand  official 
visit  to  the  palace.     It  was  a  judicious  determination  on  tlie  part  of  the  Commodore  to  make  it; 


GENERAL      1  M  1'  K  E  S  S  I  0  X  S     PRODUCED      BY      THE      VISIT.  193 

and,  having  announced  such  determination  to  the  Lew  Chewans,  it  was  es))ecially  wise  to  carry 
it  through  to  the  letter.  The  moral  influence  produced  by  such  a  steadfast  adherence  to  his 
avowed  purposes  very  soon  exhibited  itself.  It  was  part  of  the  Commodore's  deliberately  formed 
plan,  in  all  his  intercourse  with  these  orientals,  to  consider  carefully  before  he  announced  his 
resolution  to  do  any  act ;  but,  having  announced  it,  he  soon  taught  them  to  know  that  he  would 
do  precisely  what  he  had  said  he  would.  To  this  single  circumstance  much  of  his  success  is  to 
be  attributed.  He  never  deceived  them  by  any  falsehood,  nor  ever  gave  them  reason  to  suppose 
that  his  purposes  could  be  altered  by  their  lies  and  stratagems.  They,  of  course,  saw  at  once 
that  he  was  resolute,  and  that  it  was  dangerous  to  triile  with  him.  His  whole  diplomatic 
policy  was  simply  to  stick  to  the  truth  in  everything — to  mean  just  what  he  said,  and  do  just 
what  he  promised.  Of  course,  it  triumphed  over  a  system  which  admitted  of  no  truth,  but  for 
purposes  of  deception. 

Several  little  circumstances  connected  with  the  excursion  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Commo- 
dore, and,  as  illustrative  of  manners  and  customs,  deserve  a  passing  notice.  The  first  was  the 
exceeding  cleanliness  of  the  Lew  Chewans,  and  their  striking  contrast  to  the  Chinese  in  this 
particular.  The  Commodore,  speaking  of  Shui,  says:  "Never  have  I  seen  a  city  or  town 
exhibiting  a  greater  degree  of  cleanliness ;  not  a  particle  of  dirt,  or  even  dust,  could  be  seen,  so 
different  is  it  from  the  filthiness  of  all  Chinese  cities." 

The  road  over  which  the  procession  passed  was  remarkably  well  constructed.  It  was  elabor- 
ately paved  with  coral  rock,  very  neatly  fitted  together,  and  the  upper  surface  rendered  smooth, 
either  by  artificial  means  or  the  constant  attrition  of  travel. 

The  peasantry  who  hung  upon  the  edges  of  the  procession  seemed  to  be  of  the  lowest  orders 
seen  in  Lew  Chew,  and  exhibited  a  squalid  and  rather  miserable  appearance  ;  many  of  them  Avere 
naked,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  piece  of  cloth  about  the  loins  ;  and  among  the  thousands 
of  these  people  attracted  by  the  novelty  of  the  spectacle,  singular  as  it  may  appear,  not  a  woman 
was  to  be  seen.  The  great  population  of  the  island  may,  therefore,  fairly  be  inferred  from  the 
large  multitudes  assembled,  composed  of  but  one  half  of  the  common  people.  These  men  who 
were  seen  probably  compose  the  laboring  class,  receiving  for  their  daily  toil  scanty  food  and 
harsh  treatment.  The  idlers  are  the  priests,  and  the  hordes  of  spies  and  policemen  who  throng 
the  highways,  and  who  are  watching  everything  by  day  and  night. 

On  the  whole,  the  Commodore  was  pleased  with  the  suavity  and  politeness  of  the  higher 
classes,  and  with  the  seeming  cordiality  of  the  hospitality  which  had  been  shown  him  ;  if  the 
Lew  Chewans  were  not  sincere  they  were,  at  least,  very  good  actors.  As  to  the  culinary  skill 
that  had  been  employed  in  preparing  the  regent's  feast,  there  were  certainly  dishes  of  the  compo- 
sition of  which  the  guests  were  ignorant,  but  still  they  were,  in  general,  savory  and  very  good  ; 
much  more  so  than  those  presented  by  Chinese  cookery.  Whenever  a  fresh  course  was  brought 
in  at  the  regent's  feast,  the  host  and  his  brother  dignitaries  rose  and  emptied  their  small  cups  of 
sakee  to  the  health  of  the  guests ;  and  the  regent  always  gave  a  signal  to  the  Commodore  when 
to  commence  on  a  new  course. 

At  the  reception  in  the  palace,  though  the  queen  did  not  appear,  yet  the  Commodore  was 
quite  satisfied  that  the  story  he  had  been  told  about  her  desperate  illness,  by  the  regent,  was  all 
fiction  ;  and,  in  fact,  if  she  were  not,  as  some  suspected,  a  myth,  he  thought  it  not  improbable 
that  she  and  her  attendant  ladies  were  behind  the  screen  looking  through  some  crevice  at  the 
western  strangers,  possibly  not  a  little  amused  at  the  novel  show.  At  any  rate,  he  was  so 
25  J 


194  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

certain  that  she  would  survive  his  visit  that  he  caused  to  he  sent  to  the  palace  a  present  for  her 
of  a  handsome  mirror,  and  a  quantity  of  French  perfumery  ;  and  left  there  also  the  gifts  which 
he  designed  for  the  prince,  the  regent,  the  mayor  of  Napha,  and  other  dignitaries. 

The  expected  ahsence  from  the  island,  to  which  the  Commodore  had  alluded  on  his  visit  to 
the  palace,  was  to  he  occasioned  by  an  intended  examination  of  the  Bonin  Islands,  a  group  lying 
to  the  eastward,  in  the  neighborhood  of  1-11°  of  longitude,  and  presenting  some  points  of 
interest  for  investigation.  Before  our  departure  for  these  islands,  however,  the  story  of  which 
will  be  told  in  its  place,  we  must  finish  the  narrative  of  events  on  this  the  first  visit  to  Lew 
Chew.  The  old  Pe-ching,  who  received  the  Commodore  on  his  landing  to  go  to  Shui,  was,  as 
we  have  already  mentioned,  the  same  that  with  such  exemjjlary  patience  and  good  nature 
accompanied  (as  chief  spy,  doubtless)  the  exploring  party  in  their  tedious  excursion  of  a  week 
over  the  island.  Mr.  Jones,  the  chaplain,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Taylor  and  Mr.  Heine,  having 
procured  presents  for  the  old  man  by  the  Commodore's  order,  and  added  thereto  some  pieces  of 
Canton  silk  handkerchiefs  of  their  own,  went  on  shore  and  met  the  Pe-ching  at  Dr.  Bettelheim's, 
when  matters  were  satisfactorily  adjusted.  But  on  this  visit,  as  on  all  previous  ones,  the 
system  of  incessant  watching  was  kept  up.  Five  individuals,  in  gray  dresses,  followed  the 
American  gentlemen,  and  sent  forward  a  scout  to  warn  the  people  to  keep  out  of  the  way,  and 
they  accordingly  fled  in  all  directions  on  the  approach  of  the  strangers.  There  seemed  to  be 
special  apprehension  of  their  women  being  seen  ;  but  in  the  few  instances  when  accidentally 
they  became  visible,  they  were  found  to  be  strikingly  unhandsome. 

During  the  period  of  stay  at  Lew  Chew  all  military  and  naval  drills  and  exercises  were 
regularly  performed  daily,  and  the  harbor  of  Kapha  was  made  lively,  on  two  days,  by  a  general 
boat  inspection.  Seventeen  boats,  fully  manned  and  equipped,  and  five  of  them  carrying  twelve 
and  twenty-four  pounders,  drew  up  off  the  Susquehanna,  and  were  reviewed  by  the  fleet  ofiicers. 
It  was  a  fine  spectacle,  and  was  gazed  on  with  lively  interest  by  the  Lew  Chewans.  They  had 
never  seen  any  thing  of  the  kind  before  within  their  quiet  harbor. 

The  pursers  were  sent  on  shore,  before  the  squadron's  dei)arture,  to  settle  accounts  with  the 
treasurers  of  the  island,  and  pay  for  such  supplies  as  had  been  furnished.  By  the  Commodore's 
order  Lieutenant  Contee  and  Mr.  Williams,  the  interpreter,  accompanied  them,  carrying  a 
numljer  of  presents,  chiefly  American  cotton  goods.  According  to  their  past  usage  the  Lew 
Cliewaus  demurred  to  receiving  any  compensation  for  supplies;  but  they  were  given  to  under- 
stand that  this  could  not  possibly  be  allowed ;  and  that  American  ships  of  war  always  paid  the 
people  of  all  nations  from  whom  they  received  supplies.  After  some  persuasion  they  induced 
the  native  treasurers  to  take  compensation  for  all  that  had  been  furnished  to  the  ships,  and  also 
to  receive  tlie  presents.  The  Commodore  thought  it  was  a  point  gained  of  some  importance, 
that  they  had  thus,  for  the  first  time,  as  it  is  believed,  broke  through  their  ancient  custom  of 
not  receiving  pay  for  provisions  furnished  to  vessels.  Henceforth  visitors  and  their  hosts  will 
stand  on  terms  of  equality,  and  no  superiority  can  be  claimed,  nor  any  exclusive  policy  practised 
on  the  ground  of  favors  done  to  strangers. 

Tlie  daguerreotypists,  Messrs.  Brown  and  Draper,  were  settled  on  shore  in  a  house  outside  of 
the  village  of  Tumai,  and  some  of  the  embellishments  of  this  volume  are  illustrative  of  the 
results  of  their  very  useful  labors.  Mr.  Scott,  of  the  Saratoga,  (an  invalid.)  occupied  another 
house,  and  enjoyed  an  agreeable  intercourse  with  the  natives,  finding  no  difficulty  in  procuring 
from  them  abundant  supplies.     A  tide-staff  was  planted,  and  Midshipman  Boardman,  with  two 


DEATU     OF     AN     OPIUM     SMOKER.  195 

men,  were  encamped  under  a  tent  near  it  to  make  regular  observations.  The  rise  and  fall  of 
tlie  tide  during  the  stay  of  the  vessels  had  averaged  about  six  feet. 

All  arrangements  having  been  finally  made  for  a  temporary  absence,  on  the  morning  of  the 
9th  of  June  the  Susquehanna  got  under  vray  for  the  Bonin  Islands,  having  the  Saratoga  in  tow. 

The  Mississippi  and  Supply  were  left  at  Napha,  and  the  Commodore  enjoined  on  Commander 
Lee,  the  senior  officer,  to  cultivate  the  most  friendly  relations  with  the  islanders,  exer- 
cising all  possible  forbearance  and  kindness  in  his  intercourse  with  the  authorities  and  people, 
and  to  be  careful  to  permit  none  but  the  most  orderly  persons  to  go  on  shore,  lest  some  untoward 
event  should  mar  the  harmony  then  happily  subsisting. 

Passing  through  the  southern  channel  the  Susquehanna  rounded  Abbey  Point,  and  took  a 
southern  course  around  the  extremity  of  the  island.  This  end  of  the  island,  though  hilly  and 
picturesque,  did  not  appear  to  be  either  so  fertile  or  so  well  cultivated  as  the  ea.stern  and 
western  shores.  In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  Lew  Chew  sank  beneath  the  horizon,  and  the 
ship  held  on  her  course,  east  by  north,  at  the  rate  of  eight  knots  an  hour.  At  first  she  had  a 
light  wind  from  the  southwest,  which  soon  died  away;  but  presently  she  came  within  the  influ- 
ence of  the  monsoon,  which  filled  her  sails;  the  drawing  sails  of  both  ships  were  set,  and  though 
the  steamer  had  the  Saratoga  in  tow,  and  used  but  three  of  her  boilers,  she  made  nine  and  a 
half  knots. 

The  southwest  monsoon  still  continuing,  good  progress  was  made,  notwithstanding  a  strong 
current  from  the  eastward ;  and  nothing  occurred  to  interrupt  the  uniformity  of  sea  life  on 
board,  save  an  event  which  interrupts  the  current  of  life  itself  alike  on  ship  and  shore.  There 
was  a  death  on  board  the  Susquehanna.  "When  Mr.  Williams  came  from  China  to  join  the 
squadron,  at  Lew  Chew,  as  interpreter,  he  brought  with  him  an  old  Chinaman  who  had  been 
his  teacher,  and  who,  it  was  supposed,  might  be  useful  in  future  operations ;  but  it  was  very 
soon  apparent  that  the  old  man's  race  was  nearly  run.  He  was  a  victim  to  the  habit  of  opium 
smoking,  which  he  was  attempting  to  abandon.  The  consequences  of  this  effort,  and  the  effects 
of  sea  sickness  on  board  the  Saratoga,  prostrated  him  so  completely  that  no  medicines  had  any 
effect,  and  he  sank  into  a  state  of  nervelessness  and  emaciation  painful  to  look  upon.  For  a 
week  before  his  death  his  condition  had  been  most  pitiable :  every  joint  in  his  skeleton  frame 
seemed  to  be  in  perpetual  motion ;  his  face  was  a  ghastly  yellow ;  his  cheeks  sunken  on  the 
bones;  the  eyes  ■wild  and  glassy;  and  his  mind  in  a  state  of  semi-madness.  Death,  when  it 
came,  was  a  relief  to  the  poor  old  man,  as  well  as  to  those  who  saw  him  die.  On  the  day  after 
his  decease  the  ship  presented  that  striking  picture,  a  funeral  at  sea.  The  Commodore  and 
other  officers  stood  around,  with  a  large  part  of  the  crew,  while  the  chaplain  committed  his 
body  to  the  deep  until  the  day  come  when  "the  earth  and  the  sea  shall  give  up  their  dead." 

A  more  frightful  example  of  the  terrible  effects  of  the  use  of  opium  it  would  be  difficult  to 
find.  It  exceeded  in  horror  all  the  loathsome  and  repidsive  results  of  the  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks.  Delirium  iremens  is  horrible  enough,  but  the  last  scene  of  this  old  opium  smoker  was 
more  horrible  still.  There  was  something  revolting  also  in  the  conduct  of  the  Chinese  on  board 
the  ship.  They  manifested  not  the  least  sympathy  with  their  dying  countryman.  For  a  day 
or  two  before  he  died,  not  one  of  them,  with  the  exception  of  one  of  the  Commodore's  servants, 
would  go  near  him;  and  on  the  last  night  of  his  life,  when  two  of  the  deck  coolies  had  been 
ordered  by  the  captain  to  remain  in  the  room,  and  were  obliged  to  obey,  they  squatted  down  in 
the  corner  most  remote  from  him,  and  never  once  approached  him.  Some  of  the  quartermasters 
gave  him  what  he  needed,  and  were  with  him  when  he  died. 


196  EXPEDITIOXTOJAPAN. 

During  the  run  to  the  Bonin  Islands,  the  crews  were  occasionally  heat  to  quarters  by  way 
of  exercise,  and  on  one  occasion  after  dark.  Night  signals  were  made  to  the  Saratoga  hy  means 
of  lanterns  and  blue  lights,  and  to  those  who  were  not  "old  salts"  enough  to  have  seen  such 
sights  before,  the  eflect  was  alike  novel  and  exciting.  The  blue  lights  illuminating  the  broad 
sails,  at  their  full  tension  under  the  influence  of  the  monsoon,  the  men  at  their  several  stations, 
all  brought  out  in  the  glare  of  an  artificial  light,  which,  though  bright  as  daylight,  yet  was  of 
unearthly  aspect,  gave  to  the  scene  somewhat  of  a  startling  effect,  and  forcibly  impressed  the 
imagination  with  the  peculiar  features  of  a  night  engagement.  The  next  morning  after  this 
exhibition  (Sunday)  was  fresh  and  cool,  and  it  was  pleasant,  as  the  vessels  held  on  their  pros- 
perous way  over  a  smooth  sea,  to  see  the  crews  all  newly  washed,  clean,  and  dressed  in  their 
suits  of  snowy  duck  with  broad  blue  collars,  while  everything  about  the  vessel  wore  a  trim, 
holiday  air,  and  those  not  on  duty  were  waiting  for  five  bells  to  gather  around  the  chaplain's 
temporary  pulpit — the  capstan — and  join  in  the  services  of  the  day,  so  peculiarly  appropriate 
from  men  "who  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  and  whose  path  is  in  the  great  waters."  The 
favoring  circumstances  all  continuing,  on  the  14th  of  June,  at  10  a.  m.,  the  ships  found  them- 
selves ofl"  the  entrance  of  Port  Lloyd,  on  Peel  Island,  one  of  the  Bonins.  The  Saratoga  had 
been  previously  cast  off,  and  was  now  ordered  to  go  ahead.  Two  vessels,  apparently  whalers, 
hove  in  sight,  one  on  either  quarter.  The  one  to  the  northward  showed  American  colors,  and 
began  to  beat  down  toward  the  Susquehanna,  anxious  probably  to  know  the  meaning  of 
such  a  strange  event  as  the  appearance  of  one  of  her  country's  large  armed  steamers  in  that 
remote  spot.  The  three  islands  called  Peel,  Buckland,  and  Stapleton,  constitute  the  principal 
part  of  that  group,  and  lie  close  together.  They  are  high,  bold,  and  rocky,  and,  though  not 
so  beautiful  and  green  as  Lew  Chew,  are  yet  exceedingly  picturesque.  Pilots  put  off  from  the 
island  to  both  ships,  and  soon  both  were  safely  anchored  in  the  harbor  of  Port  Lloyd. 


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SITUATION      OF     THE     BONIN     ISLANDS. 


197 


CHxVPTEE  X. 


SlTrATION-     OF      box™     ISLAXDS. FIRST     DISCOVERT     OF     THEM. EUROPEAXS     HAVE     XO     CLAIM     AS     THE     DISCOVERERS. MIXED 

CHARACTER     OF     PRESENT     SETTLERS. EXTERNAL    APPEARANCE     OF    PEEL    ISLAND. GEOLOGICAL    FORMATION. HARBOR     OF 

PORT    LLOYD. PRODUCTIONS    OF    THE    ISLAND,    ANIMAL    AND    VEGETABLE. RESORT     OF    WHALERS. CONDITION     OF     PRESENT 

INHABITANTS. COMMODORE      CAUSES      THE      ISLAND      TO      BE      EXPLORED. REPORTS      OF     EXPLORING     PARTIES. KANAKAS. 

EXAMINATION    OF    STAPLETON  ISLAND,  AND  REPORT  THEREON. SURVEY   OF  HARBOR    OF    PORT    LLOYD. LAND    PURCHASED    FOR 

A    COAL    DEPOT. DEPARTURE    FROM    BONIN    ISLANDS    ON    THE    RETURN    TO    LEW    CHEW. DISAPPOINTMENT    ISLANT). ITS    TRUE 

POSITION. BORODINOS. ARRIVAL   AT    NAPHA. 

HE  Bonin  Islands,  lying  in  tlie  Japanese  sea,  extend  in  a 
direction  nearly  north  and  south,  between  the  latitudes  of 
26°  30'  and  2*J°  45'  north,  the  centre  line  of  the  group  being 
in  longitude  about  142°  15'  east.  The  islands  were  visited 
•  by  Captain  Beechey  in  1827,  and,  with  the  proverbial  modesty 
;  and  justice  of  English  surveyors,  named  by  him,  as  if  they 
had  been  then  first  observed.  The  northern  cluster  he  called 
'Parry's  Group;  the  middle  cluster,  consisting  of  three  larger 
■islands,  respectively  Peel,  Buckland,  and  Stapleton;  and  the 
southern  cluster  was  named  by  him  Bailey's,  utterly  regardless 
of  the  fact  thus  stated  by  himself :  "The  southern  cluster  is 
;  that  on  which  a  whale  ship,  commanded  by  a  Mr.  Coffin, 
anchored  in  1823,  who  was  first  to  communicate  its  position  to 
this  country,  and  who  bestowed  his  name  upon  the  port.  As  the  cluster  was,  however,  left 
without  any  distinguishing  appellation,  I  named  it  after  Francis  Bailey,  esq.,  late  President  of 
the  Astronomical  Society."  *  To  the  principal  port  of  Peel  Island  he  gave  the  name  of  Port 
Lloyd. 

This  was  a  pretty  liberal  distribution  of  honors  by  an  accidental  visitor  in  1827,  to  a  group 
of  islands  that  had  been  known,  and  of  which  we  have  authentic  accounts  as  early  as  the 
seventeenth  century.  According  to  Ksempfer,  these  islands  were  known  to  the  Japanese  at  a 
period  as  far  back  as  1675,  and  were  described  by  them  under  the  name  of  Buna  Sima,  signifying 
an  island  without  people.  According  to  the  account  of  this  traveller,  whose  words  we  quote, 
the  Japanese  accidentally,  about  the  year  1675,  discovered  a  very  large  island,  one  of  their 


Finrflaj*»  Oirprlory  f^f  thw  Pacific  Ocean. 


198  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

barques  having  been  forced,  in  a  storm,  from  the  island  Fatscyo,  from  which  place  they  computed 
it  to  be  three  hundred  Japanese  miles  distant,  toward  the  east.  They  met  with  no  inhabitants, 
but  found  it  to  be  a  very  pleasant  and  fruitful  country,  well  supplied  with  fresh  water,  and 
ftirnished  with  plenty  of  plants  and  trees,  particularly  the  arrack  tree,  which,  however,  might 
give  room  to  the  conjecture  that  the  island  lay  rather  to  the  south  of  Japan  than  to  the  east,  as 
these  trees  grow  only  in  hot  countries.  The  Japanese  marked  it  as  an  uninhabited  place,  but 
they  found  uj^on  its  shores  an  incredible  quantity  of  fish  and  crabs,  "some  of  which  were  from 
four  to  six  feet  long."  The  description  of  Ksempfer,  as  well  as  that  of  an  original  Japanese 
•writer,  given  in  the  note  below,  was  found  by  Commodore  Perry  to  correspond  exactly  with  the 
present  appearance  of  the  island.  The  arrack,  or  areca  tree,  alluded  to  in  the  extract,  is  found 
uijon  Peel  Island.* 

*  Extract  from  Klaprofh's  translation  of  San  Kokp  Tsoir  Ran  To  Sits. 

"  The  original  name  of  these  islands  is  O-gasa-wara-sima,  but  they  are  commonly  called  Mon-nin-sima,  (in  Chinese,  Wu-jin- 
ton,)  or  the  islands  without  people,  and  this  is  the  name  which  I  have  adopted  in  my  work.  That  of  O-gasa-wara-sima,  or  the 
O-gasa-wara  islands,  was  given  to  them  after  the  navigator  who  first  visited  them,  and  who  prepared  a  map  of  tliem.  In  the 
same  manner  has  the  southern  part  of  the  New  World  been  called  Magalania,  (Magellan,)  who  first  discovered  it  some  two 
hundred  years  since. 

"  The  Bonin  islands  are  found  270  ri  to  the  southeasterly  of  the  province  of  Idsu.  From  Simoda,  in  that  principality,  it  is  13 
ri  to  the  island  of  Myake;  from  thence  to  Sin-sima  or  New  island,  seven  ri;  from  Sin-sima  to  Mikoura,  five  ri;  from  thence  to 
Fatsicio  or  Fatibo,  (Fatsisio,)  41  ri;  and,  lastly,  from  this  to  the  most  northern  of  the  uninhabited  islands,  it  is  reckoned  to  be 
180  ri;  and  to  the  most  southerly  200  ri. 

"  This  archipelago  lies  in  the  27th  degree  of  north  latitude.  The  climate  is  warm,  and  makes  the  valleys  Ij'ing  between  the 
high  mountains,  watered  by  rivulets,  to  be  very  fertile,  so  that  they  produce  beans,  wheat,  millet,  grain  of  all  kinds,  and  sugar 
cane.  The  tree  called  Nankin,  faze  or  tallow  tree  (Stillingia  sebifera)  grows  there,  and  likewise  the  wax  tree.  The  fishery  is 
good,  and  might  be  made  very  productive. 

"  Many  plants  and  trees  grow  in  these  islands,  but  there  are  very  few  quadrupeds.  There  are  trees  so  large  that  a  man  can- 
not embrace  them  with  his  arms,  and  which  arc  frequently  tliirty  Chinese  fathoms  in  height,  (or  240  feet.)  Their  wood  is  hard 
and  beautiful.  There  are  also  some  very  high  trees  resembling  the  siou-ro-tsoung-liu,  or  chamarops  excelsa,  cocoa  nuts,  areca 
palms,  that  tree  whose  nuts  are  called  pe-eouan-tsy  in  Chinese,  the  katsirau,  the  red  sandal  wood,  the  tou-mou,  the  camphor, 
tub  figs  of  the  mountains,  a  high  tree  whose  leaves  resemble  those  of  the  ground  ivy,  the  cinnamon  tree,  mulberry,  and  some 
others. 

"  Among  the  plants  the  smilax  China,  (or  China  root,)  called  san-ke-rei,  the  to-ke,  a  medicinal  herb  called  assa-ghion-keva, 
and  others  are  to  be  reckoned. 

"  Among  birds  there  are  diflerent  species  of  parokeets,  cormorants,  partridges,  and  some  resembling  white  sea-mews,  but 
more  than  three  feet  long.     All  these  birds  have  so  little  wildness  that  they  can  be  taken  with  the  hand. 

"  The  chief  productions  of  the  mineral  kingdom  in  this  archipelago  are  alum,  green  vitriol,  stones  of  different  colors,  petri- 
factions, &c. 

"Whales  are  found  in  the  sea,  also  huge  crawfish,  enormous  shells,  and  echini,  which  are  called 'gall  of  the  sea.'  The 
ocean  here  is  unusually  rich  in  various  products. 

"  In  the  third  year  of  the  reign  Ghen-Fo,  (1675,)  Simaye  Saghemon,  Biso  Saghemon,  and  Sima)'e  Dairo  Sagliemon,  three 
inhabitants  of  Nagasaki,  took  a  sea  voyage  to  the  principality  of  Idsu.  They  were  embarked  in  a  large  junk,  built  by  a  skillful 
Chinese  carpenter.  These  three  men  were  well  acquainted  with  astronomy  and  geography,  and  accompanied  by  Fatobe,  the 
chief  ship-carpenter  of  the  port  of  Yedo,  who  dwelt  in  the  lane  of  nets,  'i'hc  vessel  was  managed  by  thirty  sailors.  Having 
obtained  a  passjjort  from  the  imperial  marine,  they  left  the  harbor  of  Simoda,  the  5th  day  of  the  4th  moon,  and  steered  for  the 
island  of  Fatsio.  From  thence  they  sailed  towards  the  southeast  and  discovered  a  group  of  eighty  islands.  They  drew  up  a. 
map  and  an  exact  account  of  them,  in  which  are  some  curious  details  respecting  the  situation,  climate,  and  productions  of  this 
archipelago.  They  returned  the  20th  day  of  the  6tli  moon,  in  the  same  year,  to  Simoda,  where  Simaye  published  an  account  of 
his  voyage. 

"  It  is  singular  that  this  writer  makes  no  mention  of  the  swit\  current,  kuro-se-gaw,  which  is  experienced  between  the  islands 
of  Mikura  and  Fatsio.  Its  breadth  exceeds  twenty  matze,  (about  half  a  ri,)  and  it  flows  with  great  swiftness  from  east  to  west, (a) 
about  one  hundred  ri.  This  omission  would  be  inexplicable  if  this  current  was  not  much  less  rapid  in  summer  and  autumn  than 
it  is  in  winter  and  spring.  Simaye,  in  his  passage  to  the  Honin  islands,  passed  it  in  the  first  part  of  the  intorculary  month, 
whicli  succeeds  the  fourth  moon  ;  on  his  return,  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth  moon,  he  should  have  foinid  the  currents  less  rapid, 
and  thus  his  attention  was  not  called  to  this  dangerous  passage." 

"  The  largest  of  the  eighty  islands  is  fifteen  ri  in  circuit,  and  thus  is  a  little  less  than  Iki  island  in  size.  Another  is  ten  ri  in 
circumference,  and  about  the  size  of  Amakusa  island.     Besides  these  two  there  are  eight  others  which  are  from  two  to  six  and 

(">  The  writer  In  describing  the  dh-ection  nf  the  riirrent  Id  mifitiiken. 


FIRST     DISCOVERY     OF     BONIN     ISLANDS.  199 

The  green  turtles  which  abound  in  the  island  were  probably  mistaken  for  crabs,  which  may 
account  for  the  gigantic  size  attributed  by  Kfempfer  to  these  animals.  Other  accounts  give  a 
much  earlier  date  for  the  discovery  by  the  Japanese  than  that' of  1675,  stated  by  the  authority 
just  quoted.  At  any  rate,  the  English  have  not  a  particle  of  claim  to  priority  of  discovery. 
In  illustration  of  the  discovery  of  the  Bonins  by  the  accidental  visit  of  a  Jajianese  junk,  it  may 
be  stilted  that  the  Commodore  was  informed  by  Mr.  Savory,  an  American  resident,  that  a 
Japanese  vessel  of  about  forty  tons  burden  came  into  Port  Lloyd  thirteen  years  before,  having 
been  driven  by  stress  of  weather  from  the  coast  of  Japan.  After  remaining  during  the  winter 
she  sailed  on  her  return  home  in  the  spring,  and,  as  she  had  brought  with  her  nothing  but  a 
small  supply  of  dried  fish,  was  provided  gratuitously  by  the  settlers  with  provisions.  On 
another  occasion,  some  eight  years  subsequently,  a  French  ship,  cruizing  off  Stapleton  island, 
discovered  a  fire  ashore,  and  on  sending  a  boat  to  the  spot  found  the  wreck  of  a  Japanese  junk  and 
five  of  its  crew,  the  only  survivors,  in  a  most  helpless  plight.  They  were  then  taken  on  board 
and  carried  to  Port  Lloyd^  and  thence  subsequently  removed  by  the  humane  Frenchmen  with 
the  intention  of  lauding  them  on  one  of  the  Japanese  islands.  In  confirmation  of  this  statement 
we  have  the  fact  that  a  party  of  oflicers  from  the  Susquehanna,  on  a  visit  to  Stapleton  Island, 
accidentally  saw  the  wreck  of  this  same  vessel.  The  remains  of  the  junk  were  found  in  a  little 
bay  where  they  landed,  the  wreck  being  still  partially  kept  together  by  large  nails  of  cojiper 
and  portions  of  sheets  of  this  metal.  From  these  materials  and  other  indications,  it  was  inferred 
that  it  was  a  Japanese  junk,  and  as  the  edges  of  the  planks  were  but  little  rubbed  or  decayed, 
it  was  concluded  that  the  wreck  could  not  be  very  old. 

Captain  Coffin,  whose  nationality  is  not  mentioned,  but  who,  from  his  name,  was  probably  an 
American,  and  if  so,  doubtless  from  Nantucket,  visited  and  gave  his  name  to  that  part  of  the  group 
so  singularly  appropriated  and  modestly  christened  by  Beechey  as  the  Bailey  Islands.  They  are 
spoken  of  by  the  inhabitants  as  the  southern  islands,  and  were  always  regarded  by  them  as 
belonging  to  the  Benin  group.  They  are  about  twenty  miles  to  the  south  of  Port  Lloyd.  It  was 
not  until  1827  that  Captain  Beechey,  commanding  the  English  surve3'ing  vessel,  the  Blossom, 
visited  the  islands,  and  taking  formal  possession  in  the  name  of  the  British  king,  gave  English 
titles  to  them.  The  inhabitants  practically  disown  the  paternity  of  the  English  sovereign,  and  do 
not  recognize  the  names  given  in  his  self-assumed  sponsorship  by  the  English  captain.  For 
example,  the  very  dignified  appellations  of  Bucklaud  and  Stapleton,  with  which  Beechey  has 
honored  two  islands  of  the  northern  group,  are  quite  ignored  by  the  inhabitants,  who  sjjeak  of  these 

seven  ri  around.  These  ten  islands  have  flat  plateaux  which  could  be  made  habitable,  and  where  grain  would  grow  very  well. 
The  climate  is  warm  and  favorable  to  cultivation,  as  one  might  infer  from  their  geographical  position.  They  atford  various  valu- 
able productions.     The  remaining  seventy  islets  are  only  mere  steep  rocks, and  produce  nothing." 

"  A  colony  of  condemned  criminals  h.as  been  sent  to  these  islands,  there  to  labor  ;  they  have  tilled  the  earth  and  planted  .some 
patches.  They  are  collected  in  villages,  and  have  brought  together  the  same  things  found  in  other  provinces  of  the  empire. 
One  can  visit  these  islands,  and  bring  back  its  products  in  the  same  year.  In  this  way  a  trade  would  easily  spring  up,  and  the 
lienetit  to  be  drawn  from  it  would  be  considerable.     This  must  be  plain  to  all." 

"  In  the  reign  Au-Yei  (from  1771  to  17H0)  I  was  sent  on  a  commission  into  the  province  of  Fisen,  where  I  became  acquainted 
with  a  Dutchman  named  .\arend  Wcric  Veil,  who  showed  mc  a  geography,  in  which  mention  was  made  of  .fonie  islands  lying 
200  ri  to  the  southeast  of  Japan,  called  Woest  eiland  by  the  author.  The  word  ff'otsi  means  desert,  and  ciland  (or  yeirand,  as 
the  original  reads)  island.  He  remarks,  that  these  islands  are  not  inhabited,  but  that  many  sorts  of  herbs  and  trees  arc  found 
there.  The  Japanese  might  establish  a  colony  on  one  of  these  islands  on  which  grain  and  other  productions  would  thrive.  In 
spile  of  the  length  of  the  voyage  thither,  the  establishment  would  be  useful  to  them  for  these  purposes.  The  Dutch  company 
would  derive  very  little  advantage  from  the  possession  of  these  islands,  they  being  too  small  and  too  remote  for  their  use." 

"  I  have  thought  proper  to  repeat  these  words,  which  deserve  to  be  borne  in  mind,  and  with  them  1  bring  to  a  conclusion  all 
that  I  have  to  say  respecting  the  Bonin  Islands." 


200  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

places  respectively  as  Goat  and  Hog  islands.  When  the  English  visited  and  took  possession  of  the 
Bonins,  the  date  of  the  visit  and  tlie  act  of  appropriation  were  dulj-  engraved  upon  a  copper 
plate  which  was  nailed  to  a  tree,  but  the  plate  and  the  tree  are  no  longer  there,  and  the  only- 
evidence  of  British  possession  is  the  occasional  hoisting  of  the  English  flag  on  one  of  the 
neighboring  hills,  a  duty  that  was  originally  delegated  to  a  wandering  Englishman  who  chanced 
to  be  on  the  spot.  It  is  now  considered  merely  a  signal  to  be  hoisted  on  the  arrival  of  a  vessel. 
Iso  government  is  recognized  by  the  inhabitants,  who  declare  that  they  have  no  need  of  any 
foreign  control,  as  they  can  take  good  care  of  themselves. 

In  the  year  following  the  visit  of  Captain  Beechey,  a  Captain  Lutke  of  the  Russian  navy 
arrived  and  went  through  very  much  the  same  ceremony  of  taking  possession  and  of  otherwise 
appropriating  as  his  English  predecessor. 

It  is  quite  clear  that  the  Japanese  were  the  first  discoverers  of  these  islands.  They  probably 
settled  and  then  subsequently  abandoned  them.  It  is  possible  that  the  early  Spanish,  Portuguese, 
and  Dutch  navigators  may  have  been  acquainted  with  the  Bonins,  and  in  later  years  they  have 
been  visited  occasionally  by  the  Americans,  English,  and  Russians.  The  fact  of  a  Spanish  visit 
would  seem  to  be  proved  by  the  name  of  Arzobispo  or  Archbishop,  by  which  the  islands  are 
sometimes  distinguished.  One  of  the  inhabitants  reported  that  he  recollected,  on  his  arrival  on 
the  spot,  that  there  was  a  board  on  a  tree  which  recorded  the  first  Russian  visit.  Neither  of  the 
European  nations  have  as  yet  made  any  attempt  at  colonization. 

In  1830,  several  Americans  and  Europeans  came  to  the  Bonins  from  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
accompanied  by  various  natives — men  and  women — of  that  country. 

The  leaders  of  this  adventure  were  five  men,  two  originally  from  the  United  States — 
Nathaniel  Savory  and  Aldin  B.  Chapin,  of  Massachusetts — one  from  England  of  the  name  of 
Richard  Mildtchamp,  one  Charles  Johnson,  of  Denmark,  and  the  fifth  a  Genoese  known  as 
Mattheo  Mazara.  The  only  one  of  these  remaining  on  the  island  during  the  visit  of 
Commodore  Perry  was  Nathaniel  Savory,  an  American.  Mildtchamp  still  survives,  but  has 
taken  up  his  residence  at  Guam,  one  of  the  Ladrone  islands.  The  Genoese,  Mazara,  is  dead, 
and  Savory  has  married  his  widow,  a  pretty  and  young  native  of  Guam,  by  whom  he  has 
ofi'spring.  Savory  occupies  himself  with  the  culture  of  a  little  farm,  which  is  tolerably 
productive.  He  also  carries  on  a  trade  in  sweet  potatoes  of  his  own  raising  and  in  a  rum  of 
his  own  distillation  from  sugar  cane,  with  the  whaling  ships  which  frequent  the  place  ;  and  he 
had  prosecuted  his  business  with  such  success  as  to  accumulate,  at  one  time,  several  thousands 
of  dollars.  These  he  deposited  in  the  ground,  when,  some  three  or  four  years  since,  a  schooner 
arrived  under  the  American  flag,  bringing  a  few  wortliless  scoundrels,  who  ingratiated 
themselves,  under  the  pretence  of  great  friendship,  with  the  old  man,  who  was  thus  induced 
to  make  them  the  confidants  of  his  success,  and  of  its  proof  which  he  had  stored  away.  These 
villains,  after  living  for  several  months  on  terms  of  great  intimacy  and  confidence  with  Savory, 
left  the  island,  having  first  robbed  their  benefactor  of  all  liis  money,  despoiled  his  household 
of  a  couple  of  young  women,  whom  they  took  away  with  them,  carried  ofi'  his  journal,  and 
wantonly  injured  his  property.  Fortunately  for  justice,  the  guilty  party  were  afterwards 
arrested  at  Honolulu,  but  the  captive  Avoraen  expressed  themselves  quite  contented  with  their 
lot,  and  declared  that  they  had  no  desire  to  return.  As  for  the  money,  it  was  not  learned 
whether  that  was  ever  recovered  or  not. 

Tlie  islands  of  Benin  are  high,  bold^  and  rocky,  and  are  evidently  of  volcanic  formation. 


GEOLOGICAL     FORMATION' 


201 


They  are  green  with  verdure  an  I  a  full  pcrowtli  of  tropical  vegetation,  Avhich  crowds  up  the 
acclivities  of  the  hills,  from  the  very  borders  of  the  shore,  which  is,  here  and  there,  edged  with 
coral  reefs.  The  headlands  and  detached  rocks  have  been  thrown  by  former  convulsions  of 
nature  into  various  grotesque  forms,  which  assume  to  the  eye  the  shape  of  castle  and  tower, 
and  strange  animals,  of  monstrous  size  and  hideous  form.  Numerous  canal-like  passages  were 
observed  opening  in  the  sides  of  the  rocky  cliffs,  which  had  almost  the  appearance  of  being 
hewn  out  with  the  chisel,  but  which  were  evidently  formed  in  the  course  of  volcanic  changes, 
when  the  rock  flowed  in  liquid  lava,  and  found  issue  in  these  channels,  which  the  torrents  that 
come  down  the  sides  of  the  mountains  in  the  rainy  season  toward  the  sea  have  worn  smooth  by 
constant  attrition.  Some  of  these  dykes,  or  canal-like  passages,  less  affected  by  time  and  the 
washing  of  the  water,  still  retain  their  irregular  formation,  which  has  so  much  the  appearance 
of  steps  that  the  observer,  as  he  looks  upon  them,  might  fancy  they  had  been  cut  by  the  hand 
of  man  in  the  solid  rock,  for  the  purpose  of  climbing  the  mountain.  On  the  Southern  Head,  as 
it  is  called,  within  the  harbor  of  Port  Lloyd,  there  is  a  very  curious  natural  cave  or  tunnel, 
which  passes  through  the  basaltic  rock,  from  the  Southern  Head  to  the  beach  on  the  other  side. 
The  entrance  has  a  width  of  about  fifteen  feet,  and  a  height  of  thirty,  but  the  roof  within  soon 
rises  to  forty  or  fifty  feet,  where  it  has  so  much  the  appearance  of  artificial  structure,  that  it 
may  be  likened  to  a  builder's  arch,  in  which  even  the  keystone  is  observable.     There  is  sufficient 


Natural  Tuiilld,  Purt  LIuyJ,  U-i:ii.i  L^UllJ:^ 


water  for  a  boat  to  pass  from  one  end  to  the  other.     There  are  several  otiier  caves  or  tunnels, 
one  of  which  is  at  least  fifty  yards  in  length,  and  ])asses  through  a  headland  buumling  tlie 
harbor.      Tin's  is  con.stantl}'  traverKcl  by  the  canoes  of  the  inhabitants. 
•2C.  J 


202  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

The  geological  formation  of  the  island  is  trappean,  with  its  various  configurations  and 
mineralogical  peculiarities;  columnar  hasalt  appears,  and  hornblende  and  chalcedony  are  tlmnd. 
There  are  all  the  indications  of  past  volcanic  action,  and  the  oldest  resident  of  Peel  Island  stated 
that  two  or  three  tremblings  of  the  earth,  giving  evidence  of  a  liability  to  earthquake,  are 
experienced  annually  even  now. 

The  harbor  of  Tort  Lloyd  (as  Beechey  named  it)  is  on  the  western  side,  and  nearly  in  the 
centre  of  Peel  Island.  It  is  easy  of  ingress  and  egress,  and  may  be  considered  as  safe  and 
commodious,  though  of  deep  anchorage.  Vessels  usually  anchor  in  from  eighteen  to  twenty- 
two  lathoms.  The  port  is  laid  down  on  Beechey's  chart  as  in  latitude  21°  5'  35"  north,  and 
142°  11'  30"  east  longitude.  This  position,  however,  is  believed  to  be  erroneous,  for,  according 
to  two  sets  of  observations,  made  by  the  master  of  the  Susquehanna,  the  longitude  was  found 
to  be  142°  16'  30"  east;  five  miles  more  to  the  eastward  than  Beechey  makes  it.  The  safest 
anchorage  is  to  be  found  as  high  up  the  harbor  as  a  ship  can  conveniently  go,  having  regard  to 
depth  and  room  for  swinging  and  veering  cable.  Beechey's  directions  for  entering  the  port  are 
suflScientlv  correct,  and  these,  together  with  the  Commodore's  own  observations,  will  be  found 
in  the  Appendix. 

Wood  and  water  can  be  procured  in  abundance,  though  the  former  must  be  cut  by  the  crew, 
and  taken  on  board  the  ship  green.  The  water  is  obtained  from  running  streams,  and  is  of 
good  quality.  Timber  for  building  purposes  is  rather  scarce,  and  would  soon  be  exhausted  if 
any  increase  of  poiralation  were  to  render  the  erection  of  many  houses  necessary.  The  best 
kinds  of  wood  are  the  jamana  and  wild  mulberry,  the  former  of  which  is  very  like  the  red  wood 
of  Brazil  and  Mexico,  and  is  very  enduring. 

The  harbor  of  Port  Lloyd  and  the  neighboring  waters  abound  with  excellent  fish,  which  may 
be  taken  by  the  hook  or  net,  although  the  places  for  hauling  the  seine  are  few,  owing  to  the 
coral  which  in  many  parts  lines  the  shores.  The  best  place  for  this  purpose  is  upon  the  beach 
which  borders  "Ten  Fathom  Hole,"  a  deep  portion  of  the  bay  which  is  close  to  the  coral  reef 
that  extends  out  from  the  shore.  The  varieties  offish  are  not  numerous;  among  those  taken  in 
the  seine  belonging  to  the  Susquehanna  there  were  but  five  observed:  the  mullet,  which 
seemed  to  be  the  most  abundant,  two  varieties  of  perch,  the  gar,  and  the  common  ray.  Sharks 
are  very  numerous,  and,  when  quite  small,  frequent  the  shallow  places  among  the  coral  rocks, 
and  are  there  pursued  by  the  dogs,  seized  upon  and  dragged  on  shore. 

There  is  an  abundance  of  excellent  green  turtle,  of  which  the  ships  obtained  large  supplies ; 
there  are  also  plenty  of  cray  fish.  The  varieties  of  the  testacea  are  numerous,  but  none 
that  was  observed  of  any  rarity,  and  none  edible  except  the  charaa  gigas,  which,  however,  is 
very  tough  and  indigestible.  The  family  of  the  Crustacea  is  very  extensive,  of  which  the  land 
crab  forms  the  chief  part,  and  which  exists  in  every  variety  of  size,  form,  and  color;  one  of  the 
most  abounding  is  that  which  is  commonly  known  as  the  "pirate."  This  animal  can  be  seen 
in  every  direction  near  the  shore,  travelling  about  with  its  odd-looking  domicil  upon  its  back, 
which  it  seems  to  have  got  possession  of  rather  by  chance  than  from  choice.  The  "pirate"  has 
no  home  of  its  own,  but  appropriates,  whence  its  name,  that  which  belongs  to  others.  It  has  a 
decided  preference  for  the  shells  of  the  buccina,  murex,  and  bulla,  which  have  the  comfortable 
proportions  of  an  inch  and  a  half  or  so  in  length ;  but  if  such  desirable  quarters  should,  by  any 
mischance,  happen  to  be  scarce,  the  "pirate"  readily  turns  into  the  next  most  suitable  dwelling 
of  some  neighbor  at  hand.     It   is  necessary  that  the  animal  should  have  some  snug  corner 


ANIMAL      AND      VEGETABLE      PRODUCTIONS.  203 

wherein,  if  not  to  lay  its  head,  at  anj  rate  to  put  its  tail,  for  the  latter  is  soft  and  requires 
constant  protection.  Thus,  when  the  "pirate"  moves  ahout,  his  head  and  claws  are  always 
protruded,  hut  his  rear  is  covered  with  his  borrowed  shell.  It  is  still  an  unsettled  question 
whether  this  animal  appropriates  the  domicils  of  others  by  first  rudely  ejecting  their  living 
occupants,  or  more  considerately  waits  until  a  natural  death  or  some  fatality  vacates  the 
quarters,  and  then  takes  possession.  The  "pirate"  is  a  voracious  creature,  and  seizes  with 
great  avidity  upon  anything  eatable  that  comes  in  its  way. 

The  scarcity  of  birds,  both  of  sea  and  land  species,  struck  every  one  as  singular.  There  were 
not  more  than  four  or  five  varieties  of  the  latter,  the  largest  of  which  were  the  crow  and  the 
pigeon,  the  others  being  of  small  size.  There  were  but  few  gulls  or  other  sea-birds ;  on 
approaching  the  islands,  some  petrel  were  observed,  of  unusually  large  size  and  of  singularly 
brilliant  plumage. 

Among  the  quadrupeds  there  were  found  sheep,  deer,  hogs,  and  goats,  with  an  infinite 
number  of  cats  and  dogs.  The  cats  and  dogs,  having  lost  some  of  their  quiet  domestic  virtues, 
had  strayed  into  the  jungle,  and  were  dignified  by  the  inhabitants  with  the  title  of  wild 
animals,  and  were  accordingly  hunted  with  dogs.  On  Stapleton  Island,  the  goats,  which  were 
placed  there  by  some  of  the  early  settlers,  have  increased  prodigiously,  as  have  also  these 
animals,  together  with  the  hogs,  put  upon  the  other  islands.  Commodore  Perry  left  on  shore 
on  the  north  side  of  Peel  Island,  with  a  view  to  their  increase,  two  bulls  and  two  cows,  and  on 
North  Island  five  Shanghai  broad-tailed  sheep,  of  which  two  were  rams,  and  six  goats. 

Peel  Island  is  the  only  one  of  the  Bonin  group  inhabited,  and  it  contained  on  the  visit  of  the 
Commodore  only  thirty-one  inhabitants,  all  told  :  of  these,  three  or  four  were  native  Americans, 
about  the  same  number  Englishmen,  one  a  Portuguese,  and  the  remainder  Sandwich  islanders 
and  children  born  on  the  island.  The  settlers  have  cultivated  patches  of  land  of  some  extent, 
and  raise  a  considerable  quantity  of  sweet  potatoes,  Indian  corn,  jjumpkins,  onions,  taro,  and 
several  kinds  of  fruit,  the  most  abundant  of  which  are  water-melons,  bananas,  and  pine-apples. 
These  productions,  together  with  the  few  pigs  and  poultry  that  are  raised,  find  a  ready  sale  to 
the  whale  ships  constantly  touching  at  the  port  for  water  and  other  supplies.  Durino'  the  few 
days  the  Susquehanna  was  at  anchor  in  the  harbor,  three  whalers,  two  American  and  one 
English,  communicated  by  means  of  their  boats  with  the  settlement  and  carried  away  a  good 
stock  of  supplies.  These  are  obtained  ordinarily  in  exchange  for  other  articles  from  on  board 
the  ships,  of  which  ardent  spirits  is  to  some  of  the  settlers  the  most  acceptable.  Were  it  not  for 
the  scarcity  of  labor  a  much  greater  extent  of  land  would  be  cultivated.  At  present  there  cannot 
be  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  acres  throughout  the  whole  island  imder  cultivation,  and  this 
is  in  detached  spots,  generally  at  the  seaward  termination  of  the  ravines  through  which  the 
mountain  streams  flow  and  thus  supply  an  abundance  of  fresh  water,  or  upon  plateaux  of  land 
near  the  harbor.  The  soil  is  of  excellent  quality  and  resembles  very  much  that  of  Madeira  and 
the  Canary  islands,  which  are  in  the  same  parallel  of  latitude.  It  is  admirably  adapted  for  the 
cultivation  of  the  vine,  and  for  the  raising  of  wheat,  tobacco,  sugar-cane,  and  many  other 
valuable  plants.  In  fact,  the  settlers  already  produce  enough  sugar  and  tobacco  for  their  own 
consumption. 

The  few  people  who  live  on  Peel  Island  seem  happy  and  contented.  Those  of  European  origin 
have  succeeded  in  surrounding  themselves  with  some  of  the  comforts  and  appliances  of 
civilization.     In  one  of  the  cottages  there  was  observed  several  compartments,  and  what  with 


204  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAxV. 

hangings  from  the  walls  of  Chinese  matting,  a  chair  or  two,  a  table,  a  plentiful  distribution  of 
bUie  paint,  and  some  gaudily  C(dorod  lithographs,  there  seemed  not  only  on  the  part  of  the 
proprietor  a  desire  for  comfort,  but  even  a  taste  for  luxury. 

The  Sandwich  islanders,  or  Kanakas,  as  tliey  are  now  familiarly  known  to  sailors  and  traders, 
live  very  much  as  they  do  in  their  native  islands,  and  have  grouped  together  their  palm  thatched 
huts  which  have  very  much  the  a]>pearance  of  one  of  their  native  villages.  The  inhabitants, 
living  a  (|uiet  and  easy  life  in  a  climate  which  is  genial  and  wholesome,  and  upon  a  land  whose 
fertility  supplies  them,  in  return  for  but  little  labor,  with  all  tlicy  want  to  eat  and  drink,  do  not 
care  to  change  their  condition.  The  Americans  and  Europeans  have  taken  to  themselves  wives 
from  among  the  good  natured  and  substantial  Kanaka  women. 

Commodore  Perry  being  desirous  of  obtaining  as  full  information  as  possible  of  Peel  Island 
durinc  his  short  visit,  determined  to  send  imrties  of  exploration  into  the  interior.  He  accordingly 
detailed  certain  officers  and  men  for  the  purpose,  who  were  divided  into  two  companies,  one  of 
wliich  was  headed  by  Mr.  Bayard  Taylor,  and  the  other  by  Dr.  Fahs,  assistant  surgeon. 

These  gentlemen,  having  been  duly  armed  and  equipped,  started  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
15th  of  June,  with  tlie  view  of  devoting  the  day  to  the  proposed  exploration.  The  party  headed 
by  Mr.  Taylor,  whose  steps  we  shall  first  follow  in  the  narrative,  and  whose  report  as  submitted 
to  the  Commodore  we  shall  freely  use,  was  composed  of  eight :  Mr.  Bayard  Taylor,  Mr.  Heine, 
the  artist,  IMr.  Boardman,  midshipman,  Mr.  Lawrence,  assistant  engineer,  Mr.  Hampton,  pur.ser's 
steward,  Smith,  a  marine,  Dennis  Terry,  seaman,  and  a  Chinese  coolie.  As  Peel  Island  is  only 
six  miles  in  length,  it  was  thought  that  one  day  was  quite  sufficient  time  for  two  parties  properly 
distributed  to  explore  so  small  a  space.  The  northern  part  of  the  island,  which  is  that  which 
stretches  immediately  around  the  harbor,  was  tKe  field  of  operation  appropriated  to  the  doctor's 
party,  while  the  southern  half  fell  to  the  duty  of  the  explorers  whose  steps  we  are  now  about  to 
follow. 

At  early  sunrise  the  party  left  the  Susquehanna  and  were  rowed  ashore  to  the  watering  place 
at  the  head  of  the  bay.  On  reaching  this  point  the  rations  and  ammunition  were  distributed 
to  each,  so  that  all  might,  as  far  as  possible,  be  equally  burdened.  A  Kanaka,  who  was  met 
at  the  landing,  was  urged  to  accompany  the  party  as  a  guide,  but  he  was  not  disjiosed  to 
comply,  although  he  pointed  out  a  small  footpath,  which  he  stated  led  over  the  hills  to  a  Kanaka 
settlement  about  three  miles  distant.  This  direction  was  at  once  followed,  which  led  them  by 
a  steep  and  slippery  path  through  a  wilderness  of  tropical  growth.  Palm  trees,  among  which 
was  the  sago  palm,  that  produces  the  sago  of  commerce,  abounded ;  parasitic  plants  hung  in 
festoons  from  branch  to  branch,  and  by  their  close  net  work,  interwoven  with  the  trees,  hindered 
the  progress  at  every  step,  while  the  dew  which  dripped  in  the  early  morning  from  the  thick 
foliage  of  the  overgrown  thicket  wetted  each  one  to  the  skin.  The  soil  was  observed  to  be  that 
which  is  common  about  Port  Lloyd  and  other  parts  of  the  island,  and  seemed  composed  of  the 
detritus  of  trap  rock  and  the  decomposed  refuse  of  the  plants  and  trees.  Kock  of  trap  formation 
protruded  frequently  in  rough  crags  from  the  steep  sides  of  the  hills,  and  in  the  crevices  grew 
n  beautiful  variety  of  the  hibiscus,  with  its  large  flowers  of  a  dull  orange,  whose  petals  were 
tipped  with  yellow  of  a  lighter  shade.  A  shower  of  white  blossoms,  which  had  fallen  from  a 
large  tree  of  thirty  feet  in  height,  strewed  here  and  there  the  ground. 

The  course  was  up  the  ridge  of  the  hill,  and  as  it  continued  to  the  summit  the  vegetation 
became  more  and  more  profuse,  until  the  expanding  tops  of  the  palm,  the  crowding  together  of 


EXPLORATION      OF      T  E  E  I.      ISLAND.  205 

the  trunks  of  the  trees,  and  the  dense  net  work  of  the  hanging  vines,  so  shrouded  the  sun  that 
the  path  was  covered  with  a  deep  shade,  through  the  darkness  of  which  the  eye  could  hardly 
penetrate  to  a  greater  distance,  in  any  direction,  than  twenty  or  thirty  feet.  It  was  difficult  at 
times  to  trace  the  path.  When  the  jiarty  had  reached  the  water-courses  of  the  streams  wliieh 
flowed  down  the  other  side  of  the  ridge  they  were  ascending,  multitudes  of  the  land  crabs 
pattered  away  in  every  direction,  frightened  out  of  their  coverts  by  the  approaching  footsteps. 

The  ridge  at  its  summit  widened  into  an  undulating  surface  of  a  mile  and  a  half  or  so  in 
breadth,  and  was  furrowed  with  deep  gullies.  The  declivity  on  the  other  side  of  the  ridge, 
below  which  opened  a  deep  ravine,  was  so  steep  that  the  men  were  obliged  to  let  themselves 
down  by  swinging  from  tree  to  tree.  This  ravine  between  the  steep  mountains,  which,  with 
the  exception  of  the  bared  rock  here  and  there,  were  profusely  covered  with  vegetation, 
presented  a  wild  aspect,  with  a  stream  of  water  flowing  over  a  rocky  bed  through  thickets  of 
undergrowth  and  masses  of  tropical  vegetation  spreading  over  the  rocky  cliffs  and  down  the 
hills  on  all  sides. 

The  party  now  crossed  the  stream,  and  coming  upon  a  field  of  the  taro  plant,  which  was  of 
remarkably  luxuriant  growth,  struck  directly  through  it  and  reached  the  forest  beyond. 
Finding  it  impossible,  however,  to  make  their  way  in  that  direction,  they  turned  back  through 
the  taro  and  regained  the  stream.  The  path  was  now  recovered,  which  was  found  to  lead 
through  a  valley  which  bore  signs  of  habitation.  Cultivated  patches  of  ground  showed 
themselves  here  and  there  with  flourishing  crops  of  sweet  potatoes,  taro,  tobacco,  sugar-cane, 
pumpkin,  and  the  sida  or  Indian  gooseberry,  which  seemed  to  grow  with  wonderful  luxuriance. 
In  the  centre  of  the  valley  two  palm  thatched  huts  were  observed,  but  the  party,  upon  coming 
up  to  them  and  entering,  found  they  were  uninhabited,  although  there  were  signs  of  their 
having  been  occupied  that  morning.  Guns  were  then  fired  to  attract  the  attention  of  any 
inhabitants  who  might  be  within  hearing,  and  a  good  result  was  soon  apparent  by  the 
answering  signal  of  a  shout,  which  was  immediately  followed  by  the  appearance  of  a  South  Sea 
islander,  with  a  face  tattooed  of  a  light  blue  and  clothed  in  coarse  cotton  shirt  and  trowsers. 
He  introduced  himself  under  the  dignified  title  of  "Judge,"  and  professed  to  be  a  native  of 
Nukahwa  in  the  Marquesas  islands.  This  Marquesite  seemed  to  be  in  very  flourishing 
condition.  He  had  a  hut  to  live  in,  a  plantation  to  cultivate,  and  made  a  fair  show  of  live 
stock  with  his  dogs  and  four  pigs.  The  "Judge"  was  very  affable,  and  in  a  very  friendly 
manner  gave  freely  all  the  information  at  his  command.  He  pointed  out  to  his  visitors  how 
the  valley  turned  round  the  spur  of  the  mountain  and  opened  westward  to  the  sea.  The 
stream  was  here  only  a  creek  in  appearance,  but  was  of  sufficient  depth  to  float  canoes,  in  one 
of  which  the  "  Judge  "  had  just  arrived  from  a  turtle  hunt,  and  had  brought  with  him  a  fine 
animal,  which  he  busied  himself  with  cutting  up  in  the  wishful  company  of  his  four  dogs,  who 
were  licking  their  chops  with  a  hopeful  anticipation  of  their  share  of  the  feast. 

The  "  Judge  "  was  requested  to  guide  the  party  to  the  southern  end  of  the  island,  which  he 
stated  to  be  about  three  or  four  miles  distant,  without,  however,  any  pathway  to  it.  His 
companion,  however,  who  knew  the  way,  was  sent  for,  and  a  copper  colored  Otaheitan,  who 
hardly  spoke  English,  soon  presented  himself  He  acknowledged  that  he  was  acquainted  with 
the  route,  and  familiar  with  the  wild  boar  haunts,  but  refused  to  go  with  the  party  unless 
joined  by  the  "Judge,"  who,  after  some  hesitation,  consented,  with  the  understanding  that  he 


20G  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

should  be  allowed  to  stow  away  his  turtle  flesh  before  starting.     This,  of  course,  was  readily- 
conceded. 

The  valley  in  which  the  explorers  found  themselves  was  estimated  to  be  about  a  mile  in 
length,  and  its  widest  part  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  breadth.  The  main  branch  of  the  valley 
was  not  that  which  had  been  entered,  but  took  an  easterly  direction,  through  which  a  stream 
flowed  ;  the  southern  part  seemed  to  be  impassable,  from  being  walled  up  with  rocks  heaped  one 
above  the  other.  From  the  "Judge's"  hut  the  sea  was  said  to  be  about  half  a  mile  distant. 
The  soil  of  the  valley  is  of  a  rich  loam,  and,  judging  by  the  flourishing  appearance  of  the  vege- 
tables and  crops  grown  by  the  settlers,  exceedingly  fertile.  The  tobacco  was  particularly 
vio-orous  in  growth,  being  five  feet  in  height.  The  water  of  the  stream  is  sweet  and  pure,  and 
the  supply  constant.  Some  lemons,  which  the  "Judge"  had  stored  away  in  his  hat,  he  said 
came  from  the  north  of  the  valley. 

The  party,  now  under  the  guidance  of  the  "Judge"  and  his  companion,  took  an  E.S.E. 
course,  following  through  the  ravine  the  stream.  The  bed  of  the  stream  was  in  various  places 
crowded  with  large  boulders  of  trap  rock,  heaped  confusedly  one  upon  another.  The  vegetation 
presented  the  usual  tropical  profusion  of  trees,  parasite  plants,  and  under  growth.  From  the 
denseness  of  the  woods  and  the  greasy,  slippery  nature  of  the  soil,  the  progress  of  every  step  was 
toilsome  and  painful.  Two  of  the  party  in  the  rear,  while  those  in  advance  awaited  upon  a  cliff 
their  coming  up,  started  a  wild  boar,  and  fired  at  him  a  passing  shot,  but  without  effect.  The 
dogs  which  belonged  to  the  settlers  were  not  of  much  use,  for  they  kept  clinging  to  the  heels  of 
their  masters,  instead  of  ranging  the  forest  and  beating  up  the  game  from  its  cover. 

On  leaving  the  water-course  the  explorers  climbed  the  southern  side  of  the  ravine,  which  they 
could  only  do  by  clinging  to  the  roots  or  to  the  tough  vines  which  hung  from  the  trees.  In  the 
deep  shadow  and  turnings  of  the  wood,  through  which  there  was  no  path,  the  members  of  the 
party  became  scattered,  and  the  leaders  were  again  obliged  to  await  at  the  summit  of  the  ridge 
the  coming  of  those  who  lagged  behind.  Among  the  various  palms,  which  grow  abundantly, 
some  specimens  of  the  palma  lalina  were  observed  at  this  spot,  with  immensely  broad  leaves  and 
stems  nearly  eight  feet  in  length,  the  jagged  edges  of  which  wounded  the  travellers'  hands  as 
they  struggled  through  the  forest.  The  pandanus  was  also  seen,  with  its  shoots,  sometimes 
twenty  or  thirty  in  number,  sticking  down  and  outwards  from  the  lower  part  of  its  straight 
trunk,  and  rooting  themselves  in  the  ground,  until  they  formed  a  pyramidal  base,  from  which 
the  tree  rose  in  a  slender  column,  covered  with  a  graceful  capital  of  foliage. 

While  some  of  the  party  were  resting  upon  the  ridge,  waiting  for  their  companions  who  had 
fallen  behind,  a  great  barking  of  dogs  rose  from  a  neighboring  ravine,  at  which  two  of  the  party 
started  off  at  once.  Several  shots  from  the  company  were  soon  heard,  and  Mr.  Taylor,  the 
leader,  followed,  making  for  the  direction  of  the  sound,  and,  after  plunging  through  an  almost 
impenetrable  thicket,  in  the  course  of  which  he  came  upon  the  lair  of  a  wild  boar,  arrived  at  the 
bed  of  a  brook,  where  the  hunters  were  groui)ed  about  a  young  boar.  He  was  not  over  a  year 
old,  and,  with  his  long  snout  and  the  dirty,  dark  grey  color  of  his  bristling  hide,  looked  some- 
what like  the  Chinese  hog.  Mr.  Hampton,  one  of  the  party  who  had  been  left  behind  upon  the 
ridge,  was  now  sent  for;  but  the  "Judge,"  who  had  gone  in  search  of  him,  soon  returned, 
stating  that  he  was  sick,  and  unable  to  come  up.  Mr.  Hampton,  however,  in  a  short'  time 
gathered  strength  enough  to  follow,  and  succeeded  in  reaching  the  party,  although  evidently 
much  overcome  with  fatigue.     As  the  Otaheitan  guide,  however,  said  that  it  was  only  two  miles 


EXPLORATION      OF      PEEL      ISLAND. 


207 


to  the  southern  end  of  the  island,  Mr.  Hampton  resolved  to  continue  with  his  companions, 
instead  of  returning,  as  had  been  proposed,  with  the  "Judge"  to  the  valley.  The  explorers 
having  taken  with  them  the  liver  and  the  kidneys  of  the  wild  boar,  hung  up  his  carcase 
upon  a  tree  to  remain  until  their  return,  and  then  continued  their  course. 

In  about  a  half  hour  afterward  the  ridge  which  divides  the  island  was  crossed  and  the  top  of  the 
slope  of  the  southern  side  reached.  From  this  point  the  sea  was  seen  and  a  view  obtained  of 
Bailly's  Island,  rising  from  the  surface  in  the  distance,  a  little  west  of  south.  It  was  now  found 
necessary  to  alter  the  course  of  the  route,  for  the  guide  had  taken  the  party  too  far  to  the  right 
and  led  them  to  the  brink  of  a  steep  precipice  which  it  was  impracticable  to  descend.  There  was 
some  difficulty  now  in  retracing  their  steps,  for  they  had  got  so  near  to  the  precipice  that  they 
were  forced  to  creep  along  with  great  caution,  clinging  to  the  strong  grass  and  shrubs  which 
grew  upon  the  brink.  By  this  mode  of  procedure,  for  the  extent  of  two  hundred  yards  or  so, 
they  succeeded  in  reaching  a  place  where  the  precipice  terminated  ;  but  where  the  descent  was 
still  so  steep  that  it  was  found  necessary  for  each  man,  as  he  descended,  to  place  himself  upon 
his  back  and  thus  slide  down  the  declivity,  taking  care  to  check  his  speed  by  occasionally 
clenching  the  earth  or  some  projecting  bush.  Finally,  the  ravine  below  was  reached,  but  there 
was  considerable  disappointment  on  finding  that  the  worst  was  not  yet  over  ;  for,  instead  of 


Valley  near  Suutli  East  Bay,  Peel  I^land,  Bonin  Group. 

coming  upon  a  water-course,  as  was  expected,  which  might  lead  gently  to  the  sea  side,  it  was 
discovered  that  there  was  a  succession  of  rocky  steps,  varying  from  ten  to  fifty  feet,  down  wliich 
it  was  necessary  to  clamber.     At  last  the  beach  was  reached  ;  and  as  those  in  advance  looked 


208 


EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 


up  to  their  remaining  companions,  some  standing  upon  the  edge  of  the  cliffs,  and  others  letting 
themselves  down  their  precipitous  sides,  the  undertaking  just  accomplished  seemed  a  marvellous 
feat  of  lahor,  difHculty,  and  danger. 

The  party  now  found  themselves  in  what  the  guide  called  the  South  East  Bay,  which  was 
said  to  he  frequently  visited  hy  the  whalers  ;  some  of  whom  had  left  evidence  of  their  visits  in 
the  stump  of  a  tree,  which  showed  marks  of  having  heen  smoothly  cut  with  a  large  axe.  Tiiere 
was  also  a  neglected  bed  of  tomatoes,  overgrown  with  weeds,  seen  stretched  along  the  hanks  of 
the  stream,  which  had  certainly  been  planted  there  by  the  hand  of  man.  On  the  gathering  of 
all  the  company,  who  were  almost  worn  out,  and  suffered  much  from  the  excessive  heat,  a  fire 
was  lighted,  and  tlie  boar's  liver  and  kidneys  being  duly  cooked,  a  very  excellent  extemporaneous 
feast,  with  the  addition  of  the  pork  and  other  rations  brought  with  them,  was  prepared  and 
voraciously  discussed.  The  party  being  refreshed  hy  their  banquet  and  the  rest  they  had 
enjoyed,  and  it  being  as  late  as  two  o'clock,  determined  to  return.  When  the  guides  announced 
that  it  was  necessary  to  go  back  the  way  they  came,  the  resumption  of  the  labors,  and  the  expo- 
sure to  the  dangers  which  had  just  been  undergone,  seemed  quite  appalling.  There  was, 
however,  no  alternative,  and  the  party  was  forced  to  retrace  their  steps,  but  succeeded,  finally, 
with  a  renewed  experience  of  their  former  troubles,  and  after  excessive  fatigue,  in  reaching  the 
valley  whence  they  had  set  out  with  the  "Judge"  and  his  Otaheitan  companion. 


S.iulli  Ka-t  ll;iv,  I'..  1  l-l.niil. 

It  was  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  wlicn  tliev  ariived  at  the  "Judge's"  (]uarters,  so  tbey 
spared  themselves  but  little  time  i'nv  repose,  but  soon  continued  their  journeying.  One  of  the 
party  was  so  wearied  with  fatigue  as  to  be  obliged  tn  iiroccecl  to  the  Kimaka  scltlcnicn!.  ut  llie 


EXPLORATION     OF    PEEL     ISLAND.  209 

south  end  of  Port  Lloyd,  by  the  way  of  the  sea,  in  a  canoe,  piloted  by  the  Otaheltan.  The  rest 
went  by  land,  attempting  to  return  by  the  same  route  as  that  they  had  come.  The  path  was 
not  easily  found,  however,  and  the  explorers  suifered  another  hard  experience  in  the  forest  and 
over  the  rough  crags,  where  they  were  nearly  lost  among  the  entangled  undergrowth  and  much 
battered  by  the  irregularity  of  the  ground.  Another  member  of  the  party  gave  out,  but  was 
brought  along  by  main  force,  and  having  been  deposited  in  a  safe  place  on  the  summit  of  the 
ridge,  under  the  care  of  one  of  the  men,  the  rest  pushed  on  ;  and  liaving  reached  the  Kanaka 
settlement,  at  the  south  end  of  Port  Lloyd,  took  their  station  on  a  clitf  which  overlooked  the  bay, 
and  whence  the  great  hull  of  the  Susquehanna  could  be  barely  discovered  in  the  surrounding 
darkness.  Firing  a  volley  with  their  guns,  as  a  signal,  they  were  soon  answered  by  the  arrival 
of  the  ship's  cutter,  and  having  sent  back  for  the  tired  member  of  the  party,  they  all  pulled 
olf  for  the  steamer,  where  they  arrived  at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  sorely  bruised  and  fatigued  by  the 
hard  day's  work.  The  other  party,  under  the  command  of  the  assistant  surgeon,  returned  about 
the  same  time,  and  the  result  of  the  observations,  as  reported  by  Dr.  Fahs,  is  now  recorded. 

The  volcanic  origin  of  the  island  was  clearly  manifest  from  the  existence  of  ancient  craters.  Trap 
rock,  intermingled  with  amygdaloid  and  green  stone,  formed  the  basis  of  the  island,  as  it  did  the 
loftiest  peaks  of  the  hills ;  basaltic  dykes  were  observed  to  pass  through  beds  of  sand,  scoria,  and 
cinders,  and  strata  of  old  lava  were  traced  along  the  seacoast  and  in  other  parts  where  deep 
sections  of  rock  were  exposed.  A  sulphur  spring,  characterized  by  the  usual  strong  odor  and 
taste  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas,  was  discovered  issuing  from  one  of  the  ravines,  and  iron 
pyrites  abounded  in  many  places.  The  vegetation,  too,  was  not  such  as  is  generally  found  in 
volcanic  countries  of  the  same  latitude  as  the  Bonin  Islands.  It  would  appear  that  Port  Lloyd 
was  at  one  time  the  crater  of  an  active  volcano,  from  which  the  surrounding  hills  had  been 
thrown  up,  while  the  present  entrance  to  the  harbor  was  formed  by  a  deep  fissure  in  the  side  of 
the  cone,  through  which  a  torrent  of  lava  had  poured  into  the  sea,  lea^^ng,  after  its  subsidence, 
a  space  into  which  the  waters  subsequently  were  emptied,  bringing  with  them  their  usual 
deposits,  which,  together  with  the  coral  formation,  now  forms  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the  harbor. 

The  surface  of  the  island  is  varied.  Plains  extend  from  the  basis  of  the  hills  toward  the  sea- 
shore, and  arc  composed  of  a  dark  vegetable  mould,  sometimes  five  or  six  feet  deep,  intermixed 
with  the  shells  of  marine  animals  and  the  detritus  of  trap  rock,  and  spread  upon  a  founda- 
tion of  coral.  These  plains  are  highly  fertile,  and  those  now  cultivated  produce  a  rich  harvest 
of  sweet  potatoes  of  immense  size,  Indian  corn,  sugar-cane  of  wonderfully  vigorous  growth  and 
excellent  quality,  yams,  taro,  melons,  and  the  ordinary  products  of  a  kitcben  garden.  The 
Irish  potato  lias  been  triud,  but  not  sufficiently  long  to  form  an  estimate  of  its  probable  success. 
The  plaius  on  the  bay  only  have  been  cultivated  as  yet,  but  there  is  everj'  reason  to  believe  that  the 
others  are' equally  fertile,  and  might  be  made  to  yield  sufficiently  to  support  a  large  population. 

The  hilLs  rise  in  some  i)laces  by  a  gentle  slope  froiji  the  plains,  and  in  others  abruptly  by 
steep  ascents,  which  give  tliem  the  ajqicarance  of  terraces  rising  one  above  the  other.  At  the 
head  of  the  bay  two  prominent  peaks  rise,  which  are  known  by  tlie  Tiame  of  the  Pa]is,  one  of 
which  reaches  the  elevation  of  a  thousand  feet,  ami  llie  other  eleven  Inimhed.  They  are  chMily 
seen  on  entering  the  harbor,  and  are  im))ortant  guides  to  the  navigator.  The  springs  in  the 
northern  half  of  the  island,  which  was  tlie  liehl  of  survey  now  reviewed,  are  few,  two  only  of 
which  run  ciuistantly  with  a  sujqdy  of  i)ure  drinking  water.  In  the  valleys  there  are  several 
others,  but  they  arc  so  brackisli  or  so  frequently  dry  that  they  cannot  be  relied  upon  as  sources 
27  J 


210 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


of  supply.  Througli  tlio  ravinos  wliicli  intersect  tlie  valleys  streams  pour  down  into  the  sea 
during  the  rainy  season,  but  their  beils,  crowded  here  and  there  witli  large  boulders  of  trap 
rock,  are  hardly  moist  during  the  dry  weather. 

Tlie  fli)ra  of  the  ishind  is  tropical,  and  was  observed  to  be  as  beautiful  as  can  be  found  in  any 
similar  latitude.  In  (he  valleys  and  along  the  sea  beach  a  tree  of  large  size,  called  by  the 
people  living  on  the  island  the  Crumeno,  was  seen  in  abundance.  It  bad  a  thick  antl  slmrt 
trunk,  witb  a  gray  bark,  a  very  dense  foliage,  with  large  oval  leaves  of  smootb  surface  and 
bright  green  color,  arrayed  in  clusters  around  the  branches,  from  the  ends  of  wbicb  gi'cw  tufts 
of  beautiful  white  flowers. 

Dense  forests  of  palm  ci'ovrded  up  tlie  hill-sides  and  into  the  I'avines,  and  were  of  sucb  close 
growth  that  their  lull  development  was  bindered  and  other  vegetation  prevented.  The  fan- 
]ialm  was  the  most  abimdant  of  the  six  species  observed.  Among  tlie  various  trees  was  noticed 
a  variety  of  the  beech  of  considerable  size,  a  large  tree  growing  in  abundance  on  the  mountains, 
whiub  somewhat  resembled  tbe  dog-wood,  and  an  immense  mulbeny  witii  an  occasional  girth 
of  thirteen  or  fourteen  feet.  Of  smaller  trees  and  plants,  there  were  tlie  laurel,  the  juniper,  tbe 
box-wood  tree,   fern^  banana,   orange,   pine-a])}dc,  and  whortleberry.     Lichens,   mosses,   and 


StillllcUMl 


various  jiarasitic  plants  were  abundant.  Tliere  were  but  few  kinds  ot  grasses,  and  most  of  tliem 
unfit  for  i)asturage.  Tlie  jungle  weed,  in  the  uncultivated  tracts,  is  so  dense  that  it  crowds  out 
almost  evei'ything  else  of  its  kind. 


E  X  A  M  I  N  A  T  1  0  X      OV      S  T  A  P  L  E  T  O  X      I  S  IwV  X  D  .  211 

The  animals  on  the  island  were  niostlj-  imported  but  iiail  become  wild  in  tliuir  habits  from 
St  raving  in  the  woods.  Pigeons,  finches,  crows,  and  sand])i]icrs.  wore  fonnd  among  the  native 
birds,  and  the  tortoise,  the  ignana,  and  a  small  lizard  were  the  i»rinci]wil  imligenous  animals 
seen. 

In  addition  to  the  two  surveys  of  Peel  Island,  tlie  intei'esting  results  of  whicli  have  Itecn  just 
recorded,  the  Commodore  dispatched  an  otKeer  to  re]iort  on  the  general  as]KH;t  and  character 
of  the  island  of  Stapleton,  from  whose  statement  some  valuable  facts  are  derived.  Stajdeton 
Island,  like  the  rest  of  the  Bonin  grouji,  is  of  V(dcanic  origin,  and  has  a  varied  surface  of  i)lain, 
liill.  and  valley,  with  large  tracts  of  Ibrtile  land.  A  small  hay  was  iiiund  on  the  western  side 
with  apparently  deep  water,  and  surrounded  by  rocks  and  mountains  varying  from  800  to  1,500 
feet  in  height,  which  jn-otect  it  from  the  S.E.  typhoons. 

A  small  }U'omontory  and  coral  reef  were  <d)served  to  divide  this  bay,  and  on  tlie  land  burder- 
ing  the  northern  section  was  a  spring  of  cool ,  well-tasting  water,  coming  out  of  a  rock  and  giving 
a  su]>ply  of  nearly  three  gallons  per  minute.  The  indigenous  productions  of  Stapleton  were  tiie 
same  as  those  on  the  other  islands,  but  the  goats  which  had  been  introduced  there  had  increased 
marvellously,  to  the  extent,  it  was  snjiposed,  of  several  thousands,  and  had  become  very  wild  in 
the  course  of  their  undisturbed  wanderings  through  the  secluded  ravines  and  over  the  savage 
rocks  of  the  island. 

The  Commodore,  having  been  long  satisfied  of  the  importance  of  these  islands  to  commerce, 
was  induced  to  visit  tliem,  chiefly  by  a  desire  of  examining  them  himself  and  recommending 
Peel  Island  as  a  stopping  ]dace  for  tlie  line  of  steamers  which,  sooucr  or  Inter,  must  be  estab- 
lished between  California  and  Cliina.  To  tliis  end  he  caused  the  island  to  lie  explored,  the 
harbor  to  be  surveyed,  and  a  few  animals  to  be  placed  upon  two  of  the  groups  of  islands,  as  the 
commencement  ot  a  provision  ior  future  wants.  Uarden  seeds  of  every  descri])tion  were  also 
distributed  among  the  present  settlers^  and  hopes  were  held  out  to  them  by  the  Commodore  of  a 
future  supply  of  implements  of  husbandry  and  a  greater  number  of  animals.  A  suitable  sp'it 
too  was  selected  f(?r  the  erection  of  offices,  wharves,  coal-sheds,  and  other  buildings  neeessarv  for 
a  depot  for  steamers.  A  title  was  obtained  to  a  piece  of  land  which  is  aduiirably  adapted  to  the 
desired  j)urpose.  It  is  situated  on  the  nortiiern  side  of  the  bay,  near  its  head,  with  a  front  on 
the  water  of  1,000  yartls  and  a  good  <lepth  near  the  shore  lor  the  length  of  500  yards,  it  might, 
by  the  building  of  a  pier  extending  out  fifty  feet,  be  conveniently  approached  by  the  largest 
vessel  afloat. 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Navy  De]iartment  Commodore  Perry  has  given  at  length  his 
views  of  the  conveniences  of  Peel  Island  for  the  establishment  of  a  depot  lor  steamers.  In  this 
communication  he  says: 

"As  my  instructions  direct  me  to  seek  out  ;ind  establish  ports  of  refuge  and  refreshment  for 
vessels  traversing  these  distant  seas,  I  have,  from  the  commencement  of  the  cruise,  kept  con- 
stantly in  view  the  port  in  which  we  are  now  at  anchor,*  and  the  principal  harbor  of  the  Bonin 
Islands,  as  well  for  general  convenience  of  resort  as  to  f\irnish  connecting  links,  or  suitable 
stopping  places,  for  a  line  of  niiil  steamers,  wbicli  I  trust  may  soon  be  established  between 
some  one  of  our  Pacific  ports  and  China,  an  event  so  nnich  to  lie  ilcsired.  and,  if  accomi)lished, 
one  that  will  be  distinguished,  even  in  tlie  history  of  these  lemarkable  times,  as  of  the  highest 
importance  to  the  commerce  of  the  United  (states  and  of  the  world. 


'  Tlic  Cuiiiiiioiloic  is  wriliiig  lium  Xuiilia,  in  Luiv  C!;ch'. 


212  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

"The  mails  from  the  United  States  and  Europe,  by  the  way  of  Egypt,  the  Red  sea,  and 
Indian  ocean,  arrive  regularly  at  Hong  Kong,  almost  to  a  day,  twice  a  week  in  each  month. 
From  Hdug  Kong  to  Shanghai,  five  days  may  be  allowed  for  the  passage.  To  this  point  tlie 
British  government  would  doubtless  extend  its  mail  if  it  wore  taken  up  by  us  and  continued  on 
to  California. 

"Its  transportati(m,  by  steam,  from  Shanghai  to  San  Francisco,  via  the  Bonin  and  Sandwich 
Islands,  would  occupy  thirty  days,  allowing  three  days  for  stopi)ing  for  coal,  etc.  Thus,  the 
distance  fi'om  San  Francisco  to  Honolulu,  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  is  roughly  estimated  at 
2,093  miles ;  from  Honolulu  to  Peel  Island,  3,301  miles;  and  from  Peel  Island  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Yang-tzse-Keang,  or  Shanghai  river,  1,081  miles;  in  all,  6,4T5  miles;  and  allowing  240 
miles  per  day,  the  time  at  sea  would  be  twenty-seven,  and  the  time  in  port  three  days ;  from 
San  Francisco  to  New  York  twenty-two  days  would  be  required,  making  from  Shanghai  to 
New  York  fifty-two  days. 

"The  usual  time  occupied  in  transporting  the  mail  from  England  to  Hong  Kong,  via 
Marseilles,  (the  shortest  route,)  is  from  forty-five  to  forty-eight  days;  add  to  that  two  days' 
detention  at  Hong  Kong,  and  five  more  to  Shanghai,  would  make  the  time  required  to  reach 
the  latter  place  from  fifty-two  to  fifty-five  days. 

"Shanghai  might  be  considered  the  terminus  of  the  English  and  the  commencement  of  the 
American  mail;  and  thus  an  original  letter  could  be  sent  Avest  by  way  of  Europe,  and  its 
dnjilicate  east  by  way  of  California,  the  first  arriving  at  Liverpool  about  the  time  its  duplicate 
reaches  New  York. 

"But  apart  from  the  advantages,  and,  I  may  add,  the  glory  of  perfecting  a  scheme  so  mag- 
nificent, this  line  of  steamers  would  contribute  largely  to  the  benefit  of  commerce.  Already 
many  thousands  of  Chinamen  are  annually  embarking  for  California,  paying  for  their  passages 
each  $50,  and  finding  themselves  in  everything,  excepting  water  and  fuel  for  cooking  their  food. 

"These  provident  people  are  the  most  patient  and  enduring  laborers,  and  must,  by  their 
orderly  habits,  add  greatly  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  California. 

"But  Shanghai  is  now  becoming  the  great  commercial  mart  of  China ;  already  does  it  outrival 
Canton  in  its  trade  with  the  United  States,  and  when  it  shall  be  considered  that  the  fine  teas  and 
silks,  and  other  rare  and  valuable  commodities  of  that  part  of  China,  can  be  conveyed  by  means 
of  steam  to  California  in  five,  and  to  New  York  in  eight  weeks,  it  is  impossible  to  estimate 
in  anticipation  the  advantages  that  may  grow  out  of  an  intercourse  so  rapid  and  so  certain."* 


■  The  importance  of  the  Bonin  Islands  to  the  advancement  of  commercial  interests  in  the  east  is  so  great  that  the  sulycct  has 
more  or  less  occupied  the  mind  of  the  Commodore  since  his  return  ;  and  this  importance  is  best  shown  by  tlio  following 
document  which  has  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  compiler  by  Commodore  Perry  since  this  chapter  was  written  : 

Aotcs  wUh  respect  to  the  Bo7iin  Islands, 

My  visit  to  the  Bonin  Islands  forcibly  impressed  mo  with  the  idea  of  their  importance  as  a  point  of  rendezvous  for  vessels 
navigating  thai  part  of  the  Pacific  ocean  in  which  they  lie,  and  especially  as  otVering  a  port  of  refuge  and  supply  for  wlialing 
ships  rescirting  to  those  regions,  as  well  as  a  depot  for  coal  for  a  line  of  steamers  which,  ore  long,  must  unqueslionably  bo 
established  between  California  and  China,  vfti  .lajjan. 

Whales  of  several  varieties  abound  in  those  parts  of  the  ocean  lying  between  the  Bonins  and  the  coast  of  Asia,  and  are  in 
greater  numbers  in  the  neighborhood  of  Japan.  Until  the  esliiblisliinent  of  a  treaty  with  that  singular  empire  the  masters  of 
whaling  vessels  were  cautious  not  to  apjiroaeh  near  to  its  shores,  under  a  well-foundtHl  apprehension  of  liilliug  into  the  hands  of 
the  Japanese,  and  sulfering,  as  a  consequence,  imprisonment  and  cruel  treatment.  These  fears  should  no  longer  exist,  as  the 
stipulations  of  the  treaty  make  provision  and  olfer  guaranties  not  only  for  kind  treatment  to  those  .Americans  wlio  may  approach 
the  coast,  or  bo  thrown  by  accident  upon  its  hitherto  inhospitable  shores,  but  allow  all  American  vessels  under  press  of  weather 
to  enter  any  of  its  ports  for  temporary  refitment ;  and  tlic  ports  of  Uakodadi  and  Simoda  are  open  tor  all  purposes  of  repair  or 
supplies. 


ADVANTAGES  OP  PORT  LLOYD.  213 

After  a  stay  of  four  days  at  the  Bonin  Islands,  the  Susquehanna  weighed  anchor,  and  taking 
the  Saratoga  in  tow  sailed  on  the  morning  of  Saturday  the  18th  of  June,  on  the  return 
voyage  to  Lew  Chew.  After  clearing  the  harbor  of  Port  Lloyd,  the  course  was  steered  toward 
Disappointment  Island.  On  the  passage  from  Lew  Chew  to  the  Bonin  Islands  the  Commodore 
had  desired  to  sight  and  determine  the  i^osition  of  this  island,  but,  althoiigh  it  had  been  made 
by  the  Susquehanna  which  stood  directly  for  it  on  the  day  previous  to  her  arrival  at  Port  Lloyd, 
there  was  no  opportunity,  in  consequence  of  the  approaching  darkness,  to  make  any  observation 
but  an  approximation  by  means  of  computation.  The  Commodore,  therefore,  on  his  return 
voyage,  was  particularly  desirous  of  seeing  the  island  of  Disappointment  and  determining 
with  precision  its  position,  about  which  so  much  has  been  said  and  written.  Accordingly,  as 
the  island  was  made  directly  ahead  a  short  period  after  noon,  and  passed  at  a  distance  of  only 
three  or  four  miles,  its  exact  position  was  accurately  determined  by  data  derived  from  the 
noon-day  observation. 

It  is  a  low  island,  with  two  detached  rocks  extending  a  cable  or  two  in  length  from  its  extreme 
point,  and  lies  in  latitude  27°  15'  north,  and  in  longitude  140°  56'  30"  east  from  Greenwich. 

It  is  presumed  that  Disappointment  and  Kosario  are  one  and  the  same  island.  In  addition 
to  the  nautical  observation  of  the  officers  of  the  ship,  the  artist  made  a  drawing  of  the 
appearance  of  the  island,  which  will  be  found  in  the  Aj^pendix. 

As,  therefore,  the  obstacles  to  a  free  navigation  of  the  Japan  seas  no  longer  present  themselves,  our  whaling  ships  may  cruise 
in  safety  and  without  interruption  as  near  to  the  shores  as  may  be  convenient,  or  in  the  seas  lying  more  to  the  eastward.  But 
to  render  tliis  part  of  the  ocean  in  all  respects  convenient  to  our  whaling  ships  something  more  is  wanted,  and  that  is  a  port 
of  resort,  which  shall  be  in  all  respects  free  for  them  to  enter  and  depart  without  the  restraints  of  exclusive  laws  and  national 
prejudices;  for  though,  as  before  remarked,  the  ports  of  Hakodadi  and  Simoda,  in  Japan,  to  which  we  may  add  Napha,  in 
great  Lew  Chew,  are  by  treaty  open  to  American  vessels,  a  long  time  may  elapse  before  the  people  of  those  ports  will  probably 
divest  themselves  of  the  jealousies  which  they  have  hitherto  entertained  against  strangers,  and  it  is  well  known  that  the  crews 
of  whaling  vessels  visiting  the  ports  of  the  Pacific  are  not  remarkable  for  their  orderly  behavior  or  conciliatory  deportment, 
hence  my  argument  in  favor  of  an  establishment  at  the  Bonin  Islands  is  strengthened.  My  plan  is  to  establish  a  colony  at  Port 
Lloyd,  Peei  Island,  the  principal  of  the  Bonin  group,  leaving  the  question  of  sovereignty  to  be  discussed  hereafter.  I  have 
already  in  the  narrative  described  these  islands,  and  shall  now  proceed  to  set  forth  my  plan  for  building  up  a  thrifty  settlement 
which  shall  extend  over  the  entire  group  of  islands. 

First,  then,  a  company  of  merchants,  in  connexion  with  a  few  artisans,  should  form  a  joint  stock  company  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  colony  on  Peel  Island.  The  experiment  need  not  involve  any  very  great  outlay.  Two  vessels,  each  of  three  or 
four  hundred  tons,  suitably  equipped  for  whaling,  should  be  employed  first  in  transporting  to  the  island  materials  for  the 
construction  of  a  storehouse  and  a  few  small  dwellings,  and  the  necessary  supplies  for  furnishing  a  store  with  chandlery,  naval 
stores,  groceries,  and  all  such  articles  as  are  usually  needed  by  whaling  and  other  ships.  After  landing  the  passengers  and 
cargo,  these  vessels  might  proceed  to  cruise  in  the  neighborhood  and  in  the  Japan  seas  in  pursuit  of  whales — returning  occa-. 
sionally  to  the  settlement  for  refreshment,  &c.  ;  when  these  two  vessels  shall  have  jointly  secured  enough  of  oil  to  load  one  of 
them,  that  one  should  be  sent  home  to  be  again  refitted  and  freighted  with  additional  colonists  and  fresh  supplies  for  the  store- 
house and  for  the  settlers  ;  and  so  the  two  vessels  might  alternate  in  their  voyages  to  the  United  States.  Thus  in  a  short 
time  a  colony  could  be  built  up,  and  the  result-s  prove  profitable  to  all  parties  concerned.  Whaling  vessels,  American,  English, 
and  Prench,  would  resort  in  greater  numbers  to  the  port  for  refreshment  and  supplies,  becoming  customers  in  the  purchase  of 
needful  articles  for  their  vessels,  and  giving  employment  to  the  artisans  and  farmers  of  the  colony.  If  money  should  be  wanted 
by  the  whalemen  visiting  the  port,  to  make  payment  for  labor  or  supplies,  oil  at  just  prices  would  betaken  in  lieu  thereof.  There 
should  be  sent  out  by  the  company  none  but  youiig  married  people,  quarters  for  whom  could  be  obtained  in  the  houses  of  tho 
present  settlers  till  dwellings  could  be  erected  for  their  exclusive  occupation.  Thus  the  settlement  would,  in  all  probability,  form 
the  nucleus  of  a  religious  and  happy  community,  and  here  a  missionary  station  might  be  formed  without  obstacle,  from  whence 
mi.'isionaries  at  a  proper  season  might  be  sent  to  Japan,  Formosa,  and  other  benighted  countries  in  that  quarter  of  the  globe. 
At  the  present  time  whaling  vessels  cruising  in  the  seas  lying  between  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  Japan  are  frequently  obliged 
to  resort  cither  to  those  islands  or  to  Hong  Kong  for  refitment  and  supplies,  a  distance  from  some  of  their  whaling  grounds  of 
several  thousands  of  miles ;  in  such  a  voyage,  and  in  the  unavoidable  dela)'  in  port,  much  time  is  occupied  ;  and  apart  from  the 
enormous  charges  made  at  those  ports,  which  make  it  necessary  to  draw  heavily  upon  the  owners  at  home,  the  crews  become 
sickly  and  demoralized  by  their  indulgence  in  dissipation.  Now,  a  depot  established  at  Peel  Island  would  bo  central,  and  would 
probably  be  wanting,  for  a  length  of  years,  at  least,  in  the  means  for  improper  indulgence,  for  whicli  tho  ports  before  mentioned 
are  notorious.  The  right  of  sovereignty  undoubtedly  belongs  to  Japan,  as  the  earliest  known  occupant  of  tlio  islands;  beyond 
this  claim  the  present  settlers  have  unqDcstionably  priority  of  right  of  jurisdiction. 


214 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


From  Disappointment  Island  the  course  of  the  ship  was  steereil  directly  for  the  Borodinos  as 
laid  down  in  the  ordinary  charts.  They  were  made  on  the  22d  of  June  directly  ahead,  and 
■were  found  to  be  two  in  numher,  situated  five  miles  apart,  and  lying  in  a  N.N.E.  and  S.S.W. 
direction.  They  appeared  to  he  of  coral  formation  hut  of  great  antiquity,  as  trees  of  con- 
siderahle  size  crowned  the  uplands,  the  most  elevated  part  of  which  may  have  been  forty  feet 
ahove  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  navigation  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  seemed  free  of 
danger,  but  no  indentations  were  seen  in  the  surrounding  shore  which  might  afford  safe 
anchoring  places.  No  signs  of  people  were  discovered,  and  it  is  presumed  that  the  islands  are 
uninhabited.  The  position  of  the  extremity  at  the  south  of  the  southern  island  was  estimated 
to  be  in  latitude  25°  47',  and  in  longitude  131°  19'  east. 

As  during  the  return  voyage  moderate  breezes  from  S.S.W.  to  S.W.  jucvailed  with  warm 
weather,  and  as,  in  fact,  the  wind  ever  since  the  first  departure  from  Napha  had  continued 
from  the  southward  and  westward,  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  southwest  monsoon  extends  as 
far  north  as  the  parallels  of  latitude  in  which  the  course  of  the  ships  laid.  The  Susquehanna 
and  Saratoga  reached,  in  the  evening  of  June  23d,  their  anchorage  in  the  bay  of  Napha, 
where  they  found  the  Mississippi,  the  Plymouth,  and  the  Supply. 


Port  LloyJ  and  Buuiu  IsUndb. 


HANGES      AT     NAPHA,      NEW     REGENT. 


215 


CTIAPTETl  XT. 


CHWGES    AT    NAPHA,  VEW    REGEVT. BASQt'ET    ON    BOARD    OF    THE    SUSQIEHAVNA. EXCESSIVE    DIONITT    OF    THE    NEW    RECENT. 

STATELINE5S   OF  LEW    CIIEWAN5    THAWED    OCT    BT  THE    DINN'EH. GUESTS   SKNT  HOME. BAMBOO    VILLAGE. INTERIOR   OF   LEW 

CHEW    HOUSES. .MEN    INDOLENT. C053IPPING  AT  LEW    CHEW.  —  LEW    CHEW    LOOM. DIFFERENT    CLASSES    OF    THE  PEOPLE. 

THEIR  FEAR  OF   SPIES.-    SLAVERY    OF  PEASANTS. CAUSES  OF    DEGRADATION. EXCELLENCE  OF  AGRICULTURAL  CULTIVATION. 

ORIGIN  OF  POPULATIO.V  OF    LEW  CHEW. FORMER    KINGDOMS   ON  THE  ISLAND. RELATION  OF    LEW   CHEW  TO  CHINA  AND  JAPAN, 

RESPECTIVELY. EDUCATION    IN    LEW  CHEW. RELIGION  OF    THE    I.NHABITANTS. CHRISTIAN  MISSION  IN  LEW   CHEW. DISTINC- 
TIONS    OF     DRESS. PEOPLE     SELL    THE.MSELVES     AS     SLAVES. CLANSHIP. COIN    IN    LEW     CHEW SUGAR    MAKING. NATURAL 

PRODUCTS   OF  THE  ISLAND. 

HEN  tlie  squadron  returned  to  Napha,  on  the  23d  of  June,  it  was 
^^  found  tliat  a  new  regent  had  been  installed.  The  old  occupant, 
who  had  so  pertinaciously  striven  to  prevent  the  Commodore's 
visit  to  Shui,  and  who  had  also  so  bountifully  entertained  our 
countrymen  at  his  own  habitation,  had,  it  was  said,  been  deposed. 
It  was  difficult  to  ascertain  with  certainty  the  causes  of  this 
degradation,  but  it  was  not  to  be  doubted  that,  if  true,  it  was  in 
some  mode  connected  with  the  presence  of  our  ships  at  Napha, 
and  probably  resulted  from  the  admission  of  the  Commodore  and 
liis  suite  into  the  royal  residence  at  Shui.  It  was  not  a  pleasant 
reflection  to  tlie  officers  that  they  should  have  been,  however 
innocently,  the  cause  of  the  poor  old  man's  degradation ;  and  it  seemed  hard  to  understand  why 
their  visit  should  have  led  to  more  serious  consequences  than  those  produced  by  that  of  the 
officers  of  H.  B.  I\I.  ship  Sphynx  to  the  same  place.  At  first,  it  was  rumored  that  the  obi 
regent  had  been  obliged  to  i)erfDrni  tlie  Jwm-kirl.  or  disenilinwcUitig  operation;  but  tlie  jiainfiil 
feelings  produced  by  this  intelligence  were  happily  relieved  by  the  sight  of  tlie  old  man  in  liis 
house  at  Shui,  by  two  of  the  officers  of  the  Susquehanna.  Dr.  Bettelheini  (who  did  not  seem 
to  feel  any  jiity  for  the  degraded  dignitary)  stated  that  he  would  probably  be  banished,  with  his 
family,  to  one  of  the  smaller  islands. 

The  Commodore,  who  was  (juite  satisfied  with  the  conciliatory  measures  that  had  been  pursued 
during  his  absence,  now  renewed  his  invitation  to  the  regent  and  treasurer  to  dine  on  board  the 
Susquehanna,  on  Tuesday,  the  2Sth  of  Jnne,  offering  to  send  boats  for  tiiem.  This  invitation 
was  accepted ;  and  the  Commodnre  had  reason  to  doubt  tlie  whole  story  of  the  old  regent's 
degradation,  from  the  fact  that  tlie  new  regent,  S/tfui'j  Hmnj  Hlun,  a  nicinhcr  ot'  tlic  family  of 
his  j)redecessor,  and  a  much  younger  man,  did  not  hesitate  to  accejit  an  invitation  to  tlic  dinner, 


216 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


but  went  even  further  in  his  courtesies  and  attentions  than  the  old  regent  had  ever  done.  As 
far  as  he  could  ascertain  the  facts,  the  Commodore  believed  that  the  old  man  had  voluntarily- 
resigned  in  favor  of  the  young  one. 

On  the  appointed  day  of  the  feast,  three  of  the  ship's  boats  were  sent  off  to  the  creek  at 
Tumai  to  bring  on  board  the  invited  guests.  On  their  arrival,  and  after  the  usual  presentation 
of  crimson  cards,  they  came  on  board  in  robes  of  the  finest  and  cleanest  grass-cloth,  and  with 
hatdiee  matchees  of  showy  color  on  their  heads.  Captain  Buchanan  received  them  at  the  gang- 
way, and  conducted  them  through  the  various  parts  of  the  ship.  The  day  was  oppressively 
warm,  and  the  visitors  found  it  so  sultry  between  decks,  and  especially  in  the  engine  room,  tliat 
they  were  glad  once  more  to  stand  upon  the  upper  deck.  The  marines  were  under  arms,  and 
the  band  played  to  give  honor  to  their  reception.  When  dinner  was  announced  they  were 
ushered  into  the  Commodore's  cabin,  and  immediately  sat  down  to  the  table.  The  entertainment 
was,  of  course,  entirely  in  accordance  with  European  and  American  customs.  The  Commodore 
took  the  centre  of  the  table,  with  the  regent  on  his  right  hand  and  the  chief  treasurer  on  his 
left,  while  the  mayor  of  Napha  and  one  of  the  other  treasurers  were  seated  near  the  ends  of  tlie 
table,  where  they  were  taken  in  charge  by  the  commanders  of  the  different  vessels  of  the  squadron . 
Mr.  Williams  and  Dr.  Bettelheim  were  present  as  guests  and  interpreters ;  while  at  a  smaller 


table  were  Messr.s.  ().  H.  Perry,  I\)rtman,  Taylor,  and  Heine.  None  ot  tlie  regent's  suite  were 
allowed  to  sit  at  tiible  with  him,  but  remained  in  attendance.  His  interpreter,  Ichirazichi,  the 
snnin  wliom  we  have  already  presented  to  our  readers,  .stood  behind  him. 


BANQUET     ON     BOARD     OF     THE     SUSQUEHANNA.  21Y 

The  new  regent  was  a  small  man,  apparently  about  forty-five  years  old,  of  more  swarthy 
complexion  than  any  of  his  suite,  and  with  a  slight  cast  in  his  left  eye.  He  was  remarkably 
grave  and  taciturn,  seemed  to  be  perpetually  awake  to  the  novelty  of  his  position,  having  at 
times  a  restless  and  uneasy  expression  of  countenance,  and  never  spoke  except  when  he  was 
particularly  addressed.  It  was  verj'  evident  that  he  was  less  at  his  ease  than  any  person  present. 
This,  perhaps,  arose  from  his  newly  acquired  rank,  to  which  he  had  not  yet  become  accustomed, 
and  possibly  some  embarrasment  may  have  been  caused  by  the  apprehension  that  he  should  be 
wanting  in  some  of  the  proprieties  of  etiquette  at  an  American  dinner  table.  Perhaps,  too,  he 
was  not  without  his  fears  that,  surrounded  as  he  knew  himself  to  be  by  spies,  his  visit  might 
bring  in  its  train  some  unpleasant  political  consequences.  His  dress  consisted  of  a  dark  purple 
or  violet-colored  robe  and  a  cap  of  crimson.  The  treasurers,  both  old  men  with  wrinkled  faces 
and  scanty  grey  beards,  wore  similar  caps,  while  their  robes  were  yellow.  The  mayor  was 
attired  in  a  robe  of  pearl-white  grass  cloth,  and  had  on  his  head  a  crimson  cap.  The  hair  of  all 
was  i)ut  up  with  massive  gold  pins,  and  their  girdles  were  of  rich  Chinese  silk.  These  various 
dresses  were  presumed  to  be  official,  and  in  their  diversity  of  color  indicative  of  diiference  of 
rank.  The  inferior  attendants  who  stood  behind  these  dignitaries  were  dressed  in  blue  and 
yellow  with  scarlet  caps. 

Knives  and  forks  were  placed,  in  our  usual  fashion,  for  each  guest.  The  first  seemed  to  be 
very  much  in  the  way  of  the  Lew  Chewans ;  with  the  last  they  did  better,  and  showed  some 
dexterity  in  making  them  answer  the  purpose  of  chop  sticks.  This,  however,  was  a  matter  of 
but  little  moment,  as,  be  the  implements  used  what  they  may,  hungry  men  will  contrive  in  some 
mode  to  convey  food  to  their  mouths,  and  the  Lew  Chewans,  like  sensible  men,  manifested  no  inten- 
tion of  avoiding  awkwardness  at  such  a  heavy  price  as  the  loss  of  a  good  dinner ;  and  the  dinner 
was  very  good.  Turtle  soup,  goose,  kid  curry,  and  various  other  delicacies  formed  part  of  the  feast 
which  was  spread  with  bountiful  profusion.  To  the  soup  the  mayor  and  treasurer  did  ample 
justice,  and  in  their  appreciation  of  its  excellence  were  not  imworthy  rivals  of  a  London  Alder- 
man. The  cabin  was  sultry,  and  as  the  feast  proceeded  the  guests  grew  warmer,  (for  they  were 
very  much  in  earnest,)  until  finally  they  asked  permission  to  remove  their  caps,  and  this  having 
been  done,  the  attendant  of  each,  standing  behind,  vigorously  fanned  the  uncovered  head  of  his 
master.  Punch  followed  the  soup  and  furnished  them  with  a  new  gustatory  enjoyment.  They 
had  given  the  Commodore  some  of  their  saki,  and  he  was  now  resolved  to  give  them  a  taste  of 
the  saki  made  in  all  other  parts  of  the  world.  So  there  were  French  and  German  wines,  Scotch 
and  American  whiskey,  madeira  and  sherry,  and  the  gin  of  Holland,  winding  up  with  the  sweet, 
smooth,  strong  maraschino,  which  decidedly,  in  their  estimation,  bore  away  the  palm.  They 
smacked  their  lips  and  shut  their  eyes  at  each  sip  of  the  limpid  delicacy,  and,  in  short,  showed 
but  a  very  sorrj-  appreciation  of  the  virtue  of  temperance.  And  while  they  were  thus  almost 
equalling  Christendom  in  genteel  dissipation,  Mr.  Heine,  at  the  small  table,  was  making  a  sketch 
of  the  group,  and  Mr.  Portman  was  taking  a  portrait  of  the  regent. 

After  feeding  heartily  on  the  substantials,  they  asked  leave  to  smoke  their  pipes ;  it  was  of 
course  accorded,  and  the  chief  treasurer,  after  a  few  whiffs,  presented  his,  with  the  embroidered 
tobacco  pouch  attached,  to  the  Commodore.  Tlie  mayor  and  other  treasurers  followed  his 
example  by  handing  theirs  to  Captains  Buchanan  and  Adams.  There  seemed  to  be  no  end  to 
the  capacity  of  stomach  in  some  of  these  officials.  Preserved  oysters  and  other  articles  of  food 
sealed  up  in  America,  excited  an  admiration  as  boundless  as  their  aj>petites.  Part  of  the  dessert 
28.1 


218  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

consisted  of  melons  and  bananas  brought  from  the  Bonin  Islands.  These  took  them  comi>letely 
captive  and  they  begged  that  they  might  carry  some  home  to  their  wives.  They  vrere,  of  cour.se, 
told  to  do  so,  and  forthwitli  the  loose  folds  of  each  one's  robe  above  his  girdle  was  converted 
into  a  pocket  and  loaded  with  what  it  would  hold. 

When  things  had  reached  this  stage,  there  was  but  too  much  reason  to  fear  that  "the  tide  of 
wine  and  wassail  was  fiist  gaining  on  the  dry  land  of  sober  judgment."  All  reserve  was  now 
fully  thawed  out.  The  quiet  re])ose  of  a  calm  contentment  sat  enthroned  on  the  shining  face  of 
the  jolly  old  mayor  of  Napha.  The  wrinkled  visages  of  the  two  withered  old  treasurers  flushed 
and  expan.led  into  rubicund  fullness.  The  regent  alone  preserved  Ms  silent,  anxious  demeanor, 
and  all  he  drank  was  neutralized  in  its  effects  by  his  excessive  dignity.  He  appeared  cordial  and 
friendly  but  once,  and  tliat  was  when  the  Commodore  offered  him  an  assortment  of  American 
garden  seed  and  vegetables.  These  he  promised  to  plant  and  carefully  cultivate.  The  Commo- 
dore had  previously  landed,  as  a  present,  cattle  and  buffaloes;  these  he  also  promised  should  be 
carefully  looked  to  and  their  oflspring  jireserved. 

The  band  had  been  playing  on  the  deck  while  the  guests  were  feasting,  and  when  the 
weightier  part  of  the  festival  was  over  the  Commodore  ordered  down  some  of  the  more  expert 
performers,  to  play  solos  on  the  flageolet,  hautboy,  clarionet,  and  cornet-a-piston.  The  regent 
listened  attentively,  but  the  mayor  and  treasurers  were  too  busy  in  stowing  away  the  epular 
fragments  to  be  moved  by  any  "concord  of  sweet  sounds."  Coffee  was  offered  them,  under  the 
name  of  "American  tea."  They  did  not  relish  it,  and  resorted  once  more  to  their  pipes.  The 
attendants  had  not  been  forgotten.  They  had  enjoyed  an  abundance  of  meat  and  drink  in  the 
steward's  pantry,  and  relished  it  quite  as  much  as  their  masters.  But  all  earthly  enjoyment 
must  have  an  end,  and  the  feast  at  last  was  over.  The  guests  were  put  on  shore  at  Tumai, 
leaving  the  ship  under  a  salute  of  three  guns ;  and  so  ended  the  dinner  given  to  the  regent  on 
on  board  the  Susquehanna. 

The  retm'n  to  Lew  Chew  afforded  to  some  of  the  ofiicers  an  opportunity  of  making  further 
examinations  as  to  the  external  aspect  of  the  island,  and  of  catching  further  glimpses  of  the 
habits  and  pursuits  of  the  inhabitants.  One  of  the  gentlemen  attached  to  the  Saratoga  thus 
describes  the  result  of  one  of  his  explorations : 

' '  Rambled  over  the  hill  this  afternoon  to  a  most  remarkable  village.  Approaching  toward 
the  spot,  it  appeared  to  be  a  thick  swamp  of  green  brushwood.  Not  a  house  nor  anything  of 
the  kind  was  to  be  seen.  It  looked  like  one  of  those  long,  low,  marshy  thickets,  in  which  I 
hunted  for  blackbirds'  eggs,  in  my  boyhood.  But  on  reaching  it,  after  crossing  a  wide,  clear 
field  of  grass,  we  passed  into  and  through  one  of  the  sweetest  little  villages  I  ever  entered, 
completely  embowered  with  thickly  matted  tops  of  the  tall  and  swaying  bamboo,  artistically 
laid  off  in  squares,  with  level  streets  of  red  sandy  soil,  overarched  with  the  branches  of  tlie 
bamboo,  that  f(jrmed  hedges  on  either  side,  through  which,  at  regular  distances,  were  openings 
into  the  gardens  surrounding  the  dwellings  of  the  inhabitants,  highly  cultivated  with  a  variety 
of  vegetables.     I  had  neither  read  of  nor  seen  a  town  like  this." 

In  the  course  of  his  ramble,  the  officer  from  whose  journal  this  extract  is  made  entered 
several  of  the  dwellings,  for  the  purpo.sc  of  gratifying  liis  ctu-iosity  concerning  the  domestic 
arrangements.  He  found  the  floors  invariably  covered  with  thick  mats,  of  regular  width  and 
length,  laid  side  by  side,  as  a  carjjet.  These  he  found  constituted  the  sleeping  place  at  night, 
and  to  preserve  them  from  dirt,  the  inhabitants  always  step  on  tliem  witli  the  feet  bare,  or 


GOSSIPPING      AT      1.  KW     CIIKW.  219 

covered -with  stockings  only;  wlicn  tlioy  enter  from  witliout,  they  slip  off"  their  loose  straw 
sandals  at  the  door.  In  every  instance  where  he  entered,  our  informant  found  that  the  men  were 
the  drones  of  the  hive,  and  the  women  the  workers.  From  three  to  half  a  dozen  of  the  former 
were  invariahly  to  he  seen,  seated  upon  their  crossed  ankles,  in  a  circle,  with  a  cup  of  live  coals, 
a  little  box  of  fine  cut  tobacco,  and  a  spittoon,  in  the  centre.  Thus  seated,  in  dreamy  indolence, 
they  would  draw  forth  their  little  pipes  from  their  belts,  unsheath  them,  take  a  mere  pinch  of 
the  tobacco  from  the  box,  and  place  it  in  the  little  metallic  bowl  of  the  pipe,  which  was  not 
more  than  half  the  size  of  a  young  girl's  thimble,  light  it,  and  after  two  or  three  long  whiffs, 
they  would  retain  the  smoke  for  a  minute  or  more,  and  then,  with  a  strong  impulse,  send  it 
through  the  nostrils,  as  the  opium  smoker  does.  This  ended  the  enjoyment  for  that  occasion. 
The  pipes  were  then  returned  to  their  sheaths,  when  a  little  tea-pot,  holding  less  than  half  a 
pint,  with  half  a  dozen  cups,  each  of  about  the  capacity  of  three  teaspoons,  was  brought  by  a 
servant,  and  a  general  sipping  took  the  place  of  smoking.  The  tea  disposed  of,  the  pipes  were 
again  resorted  to,  and  thus  did  they  alternate  between  tobacco  and  tea.  Before  rising  to 
separate,  the  salci  was  introduced  and  circulated,  sometimes  beyond  the  limits  of  prudence  and 
discretion.  These  were  the  occupations  of  the  "lords  of  creation;"  the  poor  women,  mean- 
while, might  be  seen,  half  naked,  delving  with  the  hoe  or  the  spade,  in  the  adjacent  gardens, 
under  a  scorching  sun.  Sometimes  this  idle  gossipping  over  tea  and  the  pipe  is  carried  on  in 
the  open  air,  under  the  shade  of  some  spreading  tree. 

"When  the  poor  females  are  not  thus  employed  in  the  cultivation  of  the  earth,  there  is  still 
found  work  enough  for  them  of  some  other  kind,  for  their  destiny  is  labor.  In  every  house  may 
be  seen  the  loom  for  weaving  grass  cloth,  and  it  is  quite  a  curiosity  in  its  way.  It  is  small,  not 
more  than  two  feet  high,  and  generally  is  placed  in  the  corner  of  the  room.  The  shuttle  is  two 
or  three  feet  long,  so  that  before  it  leaves  one  hand  of  the  weaver  it  may  be  grasped  by  the 
other.  It  is  but  a  rude  implement,  and  yet  the  fine,  glossy  fabric  wrought  by  its  agency  is 
exceedingly  beautiful. 

What  has  here  been  said  must  be  understood  as  aj^plying  to  the  men  who  are  not  of  the  very 
lowest  class.  According  to  the  best  observations  the  Commodore  could  make,  he  classified  the 
inhabitants  into  four  grades :  these  were,  first,  the  high  officers  of  state ;  secondly,  the  priesthood 
and  literary  men  ;  thirdly,  the  under  officers  and  spies;  and  lastly  the  laboring  class,  (including 
particularly  the  fishermen,)  by  the  toil  of  which  last  all  the  rest  live  ;  for  it  was  never  seen  that 
any  of  the  classes  above  named,  except  the  last,  ever  appeared  to  have  any  thing  to  do,  save  the 
spies,  and  they  might  be  met  at  every  step.  These  infest  every  corner  and  every  threshold.  If 
the  officers  walked  the  streets,  these  fellows  might  be  seen  preceding  or  following  them,  directing 
all  doors  to  be  closed,  and  the  women  to  keep  out  of  sight.  The  people,  indeed,  whenever  they 
were  sure  of  not  being  seen  by  some  of  these  vermin,  manifested  no  indisposition  to  communica- 
tion and  intercourse,  and  gladly  received  from  the  strangers  little  gratuities  and  presents,  which 
were  taken  with  a  trembling  hand  and  instantly  concealed,  while  their  eyes  glanced  rapidly  and 
furtively  from  side  to  side  to  see  that  tliey  were  unobserved.  The  Commodore  was  deeply 
moved,  as  indeed  were  all  the  gentlemen  of  the  expedition,  by  the  tyranny  exercised  toward  the 
mass  of  the  people.  "  God  pity  these  poor  creatures  ! "  says  the  former  in  his  journal  :  '.'Ihave 
seen  much  of  the  world,  have  observed  savage  life  in  many  of  its  conditions  ;  but  never,  unless  I 
may  except  the  miserable  peons  in  Mexico,  have  I  looked  upon  such  an  amount  of  apparent 
wretchedness  as  these  squalid  slaves  would  seem  to  suffer."     "The  poor,  naked  creatures,  who 


220  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

toil  from  morning  till  night,  know  not  tlic  relaxation  of  a  Sabbath,  nor  the  rest  of  an  occasional 
holiday,  generally  granted  by  even  the  most  cruel  taskmasters.     The  wages  of  a  field  laborer  is 
from  three  to  eight  cents  per  diem  ;  the  mechanic  may  receive  ten.     Out  of  this,  he  has  to 
provide  food,  clothing,  and  shelter  for  a  family,  with  which  most  of  the  common  people  are 
burdened,  and  it  is  surprising  to  see  how  soon  the  boys,  for  we  see  but  little  of  the  girls,  are 
made  to  labor.     In  looking  into  a  blacksmith's  shop  at  Napha,  I  observed  a  father  and  two  sons 
making  nails  ;  the  elder  son,  probably  ten  years  old,  was  using  the  hammer,  while  the  younger, 
not  more  than  five,  was  blowing  the  bellows,  or  rather  moving  the  piston  of  a  sort  of  air  pump, 
which  required  some  amount  of  physical  exertion.     When  we  entered  the  shop,  neither  of  the 
three  took  the  slightest  notice  of  us,  but  went  on  with  their  labor  ;  even  the  little  boy  scarcely 
lifted  his  eyes  ;  and  this  seeming  indifference,  it  may  be  remarked,  was  the  case  with  laborers 
and  all  others  whom  we  met,    when  they  supposed  that  the  eye  of  a  spy  was  upon  them." 
"Whatever  progress  we  may  make  in  conciliating  the  higher  classes,   and   we  have  made 
considerable,  the  lower  orders  of  the  people  dare  not,  even  by  a  look,  evince  the  slightest  emotion ; 
their  stolid  and  impassive  features  express  nothing  but  toil  and  care,  and  area  sufficient  index  of 
their  abject  condition."     "  I  can  conceive  of  no  greater  act  of  humanity  than  it  would  be  to 
rescue,  if  possible,  these  miserable   beings  from  the  oppression  of  their  tyrannical  rulers." 
"These  poor  creatures  are  the  people  who  have  been  represented   by  Captain  Basil  Hall  as  so 
innocent  and  so  happy !"   Well  disposed,  peaceful,  and  naturally  amiable,  ourgentlemen  generally 
believed  them  to  be ;  but  they  were  ignorant,  and  had  been  long  obliged  to  resort  to  the  weapons  of 
the  weak ;  they  were,  therefore,  cunning  and  insincere.    Under  proper  treatment,  something  might 
be  made  of  them,  but  at  present,   they  want  the  essential  element  of  self-respect.     Another 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  their  improvement  is  the  impossibility  of  their  ever  procuring  a  vested 
right  of  ownership  in  the  land.     As  far  as  the  Commodore  could  gather  information  on  the 
subject,  it  would  appear  that  the  soil  is  held  by  the  government,  and  its  agents  are  employed  to 
collect  and  consume  its  produce.     According  to  the  best  accounts  that  could  be  obtained,   the 
actual  cultivator  receives  not  more  than  two-tenths  of  the  produce.     Of  the  remainder,   six- 
tenths  go  to  the  lord  of  the  soil,  or  ruler,  and  two-tenths  for  the  expense  of  supervision  of  the 
land,  costs  of  collection^  &c.     The  peasant  has  thus  no  stimulus  to    exertion.     Wretched, 
however,  as  this  system  is,  and  degraded  as  is  the  condition  of  the  operative,  it  is  astonishing  to 
see  the  large  returns  from  agricultural  labor.     Nowhere  do  the  people  better  understand  the  art 
of  producing  the  largest  crops  of  which  the  land  cultivated  is  capable  ;  no  matter  what  may  be 
the  character  and  condition  of  the  soil,  or  the  relative  position  of  the  field  cultivated.     The  same 
is  said  to  be  true  of  all  the  cultivated  portions  of  the  neighboring  groups  of  islands.     Every 
advantage  is  taken  of  circumstances,  and  irrigation  is  both  understood  and  practised  with  skill 
and  success.     With  such  a  soil  and  climate  as  Lew  Chew  possesses,  if  all  parts  of  it  that  might 
be  cultivated  were  made  fields  of  agricultural  labor,  it  would  support  a  very  large  population. 

One  of  the  subjects  to  which  the  attention  of  the  Commodore  was  drawn,  was  the  origin  of 
the  population  of  Lew  Chew.  Want  of  sufficient  material  has  not  enabled  ethnology  as  yet 
conclusively  to  settle  this  question ;  and,  of  course,  the  gentlemen  of  tlie  expedition  who  attended 
to  this  particular  had  to  find  their  way  as  best  they  might.  Many  speculations  have  been 
hazarded  on  the  subject,  founded  on  the  very  limited  observations  of  the  few  Europeans  who 
have  visited  the  islands.  Of  Captain  Hall  we  have  already  spoken.  "  The  description  of 
Captain  Basil  Hall,"  says  the  Commodore,  "is  a  mere  romance ;  the  jiroduction  of  the  inventive 


ORIGIN     OF     POPULATION     OF     LEW     CHEW.  221 

brain  of  a  writer  not  very  scrupulous  of  historical  truth  ;  and  the  account  of  Doctor  McLeod,  of 
the  Alceste,  is  not  much  nearer  to  accuracy.  Captains  Beechey  and  Belcher,  surveying  officers 
of  the  British  navy,  have  visited  Great  Lew  Chew  since  those  just  named,  and  their  statements 
may  be  considered  as  much  more  worthy  of  confidence ;  but,  after  all,  such  are  the  difficulties  in 
the  way,  that  they  had  not  much,  if  any,  better  means  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  history, 
laws,  and  civil  institutions  of  this  singular  people^  than  had  those  who  preceded  them. 
Difficulties  have  also  beset  us  in  our  investigations,  and  all  the  facts  we  may  learn  are  but 
contributions  on  a  subject  yet  open  to,  and  demanding  more  thorough  investigation.  We  throw 
what  we  can  gather  into  the  common  heap." 

As  far  as  the  Lew  Chewans  themselves  bear  testimony  to  their  origin,  they  claim,  like  the 
Chinese,  to  have  their  descent  from  a  divine  source.  According  to  Chow-Hwang,  a  Chinese 
writer,  who  was  sent  to  Lew  Chew  in  1757,  as  an  envoy  from  China,  and  who  on  his  return 
published  an  account  of  the  island,  "  the  islanders  declare  that  the  original  progenitors  of  the 
Lew  Chewans  were  two,  a  man  and  a  woman.  They  had  five  children  ;  the  oldest  was  a  son, 
named  T^en-Sun,  (Offspring  of  Heaven,)  who  was  the  first  master  or  ruler  of  the  nation;  the 
second  son  acted  the  part  of  his  minister,  and  the  third  constituted  the  people.  The  older 
daughter,  for  the  protection  of  the  country,  took  the  place  of  the  God  of  Heaven,  and  the 
younger  personified  the  God  of  the  Sea.  T66n-Sun  and  his  descendants  having  maintained  the 
government  for  17,802  years,  were  at  length  succeeded  by  Shunteen,  a  branch  of  the  then  ruling 
family  of  Japan.  This  occurred  about  A.  D.  1200,  when  the  Ming  dynasty  arose  in  China. 
Three  kings  ruled  in  Lew  Chew ;  one  was  styled  '  King  of  the  Central  Hills  ;'  the  second  '  King 
of  the  Southern  Hills  ;'  and  the  third  '  King  of  the  Northern  Hills.'  All  were  tributary,  and 
reigned  by  permission  of  'the  Son  of  Heaven.'  At  length  the  first  became  master  of  the 
whole  country,  which  has  ever  since  remained  under  one  king,  always  acknowledging  himself  a 
tributary  of  the  Chinese  empire."* 

Klaproth,  professing  to  follow  Chinese  and  Japanese  annals,  gives  an  account  agreeing  pretty 
well  with  the  foregoing  by  Chow-Hwang,  and  says  further,  that  the  race  of  kings  reigning  in 
Lew  Chew  is  related  to  the  imperial  family  of  Japan  ;  that  both  China  and  Japan  claim  the 
sovereignty,  and  that  the  Lew  Chewans  pay  tribute  to  both. 

As  to  the  three  kings  of  the  "central,"  "northern,"  and  "southern"  hills,  respectively, 
there  is  something  in  the  discoveries  of  our  exploring  parties  that  may  seem  to  give  countenance 
to  the  truth  of  that  portion  of  the  story.  It  will  be  remembered  by  the  reader  that  the  explorers 
reported  the  discovery  of  the  ruins  of  a  castle  or  palace  at  Nagagusko  ;  the  ruins  of  another 
were  afterwards  found,  of  which  an  account  will  be  given  on  a  future  page,  and  these  were  no 
doubt  the  residences  of  the  northern  and  southern  kings,  while  the  third  at  Shui,  perfect,  and 
still  used  as  the  royal  residence,  was  the  palace  of  the  "  King  of  the  Central  Hills."  The  tradi- 
tions of  Lew  Chew  even  to  this  day  (as  our  officers  found)  preserve  the  memory  of  the  former 
existence  of  distinct  sovereignties  on  the  island. 

Chow-Hwang  claims,  as  we  have  seen,  sovereignty  over  the  island  at  this  day  for  the  Chinese 
Emperor  ;  and  one  of  the  points  which  appeared  difficult  to  determine  was  the  precise  relation 
which  Lew  Chew  bore  to  China  and  Japan  respectively.  That  a  tribute  was  sent  in  Chinese 
junks  to  China  annually  from  Lew  Chew  seemed  to  be  an  established  fact,  yet  the  officials  of 

'Chinese  Repository  for  July,  1837,  vol.  VI. 


222  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

Lew  Chew  did  not  appear  to  be  Chinese,  and  the  common  language  of  the  country  is  not  that 
of  the  celestial  empire,  though  Chinese  is  understood  and  spoken  by  some  of  the  Lew  Chewans 
•who  arc  educated.  As  to  any  rights  Japan  may  have,  all  we  can  say  is,  that  the  Japanese 
commissioners  informed  Commodore  Perry  at  a  subsequent  period,  when  he  met  them  in  con- 
ference on  the  proposed  points  of  a  treaty,  "that  Lew  Chew  was  a  distant  dependency,  over  which 
the  crown  [of  Japan]  had  limited  control. ' '  It  is  also  certain  that  most  of  the  trade  to  Lew  Chew 
is  carried  on  by  Japanese  junks.  The  testimony  of  the  Lew  Chewans  themselves  is  contained  in 
the  following  extract  of  a  letter  addressed  to  Commodore  Terry  by  the  officials  of  Napha :  "Since 
the  days  of  the  Ming  dynasty  it  has  been  our  great  pride  to  be  ranked  as  one  of  the  outer  depen- 
dencies of  China,  and  she  has  for  ages  given  our  king  his  investiture,  and  we  have  returned 
whatever  we  could  prepare  for  tribute  ;  nothing  of  great  importance  to  our  nation  has  tranf- 
pired  but  it  has  been  made  known  to  the  Emperor.  Whenever  the  time  came  for  us  to  send  up 
the  tribute,  we  there  [in  China]  purchased  silk  and  pongee  to  make  suitable  official  robes  and 
caps  for  ourselves,  and  selected  medicines  and  other  things  for  the  use  of  the  state  ;  and  if  they 
were  not  enough  for  our  own  use,  then  through  the  island  of  Tuchara  we  have  intercourse 
with  a  friendly  and  near  nation,  and  exchange  for  our  productions,  as  black  sugar,  saki,  grass- 
cloth,  and  other  articles,  things  which  we  send  to  China  as  tribute."  The  friendly  and  near 
nation  alluded  to  is  Japan. 

Dr.  Bettelheim,  who  lived  some  years  in  Lew  Chew,  believed,  for  several  good  reasons,  that 
"the  country,  though  independent  to  a  certain  extent,  (its  ruler  being  permitted,  for  a  good 
contribution  to  Pekin,  to  assume  the  high-sounding  title  of  king,)  yet  is,  to  all  ends  and  pur- 
poses, an  integral  part  of  Japan."     His  reasons  were  briefly  these  : 

1.  "There  is  a  Japanese  garrison  quartered  in  Napha."  It  must  not,  however,  be  under- 
stood that  they  show  themselves  openly,  for  the  Lew  Chewans  pretend  that  they  are  an  unwar- 
like  people,  without  military  arms  or  accoutrements ;  but  Dr.  Bettelheim  accidentally  came 
upon  a  part  of  the  garrison  employed  in  cleaning  their  arms. 

2.  The  trade  of  Lew  Chew  is  entirely  with  Japan.  If  the  island  were  a  Chijiese  dependency 
this  would  not  be  so.  Japan  sends  annually  thirty  or  forty  junks  to  Lew  Chew,  of  about  four 
hundred  and  fifty  tons  each  ;  only  one  Lew  Chewan  junk  goes  annually  to  China,  and  every 
alternate  year  one  more,  said  to  carry  tribute,  but  not  a  single  Chinese  junk  is  ever  allowed  to 
enter  Napha. 

3.  The  Japanese  are  to  be  found  in  numbers  in  Lew  Chew,  and  stroll  about  as  uninterruptedly 
as  the  natives  ;  they  intermarry  with  the  Lew  Chewans,  cultivate  lands,  build  houses  in  Napha, 
and,  in  short,  seem  to  be  perfectly  at  home.  But  a  Chinaman  is  as  much  hunted  and  spied 
after,  and  pelted,  and  insulted  as  any  other  foreigner.  This  is  strikingly  confirmed  by  the 
journal  of  one  of  our  officers,  who  remarks,  from  facts  that  he  was  witness  to :  "  They  [the  Lew 
Chewans]  are  evidently  quite  as  much  opposed  to  intercourse  with  China  as  with  all  other  nations, 
notwithstanding  the  similarity,  if  not  tlie  identity,  of  their  religion,  literature,  and  many  of  their 
manners  and  customs.  Indeed,  they  are  de  facto  and  de  jure  a  part  of  Japan,  and  their  motto 
is,  'uncompromising  non-intercourse  with  all  the  world.'  " 

4.  In  all  Dr.  Bettelheim's  intercourse  with  the  Lew  Chew  authorities  there  were  always 
present,  at  least,  two  individuals,  who,  it  was  obvious,  had  the  management  of  the  meeting  and 
controlled  the  Lew  Chew  officials.     These  he  conjectured  to  be  Japanese  inspectors. 

5.  The  language,  dress,  customs,  virtues,  and  vices  of  Lew  Chew  correspond  to  those  of  Japan, 


KDUCATIONINLEWCUEW.  223 

thus  establishing  a,  prima  facie  relationship.  Of  these  the  language  is  to  the  ethnologist  the 
most  satisfactory  proof,  and  of  the  reseai'ches  of  some  of  our  gentlemen,  on  this  point,  -we  shall 
speak  more  particularly  in  its  appropriate  place,  on  a  future  page. 

The  English  Bishop  of  Victoria,  who,  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties,  visited  Lew  Chew 
in  1850,  thus  speaks  on  this  subject:  "On  the  whole,  it  seems  far  the  most  probable  oiiinion 
that  Lew  Chew  was  peojjled  by  a  colony  from  Japan,  to  which  people  their  physiognomy, 
language,  and  customs  have  a  close  affinity  ;  and  that  to  China  they  owe  the  far  more  important 
debt  of  their  partial  civilization  and  literature.  The  government  of  the  country  appears  to 
consist  in  a  grievous  oligarchy  of  literati  immediately  dependent  upon  Japan.  They  stand  in 
great  fear  of  the  latter  country,  and  look  to  it,  and  not  to  China,  for  protection  in  time  of  need. 
They  have  an  historical  tradition  that  a  few  hundred  years  ago,  during  the  Ming  dynasty,  a 
war  broke  out  between  China  and  Japan,  during  which  the  former,  wanting  to  detach  Lew 
Chew  from  the  latter,  raised  it  to  the  dignity  of  a  separate  kingdom.  In  token  of  vassalage, 
every  new  king  receives  a  formal  investiture  from  a  Chinese  officer,  specially  deputed  and  sent 
for  that  purpose  from  Foo  Chow  ;  to  which  city,  also,  a  biennial  tribute-junk  is  sent  from  Lew 
Chew.  At  the  Tartar  invasion  of  China,  and  the  commencement  of  the  present  foreign  dynasty, 
above  two  hundred  j'ears  ago,  about  thirty-six  Chinese  families,  unwilling  to  conform  to  the 
Tartar  changes  of  costume  and  rule,  emigrated  to  Lew  Chew,  the  descendants  of  whom  have 
become,  generally,  the  schoolmasters  of  the  country,  and  amalgamated  with  the  people."  The 
Commodore,  from  such  observation  as  he  could  make,  thought  that  the  Lew  Chewans  were  a 
mixture,  made  up  possibly  of  Japanese,  (who  preponderated,)  Chinese,  Formosans,  and,  perhaps, 
Malays ;  and  that  the  island,  commencing  its  population  at  a  very  early  period,  from  some 
accident,  such  as  shipwreck,  had,  from  time  to  time,  added  to  its  inhabitants  from  the  adjacent 
regions,  until  the  whole  was  fused  into  the  present  stock.  In  personal  appearance  the  Lew 
Chewans  did  not  seem  to  him  to  be  unequivocally  either  Chinese  or  Japanese  in  aspect.  They 
are  not  a  handsome  people,  nor  yet  can  they  be  called  decidedly  ugly.  Their  complexion  is 
rather  Chinese,  and  they  have  black  eyes  and  hair ;  the  latter  of  which,  by  the  way,  they  do 
not  dress  after  the  Chinese  fashion  ;  for,  instead,  of  long  plaited  tails  hanging  down  behind,  it 
is  gathered,  with  great  care  and  neatness,  into  a  knot  on  the  top  of  the  head,  and  there  fastened 
with  a  pin  of  silver  or  other  metal — the  nature  of  the  metal  used  indicating  the  rank  of  the 
wearer. 

As  to  education,  the  opportunity  afforded  of  acquiring  information  was  necessarily  limited, 
and  the  best  account  the  Commodore  could  obtain  on  that  subject  was  from  Dr.  Bettelheim,  who 
had  been  for  some  years  resident  on  the  island.  "In  Shui,"  says  he,  "I  have  seen  a  building 
with  an  inscription,  perhaps  well  rendered,  '  University,'  on  the  door.  In  Napha  is  a  school 
for  proficients  in  Confucian  lore.  But  in  general,  learning — as  far  as  it  goes,  i.  e.  a  mere 
knowledge  of  Chinese  characters  and  of  some  of  their  classical  books — is  diffused  bj'  the  elder 
instructing  the  younger  ;  a  kind  of  Lancasterian  system,  carried  on  in  the  whole  country,  in 
almost  every  house.  Still,  there  are  schools  beside,  and  ^likewise  the  Kung-Kwas,  government 
houses  in  Napha,  as  well  as  Tumai,  serve  as  schools.  In  the  Kung-Kwas,  however,  no  teacher 
is  appointed  ;  but  in  the  out-buildings  usually  added  to  every  Confucian  temple,  I  found  often 
children  assembled  under  the  superintendance  of  a  master,  who  seems  to  have  the  benefit  of  free 
residence  and  the  adjoining  grounds  for  salary."  "Aping  China  in  everything,  Lew  Chew  has 
also  its  three  yearly  examinations,  which,  for  the  time  being,  make  quite  a  stir  in  the  learned 


224  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

world,  but  hold  out  no  prospect  for  liigh  station,  as  in  China.  At  most,  the  fortunate  candidate 
gets,  beside  a  good  fill  of  honor,  a  rice  pension  or  a  schoolmastershiiJ.  The  Samuns  are  also 
delegated,  bj  turns,  to  teach  in  the  country  schools.  By  all  these  means  the  knowledge  of  the 
Chinese  character  is  pretty  widely  diffused  among  the  people,  the  women,  only,  being  entirely 
without  any  literary  culture." 

As  to  what  is  taught,  all  the  books,  as  well  as  learning,  in  Lew  Chew  come  from  China, 
whither,  yearly,  some  of  the  native  youths  of  the  higher  class  are  sent  for  education.  The 
Chinese  character  is  in  general  use  in  Lew  Chew  ;  but  the  inhabitants  have  also  (says  Dr. 
Bettelhcim)  a  running  hand  of  their  own,  which,  he  thinks,  is  the  real  ancient  Chinese  hiero- 
glyphic, "awfully  crippled."  In  some  manuscripts  which  he  saw  in  this  writing,  every  Lew 
Chew  character  had  opposite  to  it  the  modern  legible  Chinese  sign ;  and  many  Lew  Chewans  do 
not  understand  the  character  at  all.  They  are,  however,  very  proud  of  it,  and  say  it  is  a 
"language"  of  their  own  ;  though^  as  far  as  could  be  ascertained,  the  signs  used  do  not  at  all 
express  the  sounds  of  the  sjioken  Lew  Chew  language,  which  is,  undoubtedly,  a  dialect  of 
Japanese.  Neither  is  this  writing,  as  has  been  said,  identical  with  the  Japanese  hirakana. 
Most  of  the  books  seen  in  Lew  Chew  were  in  the  ordinary  Chinese  character.  The  Japanese 
character,  however,  is  understood ;  for  writings  were  seen,  made  by  Lew  Chewans,  in  the 
KataJcana.  With  such  apparatus  for  learning  it  may  well  be  supposed  that  the  attainments  of 
the  masses^  except  in  those  matters  which  are  communicated  orally,  must  be  limited.  The  Lew 
Chewans  have  no  literature  of  their  own,  nor  has  any  author,  so  far  as  we  know,  ever  appeared 
among  them.  The  Confucian  classics  #  ^ina  are  the  text  books,  and  these,  says  the  Bishop 
of  Victoria,  "consist  more  in  an  apparently  mechanical  repetition  of  sounds  than  m  any  mental 
recreation  from  the  sentiments  contained  in  those  literary  monuments  of  a  venerable  antiquity." 

The  reader  will  probably  be  somewhat  interested  to  know  something  of  the  religious  opinions 
of  these  distant  islanders,  and  of  the  circumstances  under  which  Dr.  Bettelheim  became  a 
resident  among  them.  As  to  the  first,  it  may  be  said,  in  general  terms,  that  the  religion  of  the 
natives  seems  to  be  a  mixture  of  Confucianism  and  Buddhism.  But  it  is  best  to  let  them  on 
this  head  speak  for  themselves.  When  the  Bishop  of  Victoria  was  at  the  island,  in  1850,  the 
captain  of  H.  B.  M.  steamer,  the  Keynard,  received  two  communications  from  the  native 
authorities,  written  in  Chinese,  in  the  latter  of  which  they  thus  speak:  "Now,  as  to  the 
religion  of  the  Lord  of  Heaven,"  [this  is  the  phrase  by  which  they  designate  Christianity,]  "we 
have,  from  ancient  times,  attended  to  the  doctrines  of  Confucius,  and  found  therein  principles 
wherewith  to  cultivate  personal  morality,  and  to  regulate  our  fjimilies,  each  according  to  our 
circumstances  and  condition  in  life.  We  endeavor,  also,  to  carry  out  the  government  of  the 
country  according  to  the  rules  and  maxims  which  have  been  handed  down  to  us  by  the  sages, 
and  are  calculated  to  secure  lasting  peace  and  tranquility.  Besides,  our  gentry,  as  well  as  the 
common  people,  are  without  natural  capacity;  and,  although  they  have  attended  exclusively  to 
Confucianism,  they  have  as  yet  been  unable  to  arrive  at  perfection  in  it.  If  they  should  now, 
also,  have  to  study,  in  addition,  the  religion  of  the  Lord  of  Heaven,  such  an  attempt  would 
surpass  our  ability,  and  the  heart  does  not  incline  to  it." 

On  the  comjjound  of  Confucianism  and  Buddhism  many  superstitions  have  been  grafted. 
Filial  reverence  here,  as  in  China,  is  the  chief  of  virtues,  and,  theoretically,  at  least,  underlies  as 
a  basis  the  system  of  government,  which  is  professedly  patriarchal.  This,  as  the  Bishop  of 
Victoria  has  well  remarked,   is  the  great  source  of  slavery,  and  opens  a  M'ide  door  for  the 


CHRISTIAN      MISSION      IX      LEW     C  U  E  W .  225 

grossest  tyranny  on  the  part  of  the  so-called  paternal  rulers.  How  far  these  poor  and  oppressed 
beings  are  in  a  condition  to  be  impressed  by  the  truths  of  Christianity  it  would  be  difficult  to 
say;  but,  from  the  early  experience  of  Dr.  Bottelheim,  there  is  reason  to  think  that  the  common 
people,  if  left  to  themselves,  would  be  willing  listeners  to  the  Christian  teacher ;  and  the 
benevolence  of  gospel  principles  would  probably  contrast  so  strongly  and  advantageously  with 
the  cruelty  and  oppression  under  which  they  groan,  that  we  cannot  but  believe  there  are  few 
spots  of  paganism  where,  under  God's  blessing,  efforts  to-Christianize  would  probably  be  more 
successful  than  in  Lew  Chew,  were  the  i)eople  left  to  freedom  of  thought  and  action. 

As  to  the  establishment  of  Dr.  Bettelheim  as  a  missionary  in  the  island,  its  history,  as  we 
gather  from  the  Bishop  of  Victoria,  is  briefly  this:  Xot  many  years  ago,  certain  pious  officers 
of  the  British  navy,  (among  whom  was  prominent  Lieutenant  Clifford,  who,  we  believe,  visited 
the  island  with  Captain  Basil  Hall,)  formed  an  association  among  themselves,  under  the  name 
of  the  "Lew  Chew  Xaval  Mission,"  for  the  purpose  of  sending  Christian  missionaries  to  the 
Island.  The  missionary  whom  they  first  sent  was  Dr.  Bettelheim,  a  converted  Jew,  and  by 
birth  a  Hungarian,  not,  however,  in  holy  orders,  but  a  christian  layman.  He  had  become  a 
British  subject  by  naturalization,  and  the  husband  of  an  Englishwoman.  He  possessed  many 
qualifications  for  his  work.  He  was  a  physician,  a  good  linguist,  with  great  energy  of  mind  and 
activity  of  body,  and  most  indefatigable  perseverance.  He  possessed,  also,  a  boldness  of  nature, 
which  caused  him  fearlessly  to  assert  his  rights  as  a  British  subject,  and,  perhaps,  not  always  with 
discretion.  Two  missionaries  of  the  Eoman  church  were,  at  first,  in  Lew  Chew  with  him,  one  of 
whom  was  made  titular  bishop  of  Samos  and  vicar  general  of  Japan ;  but  these,  in  utter  despair  of 
success,  abandoned  their  mission,  and  left  the  island,  while  Dr.  Bettelheim  still  abode  at  his  post, 
and  never  relaxed  his  labors.  Commodore  Perry  found  him  at  Napha,  as  we  have  already  related, 
and  he  had  been  there  since  May,  1846.  The  opposition  to  Dr.  Bettelheim's  labors  did  not 
come  from  the  common  people.  At  first  his  communications  with  them  were  freely  allowed, 
and  they  seemed  well  disposed  to  be  taught.  But  the  authorities  soon  took  the  alarm,  and,  as 
there  is  reason  to  think,  on  political  grounds  merely.  They  were  afraid  of  their  Japanese 
masters,  who,  as  they  well  knew,  would  tolerate  no  show  of  Christianity  in  the  kingdom,  and 
would  look  upon  its  introduction  into  Lew  Chew  as  the  first  step  toward  breaking  down  the 
exclusive  system  of  Jajian.  At  first,  therefore,  the  authorities  at  Xapha  used  mild  persuasion 
with  Dr.  Bettelheim  to  prevail  upon  him  to  leave  the  island ;  then  followed  less  equivocal 
marks  of  opposition — the  people  were  forbidden  to  go  near  him  or  to  remain  with  him  if  he 
came  among  them ;  and,  finally,  a  system  of  insult,  annoyance,  ceaseless  espionage,  and 
intimidation,  was  adopted,  in  the  hope  of  driving  him  away.  But  all  these  means  were  in  vain. 
The  missionary  stayed  in  Lew  Chew,  and  at  the  time  of  the  Commodore's  arrival,  he  and  the 
inhabitants  were  living  in  a  condition  of  undisguised  hostility  toward  each  other.  It  was  soon 
but  too  apparent  that  the  presence  of  the  missionary,  however  meritorious  he  might  be,  seemed 
to  promise  but  little  for  the  extension  of  Christianity  in  the  island  at  that  period. 

A  renewed  opportunity  of  observation  on  this  second  visit  enabled  the  gentlemen  of  the 
expedition  to  catch  some  additional  features  of  social  life,  as  well  as  to  obtain  further  insight 
into  manners  and  customs.  There  is  a  gradation  in  the  rank  of  officers  analogous  to  that 
existing  in  China,  and  here,  as  there,  manifested  by  some  peculiarity  of  dress.  The  great 
distinctive  mark,  however,  between  the  higher  classes  and  the  general  population  consists  in 
the  hair-pin.  The  crown  of  the  head,  to  the  extent  of  two  or  three  inches,  is  shaved,  and  into 
the  vacant  space  the  residue  of  the  hair  is  all  drawn,  and  plaited  somewhat  into  the  form  of  a 
29  J 


226 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


circular  comb.  A  free  use  is  made  of  oil  and  lamp-black  in  arranging  it.  Two  large  hair-pins 
are  then  pa.'jscd  through  the  mass,  to  keep  it  in  place,  and  the  front  end  of  the  lower  pin  is 
linishcd  with  a  liead  in  the  form  of  a  star.  The  different  metals  of  which  the  pins  are  made 
indicate  the  rank  of  the  wearer.  They  ar-e  of  gold,  silver,  brass,  lead,  and  pewter.  The  lower 
class  generally  wear  brass,  though  the  very  poorest  use  sometimes  the  metals  last  named. 
The  literati  or  dignitaries  use  gold  and  silver.  The  pin,  therefore,  tells  the  rank  at  once. 
The  lowest  order  of  the  people  consists  of  the  public  slaves,  (oo-bang,)  who  have  no  civil  rights 
nor  personal  freedom,  and  must  obey  the  slightest  beck  of  the  literati.  Their  condition  is  one 
of  utter  degradation.  The  intermediate  class  next  above  these  is  composed  of  the  peasants 
or  field  laborers,  (Ha-koo-shoo.)  These  farm  the  country,  paying  to  the  government  one-half 
of  the  products  in  lieu  of  taxes,  and  paying  also  an  exorbitant  rent.  We  have  already  stated 
that  two-tenths  is  all  the  laborer  gets  of  the  results  of  his  toil.  By  this  toil  the  literary  class, 
which  never  works  at  all,  is  supported.  The  highest  grade  in  the  lower  class  is  made  up  of 
the  messengers,  spies,  menial  oflScers,  &c.,  in  the  service  of  government,  and  includes  also  the 
small  traders  and  mechanics.  This  caste  is  known  by  the  name  of  We-dae-o-gancj .  When 
doing  duty  for  the  government  these  receive  no  wages,  nothing  but  their  food,  and  the  distant 
hope  of  promotion  to  the  honor  of  substituting  for  the  brass  pin  one  of  silver.     The  rich  some- 


Voiiibi  iu  LuM  Ctii.w. 


times  purdiase  from  a  poor  man  his  services  for  life,  (a  system  of  slavery,)  but  more  generally 
for  a  terra  of  years.     The  price  of  a  common  slave  of  this  kind  is  from  two  to  ten  dollars. 

Great  respect  is  shown  for  the  dead,  and  tombs  elaborate  and  costly  attest  this  feeling.    They 
arc  constructed  of  stone,  and  oft^n  forn^  a  oonspicuous  feature  in  the  landsoApe.     Indeed,  upon 


CL  AX  SHIP. COIN      IN      LEW     CUEW.  227 

the  first  approach  of  the  squadron,  their  size,  color,  and  position  on  the  hill-sides  caused  them, 
at  a  distance,  to  be  mistaken  for  dwellings. 

A  sort  of  clansliip  seems  to  obtain  in  each  district,  and  the  people  of  one  village  seldom 
marry  with  the  inhabitants  of  another.  The  agriculturists,  and  indeed  the  common  people 
generally,  appear  to  know  but  few  physical  wants.  They  have  sweet  potatoes  in  abundance, 
and  these,  with  a  miserable  hut  to  sleep  in,  seem  to  bound  their  very  limited  desires.  Many  of 
the  poor  are  fishermen,  but  the  larger  number  is  composed  of  mechanics,  employed  chiefly  in 
turning  wooden  implements  and  covering  them  with  lacquer.  The  women  commonly  perform 
this  latter  branch,  except  as  to  the  painting;  this  is  done  b}-  men.  The  shops  are  few,  and  the 
articles  sold  are  chiefly  paper,  rice,  tea,  sweetmeats,  and  clothing.  The  Lew  Chewans  always 
insisted  that  they  had  no  current  coin,  and  that  their  trade  was  always  in  a  barter  of  specific 
objects.  This  may  be  in  the  main  correct,  as  they  appear  to  have  but  little  metallic  currency, 
and  the  Commodore  endeavored  in  vain  to  procure  from  the  authorities  some  of  their  coin  in 
exchange  for  ours.  They  solemnly  assured  him  they  had  no  national  currency;  and,  though 
they  are  very  much  in  the  habit,  from  motives  of  supposed  policy,  of  exaggerating  their  poverty^ 
this  statement  is  probably  true.  They  know,  however,  very  well  the  value  of  the  Chinese  coin, 
and  received  it  from  our  pursers  in  the  settlement  of  accounts. 

The  vegetable  and  animal  productions  of  Lew  Chew  are  abundant  enough.  The  sugar-cane 
thrives,  and  they  have  a  rude  mode  of  making  sugar. 

They  export  of  this,  as  well  as  of  saki,  an  intoxicating  liquor  distilled  from  rice,  and  very 
strong;  they  make  also  tobacco  in  considerable  quantities,  and  smoking  is  a  universal  habit. 
Some  cotton  is  also  grown,  and  indigo  is  raised  in  the  island.  They  also  make  silt  by  evapora- 
tion ;  and,  were  the  island  in  other  hands,  its  agricultural  productions  would  support  a  large 
population,  and  furnish  a  surplus  for  exportation.  Fowls,  ducks,  geese,  pigs,  goats,  and  a 
small  species  of  black  ox,  are  all  very  abundant.  There  is  a  small  but  active  and  tough  breed 
of  horses,  and  the  wild  boar  is  found  in  the  forests.  The  general  impression  left  on  the  minds 
of  the  gentlemen  of  the  expedition  was,  that  Lew  Chew  was  a  beautiful  island,  abundantly  sup- 
plied, and  needed  but  a  good  government  to  form,  so  far  as  bodily  comfort  is  concerned,  as 
pleasant  a  residence  as  could  be  desired. 


Tombs  io  Lcn-  Chew. 


228 


EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN'. 


C  HATTER  XII 


DEPARTURE  FROM    NAPHA    FOR    JIPAX. CODRSE    OF    THE    SHIPS. OHO-SIMA. ISI.AVD    SEES'     BT     COMMANDER     GLTNV,     PROBABLT 

OHO-SIMA. CLEOPATRA    ISLANDS. CURRENTS. FOURTH    OF    JOLT    OW    BOARD  APPROACH    TO    CAPE    IDZC. SQUADRON,    LED 

BT    THE     SUSQUEHANNA,    ENTERS     THE     BAY     OF      TEDO. ROCK     ISLAND. HAZT     ATMOSPHERE    OF    JAPAN  SURPRISE    OF    THE 

JAP.ANESE    AT    SIGHT    OF    THE   STEAMERS     MOVING     AGAINST    WIND   AND  TIDE. BAT    OF     SAGAMI.  —  APPEARANCE    OF    THE  COAST 

AND    COUNTRY    INLAND. FUSI-JAMA. SHIPS    MADE    READY      FOR    ACTION. FLEET    OF    JAPANESE    BOATS    PUT     OFF    FROM     THE 

SHORE. LEKT  BEHIND    BT    SQUADRON. BAY   OF  URAG\. OPPOSITE    COAST  OF   AWA. JAPANESE  FORTS. SQUADRON  COMES  TO 

ANCHOR  l.V  THE  BAY    OF  URAGA. SOUNDINGS    ON  APPROACHING  THE  ANCHORAGE. JAPANESE  GUARD-BOATS   PUT  OFF. NO  ONE 

PERMITTED    TO    COME    ON    B"ARD    THE    SHIPS. APPEARANCE      OF      GUARD  BOATS      AND      CREWS. SKILL     OF      THE    JAPANESE    IN 

MANAGI.NG    THEIR    BOATS. — .GU^RO-BOAT    COMES      ALONGSIDE      OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI,    AND    JAPANESE    FUNCTION.ART    DEMANDS   TO 

COME    ON    BOARD. NOT    PERMITTED. — NOTICE    IN    THE    FRENCH    LANGUAGE,      ORDERING     THE      SHIPS    AWAY,     HELD     UP    TO    BE 

READ. INTERPRETERS      DIRECTED     TO      INFORM     THE    JAPANESE    THAT    THE    COMMODORE    WOULD    CONFER    WITH    NO    ONE     BUT 

THE    HIGHEST    OFFICIAL    IN    URAGA. JAPANESE    REPLIED    THAT    THEY    HAD    THE    VICE    GOVERNOR    ON     BOARD. THIS      OFFICER 

AND    HIS    INTERPRETER    ALLOWED    TO    COME    ON    BOARD    THE     SUSQUEII.AN.NA. NOT     PERMITTED     TO     SEE     THE    COMMODORE. 

CONFERENCE    WITH    LIEUTENANT    CONTEE,    WHO    EXPLAINS    THAT    THE   AMERICANS    HAVE    COME    ON    A    FRIENDLY    MISSION    AND 

THAT    THE    COMMODORE    BEARS    A    LETTER    FROM    THE    PRESIDENT    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES    TO    THE    EMPEROR. DESIRES    THE 

APPOINTMENT    OF    AN    OFFICER    OF    SUITABLE    RANK    TO     RECEIVE     IT     FROM     THE    COMMODORE. COMMODORE    REFUSES    TO    GO 

TO    NAGASAKI. INFORMS    THE    JAPANESE    OFFICIALS    THAT    IF    THE    GUARD-BOATS    ARE    NOT    IMMEDIATELY    REMOVED    HE    WILL 

DISPERSE    THEM    BY    FORCE. — THE    BOATS    ARE    WITHDRAWN. VICE    GOVERNOR    RETURNS   TO  THE  SHORE,  PRO.MISING  FURTHER 

COMMUNICATION    ON    THE    MORROW. POLICY    RESOLVED    ON    BT     THE      COMMODORE. METEOROLOGICAL      PHENO.MENON. VISIT 

ON    THE    NEXT    DAY    FROM    THE     GOVERNOR      OF     DRAGA. CONFERENCE     BETWEEN     HIM     AND      COMMANDERS     BUCHANA.N     AND 

ADAMS. SECOND    REFUSAL    OF    THE    COMMODORE    TO    GO  TO  NAGASAKI. DETERMINATION  EXPRESSED  TO  DELIVER  THE   LETTER 

THERE,    AND,    IF    NECESSARY,      IN    THE    CITY    OF    YEDO    ITSELF. GOVERNOR    PROPOSES    TO    REFER     THE    MATTER      TO      YEDO. 

COMMODORE    ASSENTS    AND    ALLOWS    THREE    DATS    FOR    AN    ANSWER. SURVEY    BY    THE    SQUADROn's    BOATS      OF     THE     BAY    OF 

URAGA,    AND    ULTIMATELY    OF    THE    BAY    OF    YEDO. 


AULY  on  tlie  niorniiig  of  the  2(1  of  July,  1853, 
5  a'^ter  nianj'  unforeseen  delays,  the  Commodore 
departed  from  Xapha  with  four  vessels  only,  the 
two  steamers,  the  Susquehanna,  his  flag-ship, 
and  the  Mississippi,  the  Saratoga,  and  the 
Plymouth  sloops-of-war.  The  Supply  was  left 
behind,  and  the  Caprice  dispatched  to  Shanghai. 
Tills  was  hut  a  poor  show  of  sliips,  in  comparison 
with  tlie  more  imposing  squadron  of  twelve 
vessels  which  had  been  8o  repeatedly  promised. 
But  as  none  of  these  additional  vessels  had 
arrived,  and  as  no  calculation  could  he  made  as  to 
when  they  might  be  looked  for,  the  Commodore  resolved  to  sail  with  the  inferior  force,  which    he 


COURSE     OK      THE      SHIPS. OHO-SIMA.  229 

trusted  would  so  far  answer  his  necessities  as  not  to  interfere  seriously  with  the  great  object  of 
the  expedition,  now  fairly  set  out  for  Japan.  The  advantages  of  steam  were  fullj'  appreciated  in 
the  opportunity  it  gave  of  making  a  uniformly  steady  and  direct  course  of  ascertained  speed — 
advantages  in  which  the  sailing  vessels  were  made  to  participate  ;  for  the  Saratoga  was  taken 
in  tow  by  the  Susquehanna,  as  the  Plymouth  was  by  the  Mississippi.  The  Commodore's  ship 
led  the  van  out  of  Kapha  and  awaited,  some  five  miles  away,  between  the  group  of  islands 
situated  off  the  harbor  and  the  southwestern  extremity  of  the  island,  the  coming  up  of  her 
consort,  as  did  the  Mississippi  for  hers.  Hawsers  then  being  passed  from  the  steamers  to  the 
two  sloops-of-war,  they  were  respectively  taken  in  tow,  the  squadron  fairly  started  and  began 
the  voyage  to  Yedo. 

All  seemed  very  well  satisfied  to  get  away  from  Lew  Chew.  The  picturesque  interests  of  the 
island  were,  for  the  time  being,  thoroughly  exhausted,  and  the  dull  realities  of  life  began  to 
-  weigh  rather  heavily  upon  the  visitors.  Beside,  the  great  object  of  the  expedition  was  still  before 
them,  and  anticipation  naturally  begat  impatience.  The  weather,  too,  had  become  sultry  and 
excessively  oppressive,  for  the  heat  had  reached  the  high  degree  of  88°  Fahrenheit  in  the  coolest 
part  of  the  Susquehanna  while  she  lay  at  anchor  in  the  harbor.  The  people  of  Lew  Chew, 
moreover,  had  not  apparently  been  very  much  won  over  by  the  blandishments  of  their  courteous 
visitors.  The  supplies  with  which  they  at  first  furnished  the  squadron  had  been  gradually 
falling  ofi",  and  their  consent  to  receive  payment  for  them  seemed  to  be  the  principal  change  in 
their  policy  effected  by  the  long  sojourn  of  six  weeks.  Still  some  progress  had  been  made. 
Their  system  of  espionage  had  become  less  public  and  intrusive,  although  some  suspected  that 
it  was  as  alert  as  ever  though  more  concealed. 

On  getting  clear  of  the  harbor  and  stretching  beyond  the  shelter  of  the  southeastern  extremity 
of  the  island,  a  strong  wind  was  encountered  from  the  east,  and  as  the  steamers  were  deep,  it 
was  thought  advisable  to  stand  off  on  the  port  tack  in  order  to  get  well  clear  of  the  land,  for  the 
vessels  in  tow  were  dragging  them  to  leeward  notwithstanding  the  power  of  the  engines.  In 
the  course  of  the  day,  as  there  was  every  prospect  of  weathering  the  eastern  part  of  the  island, 
the  ships  were  put  on  the  other  tack,  and  their  course  directed  for  Japan. 

The  track  taken  by  the  squadron  east  of  the  chain  of  islands  which  stretch  from  Formosa  to 
Lew  Chew,  and  thence  to  Japan,  (very  properly  called  by  Blunt  the  "Southern,"  "  Middle," 
and  "Northern"  groups,)  has  been  very  rarely  traversed  by  the  sliips  of  modern  nations  ;  while 
the  islands  on  tbe  eastern  side  of  the  chain  are  unknown  to  our  present  navigators. 

The  French  admiral,  Cecille,  in  1846,  employed  one  or  more  of  his  squadron  in  the  exploration 
of  the  islands  about  Lew  Chew,  and  along  the  western  side  of  the  northern  group ;  but  according 
to  the  best  authorities,  to  which  Von  Siebold,  among  others,  adds  his  testimony,  the  eastern 
side  of  the  latter  islands  has  never  been  visited  by  any  modern  navigator.  The  principal  island 
of  the  northern  group  is  called  by  the  Japanese  Oho-sima,  and  by  the  Chinese  Tatao  ;  these 
words  meaning  in  their  respective  languages,  "  great  island."  It  is  about  the  size,  including 
one  or  two  adjoining  islands  in  the  estimate,  of  Great  Lew  Chew,  and  is  probably  governed  by 
similar  laws.  It  has  one  chief  city  and  several  towns,  and  the  country  is  supposed  to  be  highly 
cultivated.  Von  Siebold  states  that  the  island  contains  several  good  harbors,  and  it  is 
undoubtedly,  in  every  respect,  of  sufficient  interest  to  claim  an  investigation.  The  Commodore 
resolved,  at  some  subsequent  period,  to  send  some  vessel  of  the  squadron  to  make  a  proper 
survey. 


230  EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN. 

The  Susquehanna  and  the  accompanying  ships  were  probably  the  first  either  of  European  or 
American  vessels  that  ever  passed  along  the  entire  extent  of  the  northern  group.  Yon  Siebold 
asserts  that  Broughton  saw  the  northeast  point,  and  that  Captain  Guerin,  of  the  French  corvette 
Sabine,  traced  the  western  shore  in  1848.  It  was  probably  Oho-sima,  the  principal  island  of  the 
group,  that  was  seen  by  Commander  Glynn  in  18-48,  and  which  he  supposed  to  be  a  new 
discovery.  The  islets  which  he  siieiks  of  having  seen,  bearing  N.N.W.,  were  the  Cleopatra 
islands,  examined  two  years  before  by  one  of  the  vessels  of  Admiral  Cecille's  squadron. 

Von  Siebold's  charts,  appended  to  his  great  work  on  Japan,  and  compiled  by  him,  show  these 
islands  pretty  accurately  laid  down,  and  it  was  found  that  the  observations  made  on  board  the 
Susquehanna  gave  such  bearings  of  the  principal  headlands  of  Oho-sima  as  correspond  tolerably 
well  with  the  position  as  given  by  Von  Siebold.  A  current  is  said  to  be  continually  setting 
from  these  islands  to  the  northward  and  eastward;  or,  as  the  islanders  say,  it  alvvaj's  goes  to 
Japan  and  never  comes  back.  This  was,  however,  fouud  to  be  of  no  great  strength  during  the 
passage  of  the  Susquehanna,  although  it  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  a  matter  of  difficulty  to 
estimate  in  a  steamer  the  rapidity  and  direction  of  currents,  as  they  are  generally  over-logged, 
or  in  other  words,  surpassed  in  speed  by  the  rate  of  going  of  the  vessel.  There  is,  moreover, 
another  difficulty  in  consequence  of  the  backward  movement  given  to  the  water  by  the  evolution 
of  the  paddle-wheels  of  a  steamship. 

The  third  day  of  the  voyage,  being  the  fourth  day  of  July,  1853,  brought  with  it  a  lively  remem- 
brance of  home,  as  it  was  the  seventy-seventh  anniversary  of  our  national  holiday.  The  day 
opened  fresh  and  pleasant,  and  the  men  were  prepared  to  get  up  some  amateur  theatricals,  and 
otherwise  to  celebrate  the  occasion  ;  but  the  weather  becoming  unfavorable,  and  other  circum- 
stances interfering,  it  was  deemed  advisable,  much  to  the  disappointment  of  the  sailors,  to 
dispense  with  the  show  by  which  they  had  intended  to  give  exhibition  to  their  patriotism.  The 
occasion,  however,  was  duly  honored  by  the  firing  of  a  salute  of  seventeen  guns  from  each  vessel 
of  the  squadron,  and  by  the  serving  of  an  additional  ration  of  grog  to  Jack,  while  the  officers 
brought  to  bear  also  the  resources  of  their  various  messes,  to  give  due  enjoyment  and  impres- 
siveness  to  the  day.  All  on  board  were  allowed  to  feel  that  it  was  a  holiday,  in  a  respite  from 
the  usual  muster  at  general  quarters  and  exercises  at  the  great  guns  and  small  arms,  which  had 
been  kept  up  during  the  passage  with  great  strictness  and  regularity,  in  order  that  the  squadron 
might  be  prepared  for  any  event  on  its  arrival  at  Japan. 

The  weather,  although  generally  warm,  varied,  and  thus,  while  some  days  were  excessively 
hot  and  oppressive,  others  were  tolerably  cool  and  jileasant.  The  winds  occasionally  blew  with 
considerable  freshness,  and  mostly  from  the  east,  but  frequently  there  was  hardly  a  breath  of  air 
to  be  felt,  and,  consequently,  with  a  temperature  which  reached  88°  in  the  coolest  place  on  deck, 
all  on  board  suffered  greatly  from  the  intense  heat.  And,  indeed,  the  still  heat  and  clear 
atmosphere  which  were  experienced,  even  on  a  close  approach  to  the  shores  of  Japan,  did  not 
seem  to  confirm  what  has  been  said,  and  what  was  expected,  of  the  cool  and  foggy  climate  of 
that  country. 

At  sunset  on  Thursday,  the  7th  of  July,  the  squadron  was,  according  to  observation,  about 
forty  miles  from  Cape  Negatsuo,  or  Idsu,  as  it  is  otherwise  called.  In  consequence  of  this 
proximity,  the  heads  of  the  ships  were  put  off  shore  from  midnight  until  four  o'clock  next 
morning,  when,  not  only  the  cape  was  seen  from  the  masthead,  but  several  of  the  islands  to 
the  eastward,  called  by  Von  Siebold  Goeibroken  Eilander,  (the  Broken  islands,)  as  well  as  the 


APPROACH      TO     GAPE      IDZU.  231 

larger  two  of  the  group,  bearing  the  Japanese  names  of  Tosi-sima  and  Likine-sima.  The 
morning  was  fine,  though  the  atmosphere  was  so  hazy  that  there  was  but  an  indistinct  view  of 
the  outline  of  the  precipitous  coast.  Through  the  mist,  however,  the  bold  promontory  of  Idsu 
could  be  seen  rising  loftily  out  of  the  sea,  and  stretching  back  to  tlie  interior  of  Nippon  in  a 
crowd  of  mountainous  elevations.  Tlie  Susquelianna's  course,  as  the  leading  ship,  was  laid 
directly  for  the  entrance  to  the  bay  of  Yedo,  and  as  she  passed  the  precipitous  land  of  Cape  Idsu 
she  came  up  with  a  low^  barren,  and  apparently  uninhabited  islet  of  about  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  in  length,  known  as  Rock  island.  There  is  a  passage  between  this  and  the  promontory 
wliich  bounds  the  main  land,  and,  although  broken  with  several  rocky  islets,  it  is  navigable. 
The  United  States  ship-of-the-line  Columbus  took  that  course,  although  the  other,  on  the  outer 
side  of  Rock  island,  the  one  pursued  by  the  Morrison,  was  preferred,  and  was  accordingly  taken 
by  the  Commodore,  who  passed  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  island.  As  the  squadron  sailed 
up  the  coast  some  eight  or  ten  junks  hove  in  sight,  and  two  or  three  of  them  were  observed  soon 
to  change  their  course  and  to  turn  back  toward  the  shore,  as  if  to  announce  the  arrival  of 
strangers. 

The  morning  seemed  to  confirm  the  reputed  character  of  the  Japanese  climate,  for  the 
atmosphere  was  so  thick  and  liazy  that  the  extent  of  view  was  unfortunately  very  much 
restricted^  and  it  was  not  possible  to  get  a  distinct  outline  of  the  shore  until  the  squadron 
came  to  anchor  off"  the  city  of  Uraga.  The  steamer,  in  spite  of  a  wind,  moved  on  with 
all  sails  furled,  at  the  rate  of  eight  or  nine  knots,  much  to  the  astonishment  of  the  crews  of  the 
Japanese  fishing  junks  gathered  along  the  shore  or  scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  mouth  of 
the  bay,  who  stood  up  in  their  boats,  and  were  evidently  expressing  the  liveliest  surprise  at  the 
siglit  of  the  first  steamer  ever  belield  in  Japanese  waters. 

As  the  day  advanced  the  sun  came  out  with  a  brighter  lustre,  glistening  upon  the  broad  sails 
of  the  junks  within  view,  and  dispelling  the  mist,  through  the  openings  of  which  the  lofty 
summits  and  steep  lava-scarred  sides  of  the  promontory  of  Idzu  and  its  moimtain  chains,  now 
left  rapidly  behind,  could  occasionally  be  discovered.  Crossing  the  mouth  of  the  bay  of  Sagami, 
with  Vries'  island,  or  Oo-sima,  as  it  is  called,  on  the  starboard,  the  ships  moved  in  toward 
Cape  Sagami.  The  Great  Fusi,  now,  as  the  fog  occasionally  lifted,  rose  to  view  behind  the 
head  of  the  bay  of  Sagami,  and  its  cone-like  summit  was  disclosed,  rising  to  an  enormous  height, 
far  inland,  and  covered  with  a  white  cap,  but  whether  of  snow  or  of  fleecy  clouds  it  was 
impossible  to  distinguish.  The  boats  showed  themselves  more  cautiously  as  the  vessels  entered 
the  bay  ;  but  one  was  overtaken  by  the  steamers,  and  those  on  board  seemed  in  a  terrible  state 
of  excitement,  letting  drop  its  broad  sails,  and  taking  to  their  oars,  which  they  used  with  all 
tlieir  might,  as  they  were  evidently  anxious  to  give  a  wide  berth  to  the  squadron. 

As  the  ships  neared  the  bay,  signals  were  made  from  the  Commodore,  and  instantly  the  decks 
were  cleared  for  action,  the  guns  placed  in  position  and  shotted,  the  ammunition  arranged,  the 
small  arms  ''made  ready,  sentinels  and  men  at  their  posts,  and,  in  short,  all  the  preparations 
made,  usual  before  meeting  an  enemy.  About  noon  Cape  Sagami  was  reached,  when  the 
squadron  came  too,  for  about  ten  minutes,  and  a  signal  was  made  for  all  captains  to  go  on 
board  the  flag-ship  and  receive  their  orders  from  the  Commodore.  This  done,  the  vessels  now 
continued  their  course  and  soon  came  uj)  witli  tlie  peninsula  of  Sagami,  at  the  south  end  of 
which  a  town  was  observed.  When  the  squadron  liad  approached  within  two  miles  of  the  land 
a  fleet  of  large  boats,  amounting  to  more  than  a  dozen,  pushed  off  in  the  direction  of  the  ships^ 


232  EXPEDITION      TO       JAPAN. 

with  the  seeming  iatention  of  visiting  them.  Tliey  were,  however,  not  waited  for,  and  were 
soon  left  behind,  much  puzzled,  doubtless,  by  the  rapid  progress  of  the  steamers  against  the 
wind.  The  boats  appeared  to  be  fully  manned,  but  did  not  seem  to  be  armed,  although  each 
of  them  bore  a  large  banner  with  certain  characters  inscribed  on  it,  which  led  to  the  conjecture 
that  they  were  government  vessels  of  some  kind.  The  coasting  vessels  increased  in  numbers 
within  the  bay,  and  were  sometimes  so  near  that  their  construction  and  rig  could  be  plainly 
made  out.  Their  hulls  rose  forward  in  a  high  beaked  prow,  and  aft,  in  a  lofty  poop,  while  a 
single  mast,  secured  by  fore  and  back  stays,  rose  from  the  centre  of  the  vessel  and  was  rigged 
with  a  large  square  sail  made  of  canvas  ;  there  were  three  other  smaller  sails,  two  at  the  bow 
and  one  at  the  stern. 

On  passing  Cape  Sagami,  at  the  entrance  of  the  bay,  the  shores  were  observed  to  rise  in 
precipitous  cliffs,  which  connected  landward  with  imdulating  hills.  Deep  ravines,  green  with 
rich  verdure,  divided  the  steep  slopes  and  opened  into  small  expanses  of  alluvial  land,  washed 
by  the  waters  of  the  bay  into  the  form  of  inlets,  about  the  borders  of  which  were  grouped  various 
Japanese  villages.  The  uplands  were  beautifully  varied  with  cultivated  fields  and  tufted  woods, 
while  far  behind  rose  the  mountains,  height  upon  height,  in  the  inland  distance.  The  entrance 
to  the  bay  seemed  well  fortified,  and  the  hills  and  projecting  headlands  of  Sagami  were 
formidable  with  forts,  the  guns  of  which,  however,  were  silent,  notwithstanding  the  threatening 
entrance  of  the  strange  ships.  The  distant  shores  of  the  province  of  Awa,  on  the  east,  rising 
opposite  to  Sagami  in  a  lofty  peak,  and  stretching  beyond  in  picturesque  summits,  was  still 
more  mountainous  and  bore  fewer  marks  of  cultivation  and  a  less  formidable  ajjpearance,  being 
apparently  destitute  of  fortifications.  As  the  squadron  passed  through  the  straits  into  the  inner 
bay  of  Uraga  the  numerous  fishing  boats  hurried  out  of  the  way,  and  their  crews,  when  they 
fancied  themselves  at  a  sufficiently  safe  distance,  rested  upon  their  oars  and  gazed  with  an 
anxious  look  at  the  strangers. 

At  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  squadron  came  to  anchor  off  the  city  of  Uraga,  on 
the  western  side  of  the  bay  of  Yedo,  the  sloops-of-war  (the  wind  being  favorable)  having  been 
cast  loose  a  little  while  previous,  and  the  four  vessels  took  up  their  positions,  as  had  been 
directed,  opposite  the  shore.  Just  before  letting  go  the  anchors  the  weather  cleared  up,  and 
the  lofty  cone  of  Fusi  was  more  distinctly  visible,  showing  high  above  the  accompanying  range 
of  mountains  which  extend  inland.  It  was  estimated  to  be  eight  or  ten  thousand  feet  in  height, 
and  its  position  W.  ^  N.  from  Uraga,  at  a  distance  of  fifty  or  sixty  miles.  As  the  ships  proceeded 
to  their  anchorage  the  lead  was  kept  going  every  moment,  and  as  a  constant  depth  of  twenty- 
five  fathoms  was  found  the  vessels  kept  on  their  headway,  rounding,  at  moderate  speed,  the 
elevation  or  cliff,  within  which  is  situated  the  bight  of  Uraga.  They  continued  sounding  and 
moving  on  slowly  and  cautiously  until  the  squadron  had  nearly  reached  within  a  mile  and  a 
half  of  the  promontory  guarding  the  inner  entrance  of  the  bay  of  Yedo,  at  a  distance  of  a  mile 
further  than  any  foreign  vessel  had  ever  advanced,  when  two  guns  were  fired  from  a  neigh- 
boring fort,  and  a  ball  of  smoke  in  the  air  showed  that  a  rocket  had  been  discharged.  The 
order  was  at  ouce  given  to  let  go  the  anchor ;  but  as  the  depth  of  twenty-five  fathoms  was  still 
found,  the  steamers  first  closed  in  a  little  more  with  the  shore  and  then  anchored. 

Previous  to  anchoring,  a  number  of  Japanese  guard-boats  had  been  observed  coming  off  from 
the  land  in  pursuit,  but  the  Commodore  had  given  express  orders,  both  by  word  and  signal, 
forbidding  the  admission  of  any  one  on  board  either  of  the  ships  1  ut  liis  own;  and  even  as  to 


ANCHORAGE  IN  THE  BAY  OF  URAGA.  233 

the  flag-ship,  he  had  commanded  that  not  more  than  three  persons,  at  one  time,  and  those  having 
business,  should  be  allowed  to  come  on  boarfl.  It  had  heretofore  been  the  practice  of  ships-of-war 
to  admit  these  people  indiscriminately  to  their  decks.  When  the  Columbus  was  in  the  bay  of 
Yedo,  there  were  many  hundred  Japanese  on  board  of  her  at  one  time,  who  partook  of  the 
hospitalities  of  the  officers  without  hesitation,  and  made  themselves  ([uite  at  home ;  but  when 
they  were  spoken  to  about  going  on  shore,  answered  by  signs  that  it  was  impossible.  The 
Commodore  had,  therefore,  pre-determined  to  exercise  an  equal  degree  of  exclusiveness  with 
themselves,  and  to  permit  the  Japanese  functionaries  to  communicate  only  and  directly  with 
the  Susquehanna.  Several  of  the  commanders  in  the  Japanese  boats  signified  by  signs  some 
dissatisfaction  at  not  being  permitted  to  come  on  board  the  ships;  but  the  Commodore's  orders 
were  strictly  obeyed. 

On  dropping  the  anchor,  another  gun  was  heard  from  one  of  the  forts  on  shore,  and  when  the 
squadron  had  assumed  its  line  of  anchorage,  commanding  with  its  guns  the  entire  ranges  of 
batteries  and  two  considerable  towns,  a  large  number  of  the  guard-boats  came  from  all 
directions,  evidently  prepared  to  take  their  stations  around  the  ships,  as  the  Japanese  crews 
had  a  supply  of  provisions,  water,  clothing,  sleeping  mats,  and  other  requisites  for  a 
long  stay.  The  Commodore,  however,  had  fully  determined  beforehand  that  they  should  not 
thus  surround  the  ships.  They  made  several  attempts  to  get  alongside  and  on  board  of  the 
Saratoga ;  their  tow-lines,  with  which  they  made  fast  to  any  part  of  the  ship,  were  unceremo- 
niously cast  off.  They  attempted  to  climb  up  by  the  chains,  but  the  crew  was  ordered  to  prevent 
them,  and  the  sight  of  pikes,  cutlasses,  and  pistols,  checked  them,  and  when  they  found  that 
our  officers  and  men  were  very  much  in  earnest,  they  desisted  from  their  attempts  to  board. 

These  guard-boats  struck  every  one  with  admiration  of  the  beauty  of  their  mo<lels,  which,  by 
the  way,  resembled  in  a  remarkable  degree  that  of  the  yacht  America.  Tliey  were  constructed 
of  unpainted  wood,  witli  very  sharp  bows,  a  broad  beam,  a  slightly  tapering  stern,  and  a  clean 
run.  They  were  propelled  with  great  swiftness  through,  or  rather  over,  the  water,  for  they 
seemed  to  skim  upon  its  surface  rather  than  to  divide  it.  The  crews,  numbering  in  some  of  the 
larger  boats  thirty  or  more,  were  tall  and  muscular  men,  whose  tawny  frames  were  naked 
with  the  exception  of  a  cloth  about  their  waists.  Toward  night,  however,  the  men  clothed 
themselves  with  loose  gowns,  some  of  red  and  others  of  blue,  with  hanging  sleeves,  upon  which 
were  white  stripes  meeting  in  an  angle  at  the  shoulders.  On  their  backs  were  emblazoned 
coats  of  arms,  or  some  insignia,  in  black  and  other  cohu-s.  Most  of  them  were  bareheaded  and 
showed  the  hair  to  have  been  shaved  on  the  crown,  while  that  on  the  sides  had  been  allowed 
to  grow  long  and  was  worn  plastered  with  some  species  of  ointment  and  fastened  up  into  a  knot 
on  the  bald  spot  upon  the  top  of  the  head.  A  few,  however,  wore  caps  of  bamboo,  in  shape  like 
a  shallow  basin  inverted,  and  reminding  one  of  Mambrino's  helmet.  In  some  of  the  boats  the 
men  bore  tall  poles,  surmounted  by  a  cruciform  ornament,  which  seemed  to  indicate  some 
military  office.  The  men  in  authority,  wore  light  lacquered  hats,  with  a  coat  of  arms  in 
front,  probably  signifying  their  official  rank  and  position.  The  rowers  stood  to  their  oars, 
which  worked  on  pivots  upon  the  sides  of  the  boat  near  the  stern,  and  they  handled  them 
with  such  skill  and  efTect  tliat  they  api>roachcd  the  slii})S  very  rapidly,  shouting  loudly  as 
they  came.  At  the  stern  of  each  boat  was  a  small  flag,  with  three  horizontal  stripes  in  it,  a 
white  one  on  either  side,  and  a  black  one  in  the  middle,  wliilc  in  many  of  the  boats  there  was, 
beside,  an  additional  flag,  with  symbols  upon  it.  One  or  two  persuns,  armed  each  with  two 
swords  at  their  sides,  stood  in  the  boats,  and  vcrc  evidently  men  of  rank  and  authority. 
30  J 


284  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

One  of  the  boats  came  alongside  of  the  flag-ship,  and  it  was  observed  that  a  person  on  board 
had  a  scroll  of  paper  in  his  hand,  wliich  the  officer  of  the  Susquehanna  refused  to  receive,  but 
■which  was  held  up  to  be  read  alongside  of  the  Mississippi,  when  it  was  found  to  be  a  document 
in  the  French  language,  which  conveyed  an  order  to  the  effect  that  the  ships  should  go  away, 
and  not  anchor  at  their  peril.  The  chief  functionary,  as  his  boat  reached  the  side  of  the 
Susquehanna,  made  signs  for  the  gangway  ladder  to  be  let  down.  This  was  refused,  but  Mr. 
"Williams,  the  Chinese  interpreter,  and  Mr.  Portman,  the  Dutch,  were  directed  to  state  to  him 
that  the  Commodore  would  not  receive  any  one  but  a  functionary  of  the  highest  rank,  and  that 
he  might  return  on  shore.  As  there  seemed  to  be  some  difficulty  in  making  progress  in  the 
Japanese  language,  one  on  board  the  boat  alongside  said,  in  very  good  English,  "I  can  speak 
Dutch."  Mr.  Portman  then  commenced  a  conversation  with  him  in  that  language,  as  his 
English  seemed  to  have  been  exhausted  in  the  first  sentence.  He  appeared  to  be  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  Dutch,"  however,  and  commenced  a  very  brisk  volley  of  questions,  many  of 
which  were  not  responded  to.  He  asked  if  the  ships  came  from  America,  and  seemed  to  have 
expected  them.  He  was  very  pertinacious  in  urging  to  be  allowed  to  come  on  board,  but  was 
constantly  refused  permission,  and  was  told  that  the  commander  of  the  squadron  was  of  the 
highest  rank,  in  the  service  to  which  he  belonged,  in  the  United  States,  and  could  confer 
only  with  the  highest  in  rank  at  Uraga.  He  then  stated  that  the  vice-governor  of  Uraga 
was  in  the  boat,  and  pointed  to  one  of  those  in  authority  at  his  side,  who,  he  said,  held 
the  highest  position  in  the  city,  and  was  the  proper  person  to  be  received.  He  was  now 
asked  why  the  governor  himself  did  not  come  off,  to  which  he  replied  that  he  was  prevented 
by  the  laws  from  going  on  board  ships  in  the  roads  ;  and  proposed  that  the  Commodore 
should  appoint  an  officer  of  corresponding  rank  with  the  vice-governor  to  confer  with  him, 
as  he  was  desirous  of  communicating  to  the  government  the  object  of  the  squadron's  visit. 
The  Commodore,  after  some  intentional  delay,  consented  to  this  request,  and  appointed  his 
aid,  Lieutenant  Contee,  to  receive  him.  The  gangway-ladder  was  accordingly  lowered,  and 
the  vice-governor,  Nagazima  Saboroske,  accompanied  by  his  interprerer,  Hori  TatsnosTce,  who 
spoke  Dutch,  came  on  board,  and  was  received  in  the  captain's  cabin,  where  a  conference  was 
held,  in  fact,  with  the  Commodore,  who,  however,  studiously  kept  himself  secluded  in  his  own 
cabin,  and  communicated  with  the  Japanese  through  his  aid  only. 

It  was  directed  that  the  dignitary  should  be  informed  that  the  Commodore,  who  had  been 
sent  by  liis  country  on  a  friendly  mission  to  Japan,  had  brought  a  letter  from  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  addressed  to  the  Emperor,  and  that  he  wished  a  suitable  officer  might 
be  sent  on  board  his  ship  to  receive  a  copy  of  the  same,  in  order  that  a  day  might 
be  appointed  for  the  Commodore  formally  to  deliver  the  original.  To  this  he  replied  that 
Nagasaki  was  the  only  place,  according  to  the  laAvs  of  Japan,  for  negotiating  foreign  business, 
and  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  squadron  to  go  there.  In  answer  to  this  he  was  told  that  the 
Commodore  liad  come  purposely  to  Uraga  because  it  was  near  to  Yedo,  and  that  he  should  not 
go  to  N^agasaJci ;  that  he  expected  the  letter  to  be  duly  and  properly  received  where  he  then 
was ;  that  his  intentions  were  perfectly  friendly,  but  that  he  would  allow  of  no  indignity ;  and 
would  not  permit  the  guard-boats  which  were  collecting  around  the  -ships  to  remain  where  they 
were^  and  if  they  Avere  not  immediately  removed,  the  Commodore  declared  tliat  he  would 
disperse  them  by  force.  When  this  was  interpreted  to  him,  the  functionary  suddenly  left  his 
eeat,  went  to  the  gangway,  and  gave  an  order  which  caused  most  gf  the  boats  to  return  to  the 
shore;  but  a  few  of  them  still  remaining  in  clusters,  an  armed  boat  was  seo|t  from  the  ship  to 


DISPERSION     OF     THE     JAPANESE     GUARD-BOATS.  235 

•warn  them  away  by  gestui-es,  and  at  the  same  time  to  show  their  arms ;  this  had  the  desired 
eflect,  as  all  of  them  disappeared,  and  nothing  more  was  seen  of  them  near  the  ships  during  the 
stay  of  the  squadron.  This,  as  says  the  Commodore,  was  the  first  important  point  gained. 
The  vice-governor  shortly  afterward  took  his  leave,  saying,  as  he  departed,  that  he  had  no 
authority  to  promise  any  thing  respecting  the  rece^Jtion  of  the  President's  letter,  but  in  the 
morning  an  officer  of  higher  rank  would  come  from  the  city,  who  might  probably  furnish  some 
further  information. 

The  policy  of  the  Commodore,  it  will  be  seen,  was  to  assume  a  resolute  attitude  toward  the 
Japanese  government.  He  had  determined,  before  reaching  the  coast,  to  carry  out  strictly  this 
coiirse  in  all  his  official  relations,  as  he  believed  it  the  best  to  ensure  a  successful  issue  to  the 
delicate  mission  with  which  he  had  been  charged.  He  was  resolved  to  adopt  a  course  entirely 
contrary  to  that  of  all  others  who  had  hitherto  visited  Japan  on  a  similar  errand — to  demand 
as  a  right,  and  not  to  solicit  as  a  favor,  those  acts  of  courtesy  which  are  due  from  one  civilized 
nation  to  another ;  to  allow  of  none  of  those  jietty  annoyances  which  had  been  unsjiaringly 
visited  upon  those  who  had  preceded  him,  and  to  disregard  the  acts  as  well  as  the  threats  of  the 
authorities,  if  they  in  the  least  conflicted  with  his  own  sense  of  what  was  due  to  the  dignity  of 
the  American  flag. 

The  question  of  landing  by  force  was  left  to  be  decided  by  the  development  of  succeeding 
events ;  it  was,  of  course,  the  very  last  measure  to  be  resorted  to,  and  the  last  that  was  desired ; 
but  in  order  to  be  prepared  for  the  worst,  the  Commodore  caused  the  ships  constantly  to  be  kept 
in  jierfect  readiness,  and  the  crews  to  be  drilled  as  thoroughly  as  they  are  in  time  of  active  war. 
He  was  prepared,  also,  to  meet  the  Japanese  on  their  own  groiind,  and  exhibit  toward  them  a 
little  of  their  own  exclusive  policy ;  if  they  stood  on  their  dignity  and  assumed  superiority,  that 
was  a  game  at  which  he  could  play  as  well  as  they.  It  was  well  to  let  them  know  that  other 
people  had  dignity  also,  which  they  knew  how  to  protect,  and  that  they  did  not  acknowledge 
the  Japanese  to  be  their  superiors.  Hence  he  forbade  the  admission  of  a  single  Japanese  on 
board  any  of  the  ships,  excej^t  those  officers  who  might  have  business  with  him ;  and  the  visits 
even  of  such  were  to  be  confined  to  the  flag-ship,  to  which  they  were  admitted  only  on  the 
declaration  of  their  rank  and  business.  The  Commodore,  also,  was  well  aware  that  the  more 
exclusive  he  should  make  himself,  and  the  more  unyielding  he  might  be  in  adhering  to  his 
declared  intentions,  the  more  respect  these  people  of  forms  and  ceremonies  would  be  disposed  to 
award  him ;  therefore  it  was  that  he  deliberately  resolved  to  confer  personally  with  no  one  but 
a  functionary  of  the  highest  rank  in  the  empire.  He  would  have  been  ashamed,  in  the  indul- 
gence of  a  contemptible  pride  founded  on  mere  official  rank,  to  assume  a  superiority,  and  affect 
a  dignity,  too  lofty  to  stoop  to  the  level  of  men  below  him  in  station.  As  a  man,  he  did  not 
deem  himself  too  elevated  to  hold  communication  with  any  of  his  brethren  in  the  common 
heritage  of  humanity;  but  in  Japan,  as  the  representative  of  his  country,  and  the  accredited 
guardian  of  the  honor  of  that  flag  which  floated  over  him,  he  felt  that  it  was  well  to  teach  the 
Japanese,  in  the  mode  most  intelligible  to  them,  by  stately  and  dignified  reserve,  joined  to 
perfect  equity  in  all  he  asked  or  did,  to  respect  the  country  from  which  he  came,  and  to  suspend 
for  a  time  their  accustomed  arrogance  and  incivility  toward  strangers.  The  Japanese  so  well 
understood  him  that  they  learned  the  lesson  at  once.  It  was  this  feeling,  and  this  only,  which 
prompted  him  to  refuse  to  see  the  vice-governor  of  Uraga,  and  to  refer  him  to  his  aid  for 
conference.  He  saw  him  often  enough  afterward,  when  matters  had  been  arranged  between  the 
governments,  on  terms  of  friendship  and  etiuality.     And  we  have  been  thus  particular,  not  for 


236  EXPEDITION      ro     JAPAN. 

the  information  of  our  countrymen,  who  know  Commodore  Perry,  but  for  strangers  wlio  may 
read  our  story  and,  without  this  word  of  explanation,  misapprehend  the  character  of  the  man. 
No  man  is  more  easily  approached  by  his  fellow-men,  or  assumes  less  on  account  of  the  honorable 
position  he  tills  in  the  service  of  his  country. 

The  best  proof  that  he  judged  wisely  in  determining  on  his  course  is  in  the  results.  The 
squadron  was  left  free  of  all  annoyance  or  interference  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  during  the 
whole  period  of  its  stay ;  an  event  unprecedented  in  the  intercourse  of  Japan  with  foreign  shiiJS 
for  more  than  two  centuries.  We  have  said  tliei'e  was  no  annoyance  to  the  ships,  but  the 
Japanese  were  as  yet  too  suspicious  of  foreigners  not  to  resort  to  their  favorite  system  of 
espionage :  and,  therefore,  though  the  guard-vessels  were  withdrawn,  as  we  have  seen,  there 
might  still  be  observed  floating  here  and  there  a  boat  in  the  distance,  seemingly  with  the  object 
of  quietly  watching  the  movements  of  the  strangers  ;  but  they  never  came  near  the  squadron, 
and  were  not  by  any  act  of  the  authorities  forced  upon  the  recognition  of  them,  by  the  Americans, 
as  guard-boats.  That  a  watchful  eye  was  kept  upon  the  sqiuxdron  was  probable.  Three  or  four 
rockets  were  shot  up  from  the  opposite  land  during  the  afternoon,  which  were  supposed  to  be 
signals  of  some  purpose  or  other.  When  night  came  on,  the  presence  of  the  ships  in  their  waters 
was  evidently  keeping  iip  a  very  lively  apprehension  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  on  shore. 
Beacon  fires  were  lighted  upon  every  hill-top,  and  along  the  shores  on  either  side  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach,  and  during  the  whole  night  the  watchers  on  deck  could  hear  the  tolling  of  a 
great  bell  which  was  at  first  supposed  to  be  that  of  a  temple,  but  was  probably  an  alarum  or 
signal  of  some  kind.  The  bay  was  otherwise  as  quiet  as  an  inland  lake,  and  nothing  occurred 
to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  the  night.  When,  however,  the  nine  o'clock  gun  of  the  flag-ship,  a 
sixty-four-pounder,  was  fired,  the  report  reverberated  loudly  through  the  hills  on  the  western  side 
of  the  bay,  and  apparently  created  something  of  a  commotion  on  shore,  for  here  and  there  the 
fires  were  observed  to  be  immediately  extinguished.  There  seemed,  however,  no  reason  to 
expect  any  interference,  although  every  precaution  had  been  taken  ;  the  ships  had  quite  a  warlike 
aspect,  with  sentinels  stationed  fore  and  aft  and  upon  the  gangways  at  the  sides,  with  a  pile  of 
round  shot  and  four  stands  of  grape  at  each  gun,  muskets  stacked  on  the  quarter-deck,  and  boats 
provided  with  carbines,  pistols,  cutlasses  and  other  necessaries  for  service. 

An  interesting  meteorological  phenomenon  was  observed  in  the  course  of  the  night  by 
Lieutenant  Duer,  in  command  of  the  watch,  who  describes  it  as  a  remarkable  meteor  seen  from 
midniglit  until  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  made  its  a2)i)earance  in  tlie  soutliward  and 
westward  and  illuminated  the  whole  atmosphere.  The  sjiars,  sails,  and  hulls  of  the  ships 
reflected  its  glare  as  distinctly  as  though  a  blue  light  were  burning  from  each  vessel  at  the 
same  time.  From  the  southward  and  westward,  and  about  fifteen  degrees  above  the  horizon,  it 
pursued  a  northeastwardly  course  in  a  direct  line  for  a  long  distance,  when  it  fell  gradually 
toward  the  sea  and  disappeared.  Its  form  was  that  of  a  large  blue  sphere  with  a  red,  wedge- 
shaped  tail,  which  it  could  easily  be  observed  was  formed  of  ignited  particles  which  resembled 
the  sparks  of  a  rocket  as  they  appear  upon  its  exjilosion.  "  The  ancients"  remarks  the 
Commodore  "  would  have  construed  this  remarkable  appearance  of  the  heavens  as  a  favorable 
omen  for  any  enterprize  they  had  luidertakcn,"  and  adds  "  it  may  be  so  construed  by  us,  as  we 
pray  God  that  our  present  attcnijit  tn  bring  a  singular  and  isolated  people  into  the  family 
of  civilized  nations  may  succeed  without  resort  to  bloodshed." 

As  the  suii  rose  next  morning,  gradually  lifting  the  mist  whicli  had  been  spread  during  the 
night  upon  the  surface  of  the  bay,  and  still  curtained,  here  and  there,  the  land  with  its  fleecy 


VISIT     OF     THE     GOVERNOR     OF     URAGA.  237 

festoons,  a  beautiful  view  was  disclosed.  A  bold  shore,  occasionally  broken  by  steep  escarpments 
of  bare  gra)'  rock,  extended  along  the  western  or  Saganii  side  of  the  bay,  with  an  undulating 
surface  brightly  green  with  verdure,  tufts  of  undergrowtli,  and  scattered  groups  of  trees.  Further 
inland  the  earth  rose  in  a  range  of  gently  swelling  hills,  the  sides  of  which  were  covered  witli 
vegetation.  Two  miles  below  the  anchorage,  the  shore  was  less  abrupt,  and  seemed  more 
cultivated.  From  Uraga  to  the  entrance  of  the  inner  bay  of  Yedo,  marked  by  a  promontory  a 
mile  and  a  half  distant,  iuuumerable  towns  and  villages  were  grouped  along  the  shores  on  eitlier 
side.  Uraga  embraces  two  of  tlicse  towns,  separated  from  each  other  by  a  cliff ;  through  the 
larger  one  of  which  a  river  passes  and  empties  into  the  harbor,  where  floated  a  great  number 
of  small  boats  and  several  junks.  As  most  of  the  vessels  bound  up  the  bay  were  seen 
to  stop  in  their  course  at  Uraga,  that  place  was  supposed  to  be  an  entrejiot  where  certain 
custom  dues  had  to  be  paid.  Forts  could  be  seen  on  the  lieadlands  here  and  there 
commanding  the  harbor,  and  as  they  were  examined  through  the  glass,  some  of  them 
were  found  to  be  in  an  unfinished  state,  and  in  progress  of  construction  or  alteration.  Some 
Avere  mounted  with  cannon,  though  apparently  of  no  great  calibre,  while  others  were  without  a 
gun.  A  length  of  screens  had  been  stretched  for  a  distance  of  several  rods  upon  posts  in  front 
of  the  breastworks,  as  well  as  inside  the  forts  behind  the  embrasures,  and  along  parts  of  the 
shore.  In  the  distance  these  screens  seemed  to  be  composed  of  cloth,  and  were  marked  with 
white  and  black  stripes.  Their  purpose  was  not  very  obvious,  although  it  was  surmised  that 
they  were  got  up  with  the  intention  of  making  a  false  show  of  concealed  force.  The  Jajiauese 
probably  had  not  calculated  upon  the  exactness  of  view  afforded  by  a  Dolland's  telescope  or  a 
French  opera  glass.  Companies  of  soldiers,  in  glaring  scarlet  uniforms,  were  seen  to  pass  from 
garrison  to  garrison,  some  bearing  flags  with  various  insignia,  and  others  large  lanterns  upon 
tall  poles.  The  shore  was  lined  with  a  formidable  show  of  the  same  sort  of  government  boats 
as  had  surrounded  the  ships  on  their  arrival.  They  seemed  to  be  picketed  off  from  the  town  by 
two  red  flags  which  had  been  planted  on  the  shore  between  them  and  the  houses  on  the  laud. 

The  first  approach  to  the  Suscjuehanna  from  the  shore  was  that  of  a  boat  at  early  sunrise  next 
morning,  (July  9th,)  apparently  containing  a  corps  of  artists,  who  came  close  to  the  ship's  side, 
but  making  no  attempt  to  come  on  board,  busied  themselves  in  taking  sketches  of  the  strange 
vessels.  The  important  visit  of  the  day,  however,  came  off  at  seven  o'clock,  when  two  large 
boats  rowed  alongside,  one  of  which  contained  a  half  dozen  officials,  whose  presence  was 
indicated  by  the  three-strijicd  flag  at  the  stern.  The  interpreter  who  spoke  Dutch  was  with 
them,  and  announced  that  the  personage  of  highest  authority  in  the  city  was  present,  and 
desired  to  come  on  board.  The  arrival  of  Keyamon  Yezaimen,  (for  such  was  his  name,)  who 
presented  himself  as  the  governor  and  greatest  functionary  of  Uraga,  thus  plainly  contradicting 
the  declaration  of  the  vice-governor  of  the  day  before,  was  then  duly  announced  to  the  Commo- 
dore, who  ordered  that  his  highness  should  be  received  by  Commanders  Buchanan  and  Adams 
and  Lieutenant  Contee,  the  Commodore  himself  still  refusing,  in  accordance  with  liis  pidicy,  to 
receive  any  one  but  a  counsellor  of  the  Empire.  The  governor  was  attired,  in  character  with  his 
high  position,  as  a  noble  of  the  third  rank.  He  wore  a  rich  silk  robe  of  an  embroidered  pattern 
resembling  the  feathers  of  a  peacock,  with  borders  of  gold  and  silver.  He  was  duly  received  by 
the  officers  we  have  named,  and  immediately  commenced  with  them  a  conference,  which,  how- 
ever, was  in  reality  with  the  Commodore,  though  he  still  preserved  his  seclusion.  Tlie  governor, 
after  a  long  discussion,  in  which  he  more  than  once  declared  that  the  Japanese  laws  made  it 
impossible  that  the  President's  letter  should  be  received  at  Uraga,  and  that,  even  if  it  were,  tbo 


238  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

answer  -would  be  sent  to  Nagasaki,  added  also  that  the  squadron  must  proceed  thither.  In 
answer  to  this  he  was  most  distinctly  told  that  the  Commodore  would  never  consent  to  such  an 
arrangement,  and  would  persist  in  delivering  the  letter  where  he  was ;  and,  moreover,  that  if 
the  Japanese  government  did  not  see  fit  to  appoint  a  suitable  person  to  receive  the  documents 
in  his  possession  addressed  to  the  Emperor  that  he,  the  Commodore,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
deliver  them,  would  go  on  shore  with  a  sufficient  force  and  deliver  them  in  person,  be  the 
consequences  what  they  might. 

In  answer  to  this,  the  governor  said  that  he  would  return  to  the  city  and  send  a  communi- 
cation to  Yedo,  asking  for  further  instructions,  and  he  added  that  it  would  take  four  days  to 
obtain  a  reply.  One  hour's  steaming  woidd  have  taken  the  ships  in  sight  of  Yedo,  and  so  the 
governor  was  informed  that  the  Commodore  would  wait  three  days  only,  (until  Tuesday,  the 
12th,)  when  a  definite  answer  would  be  expected. 

A  boat  had  been  sent  at  daylight  from  each  ship  of  the  squadron  to  survey  the  bay  and 
harbor  of  Uraga.  The  governor,  on  observing  these  boats,  inquired  what  they  were  doing,  and 
when  he  was  told  that  they  were  surveying  the  harbor,  he  said  it  was  against  the  Japanese 
laws  to  allow  of  such  examinations;  to  which  he  received  for  reply,  that  the  American  laws 
command  them,  and  that  Americans  were  as  much  bound  to  obey  the  American  as  he  was  the 
Japanese  laws.  "  This,"  remarks  the  Commodore,  "  was  a  second  and  most  important  point 
gained."  During  all  the  questions  and  answers  the  interpreter  had  out  his  tablets,  and  was 
busy  taking  notes,  and  if  all  the  importunate  inquiries  of  the  governor  had  been  resj^onded  to, 
his  reporter  would  have  enjoyed  no  sinecure. 

At  the  interview,  tlie  original  letter  of  the  President,  together  with  the  Commodore's  letter 
of  credence,  encased  in  the  magnificent  boxes  which  had  been  prepared  in  Washington,  were 
shown  to  his  excellency,  who  was  evidently  greatly  impressed  with  their  exquisite  workmanship 
and  costliness  ;  and  he  made  an  ofier  for  the  first  time  of  water  and  refreshments,  but  was  told 
that  the  squadron  was  in  no  need  of  anything.  The  governor  was  made  to  understand  perfectly 
that  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  any  further  discussion  until  the  time  appointed  for  the 
delivery  of  the  answer  from  the  Japanese  government  should  arrive  ;  and  he  left  the  ship  fully 
impressed  with  this  imderstanding. 

During  the  conference,  the  governor  and  his  interpreter  were  requested  to  use  the  same 
designation  in  speaking  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  as  that  by  which  they 
distinguished  the  Emperor.  They  complied  with  this  request,  although,  previous  to  it,  they 
had  used  different  terms  for  the  two  dignitaries.  In  a  country  like  Japan,  so  governed  by 
ceremonials  of  all  kinds,  it  was  necessary  to  guard  with  the  strictest  etiquette  even  the  forms 
of  speech  ;  and  it  was  found  that  by  a  diligent  attention  to  the  minutest  and  apparently  most 
insignificant  details  of  word  and  action,  the  desired  impression  was  made  upon  Japanese 
diplomacy  ;  which,  as  a  smooth  surface  requires  one  equally  smooth  to  touch  it  at  every  point, 
can  only  be  fully  reached  and  met  by  the  nicest  adjustment  of  the  most  polished  formality. 

The  surveying  boats,  which  seemed  to  give  so  much  uneasiness  to  the  governor,  had  been  well 
manned  and  armed,  and  Lieutenant  Bent,  of  the  Mississipjii,  who  was  in  command,  was 
instructed  not  to  go  beyond  the  range  of  the  ships'  guns,  while  a  good  look-out  was  kejit  upon 
the  surveying  party,  in  order  that  assistance  might  be  sent  to  them  should  they  be  attacked. 
In  addition  to  the  usual  boat  ensigns  at  the  stern,  white  flags,  indicative  of  tlieir  peaceful 
intentions,  were  borne  on  the  bows.  They  spread  themselves  out  toward  the  opposite  shore  as 
they  pulled  away,  sounding  at  every  boat's  length,  and  had  reached  about  two  miles  further  ny 


SURVEY     OF     THE     BAY     OF     URAGA.  239 

the  bay  than  the  anchorage  of  the  squadron,  when  they  were  recalled  by  a  signal  gun.  On 
their  return  they  were  sent  out  again,  with  orders  to  keep  nearer  to  the  western  shore.  In  the 
afternoon  all  the  boats  returned,  coming  alongside  at  about  three  o'clock  p.  m. 

The  hydrographic  reports  were  of  the  most  favorable  character,  as  deep  water  was  found  as 
far  up  as  four  miles  toward  the  head  of  the  bay,  which  was  the  extent  of  the  first  survey.  The 
soundings  varied  from  twenty-nine  to  forty-three  fathoms,  and  at  the  height  of  the  ebb  tide  a 
current  was  observed  running  at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  knots.  The  examination  of  the  harbor 
of  Uraga,  which  was  carried  to  within  a  few  feet  of  the  shore,  gave  tive  fathoms  at  about  a  cable's 
length  distance,  while  within  that  space  from  the  land  several  reefs  were  found  to  extend  out. 
As  the  boats  approached  the  shores  there  was  a  good  view  of  the  fortifications,  which  did  not 
seem  to  be  of  a  very  formidable  character.  Their  construction  did  not  exhibit  much  strength 
or  art.  Their  position  and  armament  were  such  as  to  expose  them  to  an  easy  assault ;  their 
parapets  were  in  earthwork,  while  many  of  the  buildings,  the  barracks  and  magazines,  appeared 
to  be  of  wood.  They  mounted  but  few  guns,  and  those  of  small  calibre,  while  their  embrasures 
were  so  wide  that  the  cannon  were  greatly  exposed. 

On  the  first  approach  of  the  survey  boats  the  soldiers  showed  themselves  in  considerable  force, 
and  were  observed  to  be  fully  armed.  They  presented  quite  a  bristling  front  with  their  spears 
and  match-locks,  while  their  lacquered  caps  and  shields  flashed  brightly  in  the  sun.  They  did 
not  seem  disposed,  however,  to  make  any  very  decided  stand,  for  they  retreated  within  the  walls 
of  the  fortification  as  soon  as  the  boats  made  in  closer  with  the  land.  One  of  the  ofiicers  in 
command  of  a  ship's  boat  approached  to  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  shore,  and  observing 
three  persons,  seemingly  of  authority,  standing  out  upon  an  embankment,  levelled  his  glass  at 
them,  whereat  they  disappeared  on  the  instant,  evidently  much  discomposed  at  being  sighted 
■with  an  instrument  which  they  (though  not  unfemiliar  with  the  telescope)  might  have  supposed 
to  be  a  weapon  unknown  to  them,  and  capable  of  projecting  something  more  deadly  than  the 
glance  of  an  eye.  The  Japanese  soldiers  in  the  boats  along  shore  beckoned  to  our  officer  to 
keep  ofi",  while  he,  in  response,  made  a  sign  to  show  the  direction  in  which  he  was  going.  The 
Japanese  then  put  off  and  approached  so  rapidly  that  it  appeared  as  if  their  intention  was  to 
intercept  the  ship's  boat,  and  the  officer  in  command  accordingly  gave  orders  to  his  men  to  rest 
upon  their  oars  and  adjust  the  caps  to  their  carbines.  There  was,  however,  no  attempt  directly 
to  interfere  with  this  or  any  other  of  the  ship's  cutters,  although  they  were  followed  by  numbers 
of  Japanese  boats,  which,  however,  on  seeing  our  men  well  armed,  did  not  venture  to  molest 
them.  The  artist  who  accompanied  the  surveying  party  had  an  excellent  opportunity,  which 
was  well  improved,  of  making  sketches  of  the  land,  the  forts,  and  various  other  objects  on  shore. 

Everything  Seemed  ijropitious,  as  the  action  of  the  Commodore  had  so  far  been  crowned  with" 
success.  He  had  gained  his  purpose  in  clearing  the  squadron  of  the  presence  of  the  guard- 
boats  ;  he  had  compelled  the  visit  of  the  first  in  authority  at  Uraga ;  he  had  surveyed  the 
harbor  ;  he  had  refused  to  go  to  Nagasaki,  and  kept  his  position  in  the  bay  of  Yedo  ;  and  this 
last  he  determined  to  retain  until  he  had  some  definite  answer  as  to  the  reception  of  the 
President's  letter  by  a  person  of  proper  rank  and  authority. 

The  weather  added  its  smiles  to  the  occasion,  for  nothing  could  be  more  propitious.  The 
heat,  which  was  not  excessive,  for  the  thermometer  hardly  ranged  above  78°,  was  tempered 
by  cool  sea  breezes,  and  the  atmosphere  was  so  clear  that  every  object  appeared  with  great 
distinctness,  and  there  was  a  picturesque  view  disclosed  to  the  eye  on  all  sides.  The  peaked 
summit  of  Fusi  rose,  with  great  distinctness,  above  the  high  land  on  the  western  coast,  and  ten 


240  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

miles  ahead  the  bold  cliff,  which  guards  both  sides  of  the  entrance  to  the  inner  harbor  leading 
to  Yedo,  were  readily  discernible.  Nearer,  the  houses  of  Uraga  could  be  so  plainly  seen  that 
their  peculiar  forms  and  construction  could  be  made  out,  and  thov  were  perceived  to  be  built  of 
wood,  with  roofs  of  various  forms — pointed,  s(iuare,  aud  pyramidal.  Most  of  the  buildings 
were  of  the  natural  color  of  the  wood,  somewhat  discolored,  however,  by  time,  while  some  few 
were  painted  white.  The  Japanese  boats  and  junks,  to  the  number  of  several  hundreds, 
extending  from  the  headland,  off  which  the  Susquehanna  was  anchored,  to  the  harbor,  were  so 
distinctly  visible  as  to  be  readily  counted.  Nearer  still,  the  eye  could  minutely  distinguish  the 
parts  of  the  unfinished  forts  that  were  in  the  process  of  construction  on  the  heights  opposite  to 
the  ship. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday,  (July  10th,)  and,  as  usual,  divine  service  was  held  on  board 
the  ships  and,  in  accordance  with  proper  reverence  for  the  day,  no  communication  was  held 
with  the  Jiipanese  authorities.  During  the  day,  however,  a  boat  came  off  with  a  striped 
flag,  which  indicated  the  high  rank  of  the  three  or  four  Japanese  sitting  beneath  its  awning 
and  languidly  using  their  fans.  They  were  evidently  persons  of  distinction,  and  had  the 
same  intelligent  exj^ression  and  the  remarkably  courtly  manners  which  were  uniformly 
observed  in  all  those  of  the  better  class.  On  coming  alongside  they,  through  their  interpreter 
whom  they  had  brought,  requested  permission  to  come  on  board.  They  were  asked  if  they 
had  any  business  with  the  Commodore,  and  answering  that  they  had  none,  but  merely  wished 
to  have  a  talk,  were  politely  informed  that,  by  his  orders,  they  could  not  be  received. 
Through  the  day,  preparations  were  observed  to  be  still  proceeding  on  the  land  ;  the  soldiers 
moved  busily,  with  their  glistening  shields  and  long  spears,  about  the  batteries  in  sight, 
and  some  seemed  to  be  engaged  in  removing  the  sham  forts  of  striped  canvas,  and  in  training 
more  guns  upon  the  squadron.  The  reverberations  of  the  report  of  a  cannon,  fired  off 
apparently  some  distance  up  the  bay,  echoed  through  the  hills,  and  were  distinctly  heard 
on  board  the  shij^s.  At  night,  the  beacon-fires,  though  fewer  in  mimber  than  on  the  previous 
evening,  again  blazed,  while  the  deep-toned  bell  tolled  as  usual  until  morning.  Everything, 
however,  remained  on  boai-d  the  ships  tranquil  and  without  interruption,  as  befitted  tho 
Christian  day  of  rest. 

On  the  next  morning  early  (Monday)  the  surveying  boats  were  dispatched  liigher  up  the 
bay,  and  Commander  Lee,  of  the  steamer  Mississippi^  was  directed  to  get  his  ship  under  way  to 
protect  them,  if  necessary.  The  governor  of  Uraga,  on  seeing  the  Mississippi  going  higher 
up,  came  on  board,  although  he  had  been  told  that  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  further 
communication  or  discussion  imtil  the  reply  from  Yedo  was  received. 

The  Commodore  had  sent  the  Mississippi  and  tlie  boats  on  the  service,  in  part  for  efiect, 
being  satisfied  that  the  very  circumstance  of  approaching  nearer  to  Yedo  with  a  powerful 
ship  would  alarm  the  authorities,  and  induce  them  to  give  a  more  favorable  answer  to  his 
demands.  It  happened  as  was  expected.  The  governor  pretended  that  his  visit  to  the  ship 
was  simply  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  the  information  that  it  was  very  probable  the  letters 
(meaning,  as  was  then  supposed,  the  translations  of  the  originals)  would  be  received  on  the 
following  day,  and  forwarded  to  Yedo.  His  evident  object  in  coming  on  board^  however,  was 
to  ascertain  for  what  purpose  the  Mississippi  and  the  surveying  boats  had  ascended  the  bay, 
and  he  accordingly  put  the  question. 

Tlie  Commodore,  anticipating  the  inquiry,  directed  that  the  governor  should  be  informed 
that,  unless  the  business  which  liad  brouglit  the  squadron  to  the  bay  of  Yedo  was  arranged 


SURVET  OP  THE  BAY  OF  YEDO.  241 

during  the  present  visit,  he,  the  Commodore,  would  be  obliged  to  return  in  the  ensuint' 
spring  with  a  larger  force  ;  and,  as  the  anchorage  in  front  of  Uraga  was  not  convenient  or 
safe,  he  was  desirous  of  seeking  a  more  ftivorahle  situation  nearer  to  Yedo,  which  would 
facilitate  his  communication  with  that  city. 

The  surveying  party,  as  on  the  jirevious  occasion,  was  composed  of  boats  from  each  ship 
of  the  squadron,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Bent.  They  were  sent  out  with  general 
directions  from  the  Commodore  to  go  a§  far  up  the  bay  toward  Yedo  as  possible,  without 
getting  out  of  signal  distance  from  the  squadron,  and  to  avoid  giving  any  occasion  of  conflict 
with  the  people  of  the  country.  Their  departure  was  watched  with  considerable  anxiety  by 
those  on  board  the  Susquehanna.  Thirty  fathoms  of  her  cable  had  been  taken  in,  and  the 
remainder  was  all  ready  to  sliji,  while  steam  was  got  up,  to  be  in  readiness  for  any 
emergency.  The  movements  on  shore  were  quite  lively :  in  the  distance,  on  the  eastern 
shore,  large  numbers  of  soldiers — as  many  apparently  as  a  thousand — were  seen  to  march 
down  from  the  higher  ground  to  the  beach,  and  there  embark  in  boats,  which  put  off 
immediately  in  the  direction  of  the  surveying  party.  And,  during  the  whole  time,  the 
various  batteries  were  busy  with  the  movements  of  the  troops,  who  seemed  to  be  either 
preparing  for  hostilities,  or  attempting  to  make  a  formidable  show  of  force. 

The  boats  proceeded  from  ten  to  twelve  miles  further  toward  Yedo  than  the  anchorage  of 
the  squadron.     In  proceeding  up  the  bay,  numbers  of  government  vessels  appeared,  waving 
off  the    intruders,  and    some   thirty-five   put   off  in    a   direction  fronting  the  course    of  the 
surveying  boats,  as  if  intending  to  intercept  them.      Lieutenant  Bent,  who  was  in  advance, 
ordered  his  men  to  rest  on  their  oars,  and  to  affix  their  bayonets  to  their  muskets,  but  this 
proceeding  did  not  seem  to  have  the  effect  he  had  hoped  for,  of  stopping  the  Japanese  boats. 
They  still  came  on.      The  lieutenant,  anxious  to  avoid  a  rupture,  then  changed   his   course 
somewhat,  to  prevent   an   immediate   collision,    and   dispatched   a   boat   for   the   Mississippi, 
Avhich  was  about  two  miles  astern.      The  desired  effect  was  soon   produced  by  the  approach 
of  the  steamer,  and  there  was  no  apparent  disposition  shown  afterward  to  interfere  with  the 
party,  which   continued   the   exploration.      Deep   soundings  were   found  the  whole   distance, 
■with  a  soft  bottom  of  mud.      A  channel  seemed  to  exist  at  the  furthest   point  reached  ;    in 
the  centre  the  lead  gave  a  depth  of  twenty  fathoms,  while  on  the  sides  it  struck  upon  banks 
of  mud  at  not  more  than  five  fathoms    It  was  inferred  that  there  were  deep  soundings  still 
fiirther,  and  that  the  squadron  might  readily  push  on  with  safety  to  within  a  few  miles  of 
Yedo  itself.     At  the  extreme  distance  of  the  boats'  passage  there  was  a  smaller  bay,  cut  out, 
as   it  were,   from   the   larger,  which,  it  was   supposed,  would   probably   afford   an   excellent 
anchorage.      On  either  side  the  shores  were  abrupt,  and  extended  back  into  lofty  hills,  and 
from  the  position  of  the  boats  at  this   point  a  town  was   observed  on  the  right  side  of  the 
bay  of  Yedo.      The  Mississippi   had   disappeared  for  some   time   from   the  view  of  those  on 
board  the  other  .ships ;  but,  just  as  the  signal  gun  was  about  to  be  fired  for  her  recall,  she 
shot  round  the  promontory,  some  two  or  three  miles  up  the  bay,  which  had  concealed  her 
from  sight,  came  steaming  down,  with  the  boats  in  tow,  and  was  soon  quietly  settled  at  her 
old  anchorage,  passing   on   her  way  between   the   Susquehanna   and   the   Uraga   shore,  and 
attracting  the  attention  of  numbers  of  soldiers  on  the  latter,  who  came  out  to  see  her  pass. 

The  bay  was   covered   all   day,  as   usual,  with   the   Japanese  junks,  sailing  up  or  down, 
apparently  carrying  on  a  brisk   commerce,  and  not  at  all  disturbed   by  the  presence  of  the 
squadron.      Some  of  the  fi.shing    smacks    and    other  boats  would,   indeed,  at  times  approach 
31  J 


242 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


pretty  near  to  the  ships,  but  obviously  merely  to  gratify  curiosity,  as  their  crews  would 
stand  up  and  gaze  intently,  hut  gave  no  sign  cither  of  alarm  or  hostility.  The  trading 
vessels  were  observed  to  stop  at  a  town  on  the  opposite  side  in  coming  down,  and  at 
Uraga  in  going  up,  in  accordance,  probably,  as  has  already  been  intimated,  with  some 
regulation  of  the  customs.  Everything  passed  tramiuilly,  and  the  next  day,  which  was  to 
bring  some  reply  or  other  to  the  Commodore's  demands,  was  looked  forward  to  with  deep 
solicitude  and  interest  by  every  man  on  board  the  ships. 


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(.TtKi-r-S.  Japan  KxiW-HBloB**!  rtixT  antbonlira 

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REPLY  FROM  THE  COURT  AT  YEDO. 


243 


CHAPTER  XIII, 


REPLY  FROM  THE  COURT  AT  YEDO. EFFORTS   OF  THE   JAPANESE  TO   GET  THE   SQnADRON  OUT  OF  THE  BAY   OF  YEDO  .—COMMODORE  S 

FIRM   REFUSAL  TO  LEAVE    URAGA. AGREEMENT  OF    THE    EMPEROR    TO    RECEIVE,  THROUGH   A  COMMISSIONER,  THE    PRESIDENT'S 

LETTER. HIGH    BREEDING  OF    THE    JAPANESE    GENTLEMEN;   NOT  ILL    INFORMED. SURVEY     OF     THE    BAY    OF    YEDO. FOGS    OF 

JAPAN. SECOND  VISIT    FROM    THE   GOVERNOR  OF  URAGA. HE  BRINGS  A  LETTER    FROM    THE    EMPEROR,  AUTHORIZING  A  PRINCE 

OF  THE  EMPIRE  TO   RECEIVE,  IN  HIS  NAME,  THE  PRESIDENT'S    LETTER. ARRANGEMENTS    MADE  FOR  THE  COMMODORe's    RECEP- 
TION    ON     SHORE     TO    DELIVER     THE    LETTER. MINUTE    ATTENTION    OF    THE    JAPANESE    TO    ETIQUETTE     AND     CEREMONIALS. 

PREPARATIONS  IN  THE    SQUADRON    FOR  THE  TISIT  ON  SHORE    AT    THE    RECEPTION. SHIPS   BROUGHT    NEAR  THE    LAND,  SO   AS  TO 

COMMAND    THE    PLACE    OF    MEETING. LANDING    AND    RECEPTION,  AND    DELIVERY  OF    THE    LETTER    AND    OTHER    DOCUMENTS. 

PRINCES   OF  IDSU  AND  IWAMA. CONTENTS   OF   PRESIDENT'S    LETTER. COMMODORe's    LETTER  OF    CREDENCE,  AND  HIS  LETTERS 

TO   THE   EMPEROR. RECEIPT  GIVEN  BY  THE  JAPANESE  FOR  THE  PAPERS. RETURN  TO   THE   SHIPS. 


HE  day  appointed  for  the  reception  of  a  reply  from 
Yedo  (Tuesday,  July  12)  had  now  arrived.  Accordingly, 
at  about  half  past  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  three 
boats  were  seen  to  approach  the  steamer  Susquehanna 
from  the  shores  of  Uraga.  These  were  different  from 
\  the  usual  government  craft,  and  seemed,  unlike  the 
-7  "thcrs,  to  be  built  after  an  European  model;  the  rowers 
^  silt  to  their  oars,  and  moved  them  as  our  boatmen  do, 
;^>-  though  somewhat  awkwardly,  instead  of  standing  and 
sculling  at  the  sides,  in  accordance  with  the  usual 
Jaiianese  practice.  The  construction  of  the  boats  was 
evidently  very  strong,  and  their  models  fair.  Their 
masts,  sails,  and  rigging  were  of  the  ordinary  Japanese 
fashion.  The  crews  were  numerous,  there  being  thirty  in  the  largest  boat,  and  thirteen  in  each 
of  the  others,  and  their  great  swarthy  frames  were  clothed  in  the  usual  uniform  of  loose  blue 
dresses  slashed  with  white  stripes. 

The  boat  in  advance  was  distinguished,  in  addition  to  the  government  mark  of  a  horizontal 
black  stripe  across  her  broad  sail,  by  the  black  and  white  flag,  which  indicated  the  presence  of 
some  officers  of  distinction,  and  such  in  fact  were  now  on  board  of  her.  As  she  apjiroached 
nearer  to  the  ship,  the  governor,  Kayama  Yezaiman,  in  his  rich  silken  robes,  was  recognised, 
seated  on  mats  spread  in  the  centre  of  tlie  deck  of  the  vessel,  and  surrounded  by  his  interpreters 
and  suite. 


244  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

The  advance  boat  now  came  alongside,  leaving  the  other  two  floating  at  some  distance  from 
the  Snsquehanna.  His  highness,  Kayama  Yezaiman,  with  his  two  interpreters,  Hori  Tatsnoske, 
the  princiiial,  and  Fatcisko  Tokushumo,  his  second,  were  admitted  at  once  on  board,  and  having 
been  received  with  dne  formality,  were  ushered  into  the  presence  of  Captains  Buchanan  and 
Adams,  who  were  prepared  to  communicate  with  them. 

The  Commodore  had,  previously  to  the  arrival  of  the  governor,  written  the  following  letter  to 
the  Emperor : 

"United  States  Steam  Fkigate  Susquehaxxa, 

Uraga,  Juhj  12,  1853. 
"The  Commander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  naval  forces  in  these  seas,  being  invested  with 
full  powers  to  negotiate  treaties,  is  desirous  of  conferring  with  one  of  the  highest  officers  of  the 
Empire  of  Japan,  in  view  of  making  arrangements  for  the  presentation  of  the  original  of  his 
letter  of  credence,  as  also  the  original  of  a  letter  with  which  he  is  charged,  addressed  to  his 
Imperial  Majesty  by  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

"It  is  hoped  that  an  early  day  will  be  appointed  for  the  proposed  interview. 
"To  his  Imperial  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan." 

The  governor's  first  statement  was  to  the  effect  that  there  had  been  a  misapprehension  as  to 
the  delivery  of  the  translations  of  the  papers  before  the  originals  had  been  received.  Although 
the  Commodore  was  certain  that  there  had  been  no  such  misunderstanding,  nevertheless  he,  on 
the  second  interview  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  consented,  after  much  discussion,  to  deliver 
the  translations  and  originals,  as  also  a  letter  from  himself  to  the  Emperor,  at  the  same  time, 
provided  the  latter  should  appoint  a  suitable  officer  to  receive  them  directly  from  the  hands  of 
the  Commodore,  who  repeated  that  he  would  consent  to  present  them  to  no  other  than  a  Japanese 
dignitary  of  the  highest  rank.  The  governor  then  said  that  a  building  would  be  erected  on 
shore  for  the  reception  of  the  Commodore  and  his  suite,  and  that  a  high  official  personage, 
specially  appointed  by  the  Emperor,  would  be  in  attendance  to  receive  the  letters.  He,  however, 
added  that  no  answer  would  be  given  in  the  bay  of  Yedo,  but  that  it  would  be  transmitted  to 
Nagasaki,  through  the  Dutch  or  Chinese  superintendents.  This  being  reported  to  the  Commo- 
dore, he  wrote  the  following  memorandum  and  directed  it  to  be  translated  into  Dutch,  and  fully 
explained  to  the  governer. 

"The  Commander-in-chief  will  not  go  to  Nagasaki,  and  will  receive  no  communication 
through  the  Dutch  or  Chinese. 

' '  He  has  a  letter  from  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  deliver  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan , 
or  to  his  secretary  of  foreign  affairs,  and  he  will  deliver  the  original  to  none  other: — if  this 
friendly  letter  of  the  President  to  the  Emperor  is  not  received  and  duly  replied  to,  he  will 
consider  his  country  insulted,  and  will  not  hold  himself  accountable  for  the  consequences. 

"  He  expects  a  reply  of  some  sort  in  a  few  days,  and  he  will  receive  such  reply  nowhere  but 
in  this  neighborhood."     [Bay  of  Uraga.] 

"When  this  was  communicated  to  the  governor,  he  took  his  departure,  probably  to  consult 
some  higher  authority,  as  doubtless  there  was  more  than  one  high  officer  of  the  court  at  Uraga, 
secretly  directing  the  negotiations.  The  interview  had  lasted  three  hours,  and  it  was  fully  one 
o'clock  before  the  governor  left  the  ship.  All  passed  in  the  most  quiet  way  without  any 
interruption  to  the  usual  courtesies  of  friendly  negotiation.     The  shore  showed  every  indication 


CONVERSATION  WITH  THE  GOVERNOR  OF  URAGA        245 

of  tranquillity,  and  no  movement  was  observed  on  the  part  of  the  fortresses,  or  the  many 
government  hoats  along  the  shore. 

The  governor,  in  accordance  -with  his  promise  on  leaving  in  the  morning,  returned  in  the 
afternoon  accompanied,  as  usual,  by  his  interpreters  and  suite.  He  came  off,  however,  in  one  of 
the  ordinary  Japanese  boats,  and  not,  as  earlier  in  the  day,  in  the  vessel  built  after  the  European 
model.  Captains  Buchanan  and  Adams  were  in  readiness  to  receive  the  party,  and  resumed 
the  renewed  conference  with  the  same  form  and  ceremony  as  before ;  the  Commodore  still 
preserving  his  seclusion  and  communicating  with  the  Japanese  only  through  others.  The 
conversation  is  here  given  verbatim  as  reported. 

CONVEESATION. 

Present  Captains  Buchanan  and  Adams,  Lieutenant  Contee,  Flag  Lieutenant,  and  Yezaiman, 
governor  of  Uraga,  and  interpreters. 

Yezaiman.  As  it  will  take  a  great  deal  of  time  to  send  up  the  copies  of  the  letters  first,  and 
the  originals  afterward,  I  propose  that  the  originals  and  the  copies  be  delivered  together,  when 
the  high  officer  comes.  The  governor  and  the  high  officer  will  do  their  best  to  entertain  the 
Admiral  and  give  him  a  suitable  reception. 

Cajit.  Buchanan.  That  is  not  the  object  of  the  Commodore  :  he  wishes  these  communications 
to  go  because  there  is  among  them  a  letter  to  the  Emperor  from  himself,  which  he  desires  to 
send  to  Yedo  with  the  copies.  The  reply  to  the  President's  letter  is  not  of  so  much  consequence 
just  now.     We  want  a  reply  to  the  Commodore's  letter  which  is  in  the  package. 

Tezaiman.  If  you  send  the  original  letter  we  will  reply  to  it  as  soon  as  possible.  We  are 
here  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  the  letter  from  the  President  to  the  Emperor,  but  now  you 
speak  of  a  letter  from  the  Admiral  to  the  Emperor. 

Capt.  B.  The  letter  from  the  Admiral  is  in  the  package  containing  the  copies  of  the 
President's  letter.  It  states  that  he  has  in  his  possession  the  original  letter  of  the  President, 
and  is  empowered  by  the  President  to  deliver  it  in  person  to  the  Emperor,  or  to  a  high  officer  of 
equal  rank  with  himself,  ajjpointed  by  the  Emperor. 

Yezaiman.  We  are  very  sorry  that  you  separate  the  two ;  it  would  be  better  to  send  the 
originals  at  once  with  the  copies. 

Capt.  B.  That  is  impossible.  The  letter  of  the  Admiral  states  that  he  has  the  original  letter 
of  the  President,  and  is  empowered  to  deliver  it^  either  in  person  or  to  an  officer  of  his  own 
rank  ;  when  the  Emperor  is  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  Admiral  lias  the  letter,  then  he  will 
appoint  an  officer  of  the  same  rank  to  receive  the  original,  and  the  Admiral  will  return  at  some 
future  day  to  receive  the  answer. 

Yezaiman.  Can  you  not  contrive  to  manage  it  in  such  a  way  that  the  original  letter  may  be 
sent  with  the  copies  ? 

Capt.  B.  It  cannot  be  done. 

Yezaiman.  When  the  ships  first  came  it  was  not  mentioned  that  the  copies  must  be  sent  first, 
and  not  the  original  letters  ;  and  now  you  mention  it. 

Capt.  B.  During  the  first  visit  you  made  here,  you  were  shown  the  original  letters,  and 
also  the  copies,  and  the  same  statement  was  then  made  by  us  as  now. — {After  a  pause  Captain 
B.  resumed.) — Will  the  high  officer  who  will  come  here  be  accredited  by  the  Emperor  to  receive 
the  letters  from  the  Admiral? 


246  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

Yezaiman.  He  has  the  authorization  of  the  Emperor. 

Capf.  B.  "Will  he  have  any  proof  to  show  that  he  is  thus  authorized? 

Yezaiman.  Yes,  he  can  prove  it. 

Capt.  B.  One  of  the  letters  is  from  the  President,  informing  the  Emperor  of  Japan  that 
Commodore  Perry  is  sent  as  a  high  officer  appointed  by  himself,  and  Commodore  Perry  will 
expect  similar  credentials  on  the  part  of  the  officer  appointed  to  speak  with  him. 

Yezaiman.  He  will  receive  tlie  letter,  but  cannot  enter  into  any  negotiations. 

Capt.  B.  What  is  the  rank  and  official  title  of  the  officer  who  is  appointed? — (While  (he 
interpreter  is  writing  the  title  of  the  officer  in  question,  in  Chinese  characters,  Captains  Buchanan 
and  Adams  retire  to  consult  with  the  Commodore.) 

Lieutenant  Contee.  When  will  the  high  officers  be  ready  to  receive  the  letter? 

Interpreter.  To-morrow  or  the  day  after. 

Lieut.  C.  Where  is  the  house? 

Interpreter.  On  the  shore. 

Lieut.  C.  Can  you  point  it  out  from  here? 

Inietpreter.  It  cannot  be  seen. 

Lieut.  C,  {repeating  his  last  question.)  Can  you  point  it  out  from  here? 

Interpreter.  It  is  on  the  other  side  of  the  hills — you  can  see  it  from  another  position. 

Lieut.  C.  What  was  the  name  of  the  officer  who  came  on  board  on  the  day  of  our  arrival? 

Inlerpreter.  Nagazhima  Saberoske. 

{Captains  Buchanan  and  Adams  now  returned.) 

Captain  Buchanan.  Captain  Adams  and  I  have  just  had  a  conversation  with  the  Admiral.* 
He  says  that,  since  you  appear  to  have  wholly  misunderstood  the  matter  about  the  letter,  if  you 
can  show  proof  that  an  officer  of  the  proper  rank  is  ai^pointed  to  receive  them,  he  will  waive  the 
matter  in  dispute,  and  deliver  the  original  at  the  same  time  with  the  copies.  But  he  requires 
strict  evidence  that  the  officer  who  shall  meet  him  shall  be  of  the  necessary  rank,  and  that  he 
has  been  specially  appointed  for  the  purpose  by  the  Emperor. 

Yezaiman.  Nagasaki  is  the  proper  place  to  receive  letters  from  foreign  nations,  and  because 
Uraga  is  not  an  ajipropriate  place,  the  officer  will  not  be  allowed  to  converse,  but  only  to 
receive  the  letters. 

Capt.  B.  He  is  only  desired  to  receive  the  letters.  Will  he  come  on  board,  or  will  the  letters 
be  delivered  on  shore? 

Yezaiman.  He  will  not  come  on  board,  but  will  receive  them  on  shore. 

Capt.  B.  Before  the  letters  are  delivered,  the  credentials  of  the  officer  must  be  translated 
into  Dutch,  signed  with  the  proper  signatures,  and  sent  on  board  the  Admiral. 

Yezaiman.  He  will  be  accredited  to  receive  the  letter,  but  cannot  speak. 

Caj^t.  B.  He  will  not  be  desired  to  speak,  but  he  must  have  a  paper  signed  by  the  Emperor, 
stating  that  he  is  empowered  to  receive  the  letters. 

Yezaiman.  He  will  have  a  document  properly  signed. 

[Captain  Buchanan  now  directed  Mr.  Portman  to  write  in  Dutch  the  declaration  lie  had  made, 
and  to  give  it  to  the  interpreter.     The  following  is  the  English  version:    "There  has  been  a 

*  "It  is  proper  to  remark  that  tlie  title  of  Admiral  was  necessarily  used  at  these  interviews,  to  designate  your  rank,  as  wo 
found  Vezaimaii's  iiilerprutfrs  were  familiar  with  it,  and  were  entirely  unacquainted  with  that  of  Commodore." — Extract  from 
Coj)(aiii  .li/anu'  official  report  to  Commodore  Pcrrij. 


CONVERSATION  WITH  THE  GOVERNOR  OP  URAGA.       247 

great  deal  of  misumlerstanding  about  receiving  the  original  letter  and  tlie  translated  copies, 
wlietlier  to  be  received  together  or  separately.  The  Admiral  now  is  willing  to  meet  with  a  high 
officer  of  Yedo,  holding  rank  in  Japan  corresponding  to  the  rank  of  Admiral  in  the  United 
States.  This  officer  shall  be  accredited,  viz:  possess  a  writing  properly  signed  by  the  Emperor, 
authorizing  him  to  receive  the  said  letters.  Of  this  writing  or  letter  of  credence  shall  be  made 
a  copy,  translated  into  Dutch,  and  the  same  copy  be  transmitted  to  the  Admiral  before  the 
interview  takes  place. 

"  At  this  interview  there  shall  be  no  discussions  whatever ;  no  more  than  an  exchange  of 
civilities  and  compliments. 

"  The  Admiral  does  not  insist  upon  receiving  an  answer  to  the  original  letter  of  the  President 
immediately,  but  will  come  back  for  that  purpose  after  some  months."] 

Tezaiman.  The  high  officer  will  not  be  allowed  to  speak  on  the  matter;  only  to  make  and 
return  compliments. 

Capt.  B.  That  is  all  that  is  necessary. 

Yezaiman.  The  high  officer  will  be  here  the  day  after  to-morrow,  to  receive  the  letter  on 
shore. 

Capt.  B.  At  what  hour? 

Yezaiman.  At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.  As  soon  as  we  see  the  flag  hoisted  we  will  come 
on  board  the  ship. 

Cajit.  B.  Will  the  high  officer  bring  the  copy  of  the  letter  empowering  him  to  act,  properly 
certified  ? 

Yezaiman.  He  will  bring  it. 

Interpreter.  The  governor  is  very  grateful  for  his  kind  reception  on  board. 

Capt.  B.  "VVe  are  very  happy  to  see  him.     Where  is  the  place  of  reception? 

Interpreter.  I  can  point  out  the  place,  but  the  house  cannot  be  seen. 

Yezaiman.  Will  the  Admiral  await  the  Emperor's  answer  to  the  President's  letter  ? 

Capt.  B.  No;  the  Admiral  will  not  now  wait  for  it. 

Yezaiman.  When  will  he  come  for  a  reply? 

Capt.  B.  He  will  return  in  a  few  months  to  receive  the  Emperor's  reply. 

Yezaiman.  I  would  desire  a  statement  in  writing  to  that  eifect.  [There  being  no  satisfactory 
answer  to  this,  Yezaiman  continued.]  The  high  officer  who  receives  the  letter  of  the  President 
will  give  a  receipt  for  it,  as  an  assurance  that  it  has  been  received. 

Copt.  B.  Can  you  not  appoint  a  place  nearer  the  ship?  The  distance  is  very  great  for  the 
men  to  pull  in  a  boat.  The  Admiral  will  be  satisfied  to  meet  the  high  officer  in  a  tent,  or  in 
one  of  the  forts  nearer  the  ships.     The  interview  will  not  be  long. 

Inte)pi-eter.     The  house  is  not  far  off ;  it  is  less  than  a  Japanese  mile. 

Capt.  B.  Can  you  not  arrange  to  have  it  nearer  the  ships? 

Interpreter.  The  governor  says  he  will  endeavor  to  arrange  it. 

Capt.  B.  Can  you  let  us  know  to-morrow  morning  ? 

Interpreter.  Yes. 

The  conference  here  ended. 

Kayama  Yezaiman  and  his  companions  seemed  to  be  in  the  highest  good  humor,  and  readily 
availed  themselves  of  the  profi'ered  courtesies  of  the  officers  of  tlie  Susquehanna,  which  were 
accepted  and   responded  to  in  a  manner  indicating  the  most  polished  good   breeding.      In 


248  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

receiving  the  hospitalities  of  their  hosts,  it  may  be  remarked  that  they  partook  freely,  and 
seemed  to  relish  particularly  the  wliiskey  and  brandy  which  formed  part  of  the  entertainment. 
The  governor  especially  appeared  to  appreciate  the  foreign  liquors,  particularly  when  mixed 
with  sugar,  and  smacked  his  lips  with  great  gusto,  as  he  drained  his  glass  to  its  last  sweetened 
dregs.  His  interpreters,  in  the  growing  freedom  of  convivial  enjoyment,  made  merry  over  his 
highness'  bacchanalian  proclivity,  and  laugliingly  expressing  their  alarm  lest  Tezaiman  should 
take  a  drop  too  much,  remarked,  "his  face  is  already  growing  red." 

Though  always  preserving  a  certain  gentlemanly  aplomb  and  that  self-cultivated  manner 
which  bespeaks  high  breeding,  these  Japanese  dignitaries  were  disposed  to  be  quite  social,  and 
shared  freely  and  gaily  in  conversation.  Nor  did  their  knowledge  and  general  information  fall 
short  of  their  elegance  of  manners  and  amiability  of  disposition.  They  were  not  only  well-bred, 
but  not  ill-educated,  as  they  were  proficients  in  the  Dutch,  Chinese,  and  Japanese  languages, 
and  not  unacquainted  with  the  general  principles  of  science  and  of  the  facts  of  the  geography  of 
the  world.  When  a  terrestrial  globe  was  placed  before  them,  and  their  attention  was  called  to 
the  delineation  on  it  of  the  United  States^  they  immediately  placed  their  fingers  on  Washington 
and  New  York,  as  if  perfectly  familiar  with  the  fact  that  one  was  the  capital,  and  the  other  the 
commercial  metropolis  of  our  country.  They  also,  with  equal  promptitude,  pointed  out  England, 
France,  Denmark,  and  other  kingdoms  of  Europe.  Their  inquiries  in  reference  to  the  United 
States  showed  them  not  to  be  entirely  ignorant  of  the  facts  connected  with  the  material  progress 
of  our  country ;  thus,  when  they  asked  if  roads  were  not  cut  through  our  mountains,  they  were 
referring  (as  was  supposed)  to  tunnels  on  our  railroads.  And  this  supposition  was  confirmed 
on  the  interpreter's  asking,  as  they  examined  the  ship's  engine,  whether  it  was  not  a  similar 
machine,  although  smaller,  which  was  used  for  travelling  on  the  American  roads.  They  also 
inquired  whether  the  canal  across  the  isthmus  was  yet  finished,  alluding  probably  to  the 
Panama  railroad  which  was  then  in  progress  of  construction.  They  knew,  at  any  rate,  that 
labor  was  being  performed  to  connect  the  two  oceans,  and  called  it  by  the  name  of  something 
they  had  seen,  a  canal. 

After  refreshments  and  conversation  in  the  cabin,  Yezaiman  and  his  interpreters  were  invited 
to  inspect  the  ship,  an  offer  which  they  accepted  with  great  politeness,  and  as  they  came  upon 
deck,  notwithstanding  there  were  crowds  of  officers  and  men  around  who  could  scarce  repress 
the  manifestation  of  their  curiosity,  the  Japanese  never  for  a  moment  lost  their  self-possession, 
but  showed  the  utmost  composure  and  quiet  dignity  of  manner.  They  evinced  an  intelligent 
interest  in  all  the  various  arrangements  of  the  vessel,  observed  the  big  gun  and  rightly  styled  it 
a  "Paixhan,"  exhibited  none  of  that  surprise  which  would  naturally  be  expected  from  those 
who  were  beholding  for  the  first  time  the  wonderful  art  and  mechanism  of  a  perfected  steamship. 
The  engine  evidently  was  an  object  of  great  interest  to  them,  but  the  interpreters  showed  that 
they  were  not  entirely  unacquainted  with  its  principles.  Much  of  this  cool  but  not  unobservant 
composure  may  have  been  affected,  in  accordance  with  a  studied  jiolicy,  but  yet,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  however  backward  the  Japanese  themselves  may  be  in  practical  science,  the  best 
educated  among  them  are  tolerably  well  informed  of  its  progress  among  more  civilized  or  rather 
cultivated  nations. 

On  leaving  the  cabin,  the  Japanese  dignitaries  had  loft  tlieir  swords  behind,  two  of  which  are 
always  worn  by  those  of  certain  rank  in  the  empire.  This  gave  an  opportunity  for  inspection, 
on  the  part  of  the  curious,  of  these  badges  of  authority,  which  seemed  to  be,  in  accordance  with 


niGU  B  REED  IN  G  OF   THE  JAPANESE   GEXTLEMEN.         249 

their  purpose,  more  suited  for  show  tlian  service.  Tiie  blades,  however,  were  apparently  of 
good  steel  and  temper,  and  highly  polished,  although  their  shape  as  well  as  that  of  their  hilts, 
without  a  guard,  was  awkwardly  constructed  for  use.  The  mountings  were  of  pure  gold,  and 
the  scabbards  of  shark's  skin,  remarkably  well  manufactured.  The  visit  of  the  governor  was 
prolonged  into  the  evening,  and  it  was  seven  o'clock  before  he  took  his  departure,  when  he  and 
his  interpreters  left  the  shij)  with  their  usual  graceful  courtesies,  bowing  at  every  step,  and 
smiling  in  an  amiable  yet  dignified  manner.  They  were  evidently  favorably  impressed  with 
their  reception  and  all  they  had  seen.  The  studied  politeness  which  marked  their  intercourse 
with  our  officers  was  evidently  not  assumed  for  the  occasion,  for  it  is  so  habitual  with  them 
that  in  their  ordinary  relations  with  each  other  they  preserve  the  same  stately  courtesy  ;  and  it 
was  observed,  that  no  sooner  had  Yezairaan  and  his  interpreters  entered  their  boat  alongside  the 
Susquehanna,  that  they  commenced  saluting  each  other  as  formally  as  if  they  had  met  for  the 
first  time  and  were  passing  through  the  ceremonials  of  a  personal  introduction.  While  these 
scenes  were  in  transaction  on  board,  the  boats  of  the  squadron  sent  out  by  the  Commodore  were 
kept  busy  all  day  sounding  and  observing  as  on  previous  occasions. 

The  next  day  was  Wednesday,  (July  loth,)  and  the  visit  of  the  governor  was  naturally 
expected  at  an  early  hour,  in  fulfilment  of  his  promise.  There  was,  however,  no  indication 
through  the  morning  of  his  coming,  and  every  thing  remained  in  a  state  of  tranquil  expectation. 
There  seemed  to  be  some  little  movement  on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  as  far  as  could  be 
gathered  from  an  observation  of  the  neighboring  land.  From  the  opposite  shores  numerous 
vessels,  loaded  with  soldiers,  crossed  to  the  Uraga  side,  and  a  large  junk  with  the  usual 
government  flag  and  insignia  put  into  the  harbor.  Tlie  brisk  trade  of  the  bay  was  carried  on 
as  usual,  and  Japanese  boats,  both  large  and  small,  were  moving  up  and  down  in  constant 
circulation.  The  various  towns  and  villages  grouped  about  the  bay  were  thus  interchanging 
their  elements  of  life  and,  stimulated  into  commercial  activity  by  the  throb  from  tlie  busy  heart 
of  the  great  city,  poured  into  Yedo  their  overflowing  abundance.  There  were  no  less  than  sixty- 
seven  junks  counted  as  passing  up  the  bay  during  the  single  day. 

The  weather  continued  warm,  with  the  thermometer  indicating  as  high  a  point  as  87°,  but 
the  heat  was  tempered  by  an  agreeable  sea  breeze.  The  view  of  the  shores  was  much  obscured 
at  times  by  the  haze  which  is  said  to  be  so  prevalent  on  the  Japanese  coast ;  but  in  the 
experience  of  the  squadron  the  weather  hitherto  had  been  remarkably  clear,  and  this  day  was 
the  foggiest  that  had  been  seen  since  the  ships  arrived  in  the  bay.  Nothing  could  be  seen  of 
the  great  land-mark — the  lofty  peak  of  Fusi — which,  by  the  way,  was  generally  more  plainly 
visible  toward  the  evening  than  during  the  day,  and  was  often  observed  beautifully  distinct  at 
sunset,  when  its  summits  would  glow  with  a  rich  halo  of  crimson  light. 

The  expected  visit  of  the  governor  occurred  at  last,  at  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
His  highness  Kayama  Yezaiman,  accompanied,  as  usual,  by  his  first  and  second  interpreters, 
presented  him.self,  with  a  thousand  apologies  for  not  having  come  earlier,  as  the  high  officer 
from  Yedo  had  but  just  arrived.  The  apologies  having  been  made,  the  governor  exhibited  the 
original  order  of  the  Emperor,  addressed  to  the  functionary  who  had  been  appointed  to  receive 
the  Commodore.  The  Emperor's  letter  was  short,  and  was  certified  by  a  large  seal  attached  to 
it.  This  imperial  epistle,  which  was  wrapped  in  velvet,  and  enclosed  in  a  box  made  of 
sandal-wood,  was  treated  by  the  governor  with  such  reverence  that  he  would  allow  no  one  to 
touch  it.  A  copy  of  it  in  Dutch,  and  a  certificate  verifying  the  authenticity  of  the  document, 
32  J 


250  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

and  of  the  Emporor's  seal  aMacliecl  thereto,  given  under  the  hand  of  Kay.ima  Yczaiman,  the 
governor,  were  also  presented.     The  translations  were  as  follows : 

Translation  of  letter  of  credence  given  by  the  Emperor  of  Japan  to  his  highness,  Toda,  Prince 

of  Idzu. 

"I  send  you  to  Uraga  to  receive  the  letter  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  me, 
which  letter  has  recently  been  brought  to  Uraga  by  the  Admiral,  upon  receiving  which  you 
will  proceed  to  Yedo,  and  take  the  same  to  mo. 

[Here  is  the  Emperor's  seal.] 

"Sixth  .month  in  1853." 

Translation  of  certificate  of  Kayama  Yezaiman,  governor  of   Uraga,  verifying  the  authenticity 

of  the  Emperor's  letter  and  seal. 

"  You  can  rest  assured  that  the  high  officer  who  has  been  accredited  by  the  Emperor  of 
Japan  himself,  and  wlio  consequently  comes  here  to  Uraga  from  Yedo  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving  the  original  and  translated  letters,  is  of  very  high  rank,  equal  to  that  of  the  Loi'd 
Admiral.     I  do  assure  that. 

"KAYAMA  YEZAIMAN." 

The  governor,  in  the  course  of  the  conference,  took  care  to  state  that  the  person  appointed 
by  the  Emperor  had  uo  authority  to  enter  into  discussions  with  the  Commodore,  but  was  merely 
empowered  to  receive  the  papers  and  convey  them  to  his  sovereign.  He  also  stated  that  he  had 
made  inquiry  as  to  the  practicability  of  changing  the  place  of  meeting,  and  said  that,  as  a 
suitable  building  had  already  been  erected,  it  would  be  inconvenient  to  change.  The 
Commodore  was  prej^ared  for  this  reply,  and  as  he  could  not  know  whether  any  treachery 
was  intended  or  not,  he  had  determined  to  provide,  as  far  as  he  could,  against  every  contingency, 
and  had  therefore  ordered  the  surveying  party  to  examine  the  little  bay  at  the  head  of  which 
the  building  had  been  erected  for  his  reception.  The  officer  sent  upon  this  service  promptly 
performed  the  duty,  and  reported  that  the  ships  could  be  brought  within  gun-shot  of  the  place, 
where  great  numbers  of  the  i^eople  had  been  observed  employed  in  the  completion  of  the 
building,  in  transporting  furniture,  and  in  otherwise  preparing  for  the  occasion. 

The  governor  offered  to  accomjiany  a  boat  to  the  place  appointed  for  the  reception,  but  this 
was  declined,  and  he  was  informed  that,  as  it  did  not  befit  the  dignity  of  the  Commodore  to 
l)rocecd  a  long  distance  in  a  small  boat,  the  squadron  would  be  removed  to  a  position  nearer  the 
building  designed  for  the  reception.  It  was  then  agreed  that  the  Commodore  and  his  party 
should  leave  the  shijis  between  eight  and  nine  o'clock  the  next  day,  (Thursday,)  although  the 
Japanese  seemed  particularly  anxious  that  the  interview  should  take  place  at  an  earlier  hour, 
assigning  as  a  reason  that  the  heat  of  the  day  might  thus  be  avoided. 

The  question  was  now  asked  as  to  how  many  officers  would  accompany  the  Commodore  on 
the  occasion,  to  which  they  received  the  answer  tliat  he  woild  be  followed  by  a  large  retinue, 
since  it  was  the  custom  of  the  United  States  that  when  an  officer  of  high  rank  bears  a 
communication  from  the  President  to  the  sovereign  of  another  country,  for  him  to  go  with 
such  an  attendance  as  will  be  respectful  to  the  power  to  which  he  is  sent.  Accordingly,  the 
governor  was  informed  that  all  the  officers  who  could  be  spared  from  the  squadron  would 
accompany  the  Commodore,  as  the  greater  munber  would  imply  the  greater  compliment. 


PREPARATIONS     IN     TKE     SQUADRON     FOR     THE     RECEPTION.  251 

In  the  course  of  the  conference,  the  Japanese  dignitaries  showed  their  great  regard  for 
ceremony  by  adverting  to  various  minute  points  of  ctif|uette  in  reference  to  the  approaching 
reception.  They  announced  that  all  the  Japanese  officers  would  be  clotlicd  in  full  official 
costume,  and  not  in  the  dresses  worn  on  ordinary  occasions.  They  seemed  to  be  considerably 
troubled  because  they  would  not  be  able  to  seat  their  visitors,  on  tiie  morrow,  in  the  same  kind 
of  arm  chair  as  that  then  occupied  by  themselves  in  the  cabin,  and  ai)ologi7,ed  for  not  having 
any  such.  They  were  no  less  anxious  on  the  score  of  the  wines  and  brandies,  and  begged  that 
they  might  be  excused  for  not  offering  the  same  as  they  had  been  regaled  with,  since  the 
country  did  not  possess  them.  They  were  told  to  dismiss  their  solicitude  on  these  points;  that, 
as  the  practice  of  hospitality,  and  manners  and  customs,  necessarily  differed  in  different 
countries,  it  was  not  reasonable  to  expect  to  find  American  habits  prevailing  in  Japan ;  and 
that  the  Commodore  would  be  satisfied  to  be  seated  in  the  same  manner  as  the  dignitary 
appointed  to  meet  liim,  while  the  other  American  officers  would  content  themselves  with  such 
seats  as  were  provided  for  their  equals  in  rank  among  the  Japanese. 

They  then  made  some  inquiries  in  regard  to  the  minute  details  of  the  approaching  ceremony, 
as  to  whether  the  Commodore  would  present  the  President's  letter  directly  from  his  own  hand 
into  that  of  the  Japanese  commissioner,  whose  name  and  title,  by  the  way,  were  now 
announced  as  Toda-Idzu-no-Kami,  First  Counsellor  of  the  Empire. 

It  was  asked  whether  the  Commodore  would  immediately  return  to  his  ship  after  delivering 
the  letter,  and  also  when  he  would  come  back  to  Japan  to  receive  an  answer.  The  Chinese 
interpreter^  Mr.  AVilliams,  showed  them  a  map  or  plan  of  Yedo,  which  they  said  must  have 
been  drawn  some  seventy  years  ago,  as  the  capital  had  changed  much  since  the  plan  was  made, 
having  greatly  increased  in  size,  and  much  improved.  They,  however,  recognized  on  the  plan 
various  conspicuous  places,  and  pointed  them  out  very  readily,  as  if  politely  willing  to  gratify 
the  natural  curiosity  of  their  company. 

The  whole  conference  had  lasted  about  two  hours  and  a  half,  and  when  the  Japanese 
functionaries  rose  to  depart  it  was  already  evening.  They  left  the  ship  with  the  usual  polite 
courtesies,  bowing,  as  usual,  at  every  step;  and  the  chief  interpreter,  Hori  Tatznoske,  who  had 
evidently  a  great  aptitude  for  the  actxuisition  of  foreign  langviages,  mustered  English  enough  to 
say  very  distinctly  as  he  departed,  "Want  to  go  home." 

The  Commodore,  in  preparation  for  the  coming  event  of  the  next  morning,  summoned  his 
captains,  from  the  several  vessels  of  the  squadron,  on  board  the  flag-ship.  Orders  were  then 
given  that  the  vessels  should  be  removed,  early  in  the  morning,  to  an  anchorage  in  line, 
covering  the  whole  bay,  in  front  of  tlie  place  of  reception,*  as  the  Commodore  was  resolved  to  be 
prepared  against  any  possible  treachery  or  duplicity  on  the  part  of  the  people  with  whom  he 
had  to  deal,  and  as  tlie  object  of  the  Japanese  in  the  selection  of  tliis  place  of  meeting  was  not 
very  apparent  to  his  mind.  It  was  also  ordered  that  all  the  officers  who  could  possibly  leave 
the  ships  should  appear  in  full  uniform,  and  accompany  the  Commotlore  to  the  reception,  in 
order  that  he  might  present  as  imposing  a  retinue  as  practicable.  Tiie  surveying  boats  had 
been  kept  busy  during  the  day,  completing  their  observations,  and  were  alloTyed  to  proceed  with 
their  work  without  any  molestation  from  the  native  authorities. 

The  Japanese  seemed  no  less  busy  in  active  preparation  for  the  morning's  ceremony  than  the 


•  Marked  on  the  chart  as  " Reception  Bay." 


252  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

Americans.  Various  government  vessels  sailed  down  the  bay,  and  a  large  fleet  of  small  boats 
arrived  on  the  Uraga  shore  from  the  opposite  coast,  evidently  preparatory  to  the  approaching 
occasion.  A  constant  sound  of  hammers,  intermingled  with  the  noisy  voices  of  Japanese 
laborers,  arising  as  was  sujiposed  from  the  quarter  where  the  building  was  in  progress,  disturbed 
the  qiiict  of  the  night  and  was  prolonged  into  the  iiidrning  watches.  .Vll  was  busy  preparation 
for  tlie  coining  day. 

Thursday,  (July  14)  opened  with  a  sun  that  was  somewhat  obscured  at  early  dawn,  but  which 
soon  came  out  brightly  and  dispelled  the  fogs  and  clouds  which  overhung  the  land  and  seemed 
to  give  an  inauspicious  aspect  to  the  occasion.  As  the  atmosphere  cleared  and  the  shores  were 
disclosed  to  view,  the  steady  labors  of  the  Japanese  during  the  night  were  revealed  in  the  showy 
effect  on  the  Uraga  shore.  Ornamental  screens  of  cloth  had  been  so  arranged  as  to  give  a  more 
distinct  prominence,  as  well  as  the  appearance  of  greater  size  to  the  bastions  and  forts;  and  two 
tents  had  been  spread  among  the  trees.  The  screens  were  stretched  tightly  in  the  usual  way 
upon  posts  of  wood,  and  each  interval  between  the  posts  was  thus  distinctly  marked,  and  had,  in 
the  distance,  the  appearance  of  panelling.  Upon  these  seeming  panels  were  emblazoned  the 
imjierial  arms,  alternating  with  the  device  of  a  scarlet  flower  bearing  large  heart-shaped  leaves. 
Flags  and  streamers,  upon  which  were  various  designs  rejjresented  in  gay  colors,  hung  from  the 
several  angles  of  the  screens,  wliile  behind  them  thronged  crowds  of  soldiers,  arrayed  in  a 
costume  which  had  not  been  before  observed,  and  which  was  supposed  to  belong  to  high  occasions 
only.  The  main  portion  of  the  dress  was  a  species  of  frock  of  a  dark  color,  with  short  skirts, 
the  waists  of  which  were  gathered  in  witli  a  sash,  and  whiclx  was  without  sleeves,  the  arms  of 
the  wearers  being  bare. 

All  on  board  the  ships  were  alert  from  the  earliest  hour,  making  the  necessary  preparations. 
Steam  was  got  up  and  the  anchors  were  weighed  that  the  ships  might  be  moved  to  a  position 
where  their  guns  would  command  the  place  of  reception.  The  sailing  vessels,  however,  because 
of  a  calm,  were  unable  to  get  into  position.  The  oflicers,  seamen,  and  marines  who  were  to 
accompany  the  Commodore  were  selected,  and  as  large  a  number  of  them  mustered  as  could 
possibly  be  spared  from  the  whole  squadron.  All,  of  course,  were  eager  to  bear  a  part  in  the 
ceremonies  of  the  day,  but  all  could  not  possibly  go,  as  a  suflicient  number  must  be  left  to  do 
ships'  duty.  Many  of  the  officers  and  men  were  selected  by  lot,  and  when  the  full  comjilement, 
which  amounted  to  nearly  three  hundred,  was  filled  up,  each  one  busied  himself  in  getting  his 
person  ready  for  the  occasion.  The  officers,  as  had  been  ordered,  were  in  full  official  dress,  wliile 
the  sailors  and  marines  were  in  their  naval  and  military  uniforms  of  blue  and  white. 

Before  eight  bells  in  the  morning  watch  had  struck,  the  Susquehanna  and  Mississijipi  moved 
slowly  down  the  l>ay.  Simultaneously  with  this  movement  of  our  ships,  six  Japanese  boats 
were  observed  to  .sail  in  the  same  direction,  but  more  within  the  land.  The  government  striped 
flag  distinguished  two  of  them,  showing  the  presence  of  some  high  officials,  while  the  others 
carried  red  banners,  and  were  supposed  to  have  on  board  a  retinue  or  guard  of  soldiers.  On 
doubling  the  head-land  which  .separated  the  fonuer  anchorage  from  the  bay  below,  the  prepara- 
tions of  the  Japanese  on  the  shore  came  suddenly  into  view.  The  land  bordering  the  head  of 
the  bay  was  gay  with  a  long  stretch  of  painted  screens  of  cloth,  upon  which  was  emblazoned  the 
arms  of  the  Emperor.  Nine  tall  standards  stood  in  the  centre  of  an  immense  number  of  banners 
of  divers  lively  colors,  which  were  arranged  on  either  side,  imtil  the  whole  formed  a  crescent  of 
variously  tinted  flags,  which  fluttered  brightly  in  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun.     From  the  tall 


SHIPS     BROUGHT     NEAR     THE     LAND.  253 

standards  were  suspended  broad  pennons  of  rich  scarlet  which  swept  the  ground  w  ith  their 
flowing  length.  On  tlie  heach  in  front  of  this  display  were  ranged  regiments  of  soldiers,  who 
stood  in  fixed  order,  evidently  arrayed  to  give  an  appearance  of  martial  force,  that  the  Ameri- 
cans might  be  duly  impressed  with  the  military  power  of  the  Japanese. 

As  the  beholder  faced  the  bay,  he  saw  on  the  left  of  the  village  of  Gori-Haraa  a  straggling 
group  of  peaked-roofed  houses,  built  between  the  beach  and  the  base  of  the  high  ground  which 
ran  in  green  acclivities  behind,  and  ascended  from  height  to  height  to  the  distant  mountains. 
A  luxuriant  valley  or  gorge,  walled  in  with  richly  wooded  hills,  opened  at  the  head  of  the  bay, 
and  breaking  the  uniformity  of  the  curve  of  the  shore  gave  a  beautiful  variety  to  the  landscape. 
On  the  right  some  hundred  Japanese  boats,  or  more,  were  arranged  in  parallel  lines  along  the 
margin  of  the  shore,  with  a  red  flag  flying  at  the  stern  of  each.  The  whole  eflect,  though  not 
startling,  was  novel  and  cheerful,  and  every  thing  combined  to  give  a  pleasing  aspect  to  the 
picture.  The  day  was  bright,  with  a  clear  sunlight  which  seemed  to  give  fresh  vitality  alike  to 
the  verdant  hill-sides,  and  the  gay  banners,  and  the  glittering  soldiery.  Back  from  the  beach, 
opposite  the  centre  of  the  curved  .shore  of  the  bay,  the  building,  just  constructed  for  the  recep- 
tion, rose  in  three  pyramidal  shaped  roofs,  high  above  the  surrounding  houses.  It  was  covered 
in  front  by  striped  cloth,  which  was  extended  in  screens  to  either  side.  It  had  a  new,  fresh 
look,  indicative  of  its  recent  erection,  and  witli  its  peaked  summits  was  not  unlike,  in  the 
distance,  a  group  of  very  large  ricks  of  grain. 

Two  boats  approached  as  the  steamers  neared  tlie  opening  of  the  bay,  and  when  the  anchors 
were  dropped  they  came  alongside  the  Susquehanna.  Kayama  Yezaiman,  with  his  two 
interpreters,  came  on  board,  followed  immediately  by  Nagazima  Saboroske  and  an  officer  in 
attendance,  who  had  come  in  the  second  boat.  The}'  were  duly  received  at  the  gangway  and 
conducted  to  seats  on  the  quarter  deck.  All  were  dressed  in  full  official  costume,  somewhat 
different  from  their  ordinary  garments.  Their  gowns,  though  of  the  usual  shape,  were  much 
more  elaboratelj'  adorned.  The  material  was  of  very  rich  silk  brocade  of  gay  colors,  turned  up 
with  yellow  velvet,  and  the  whole  dress  was  highly  embroidered  with  gold  lace  in  various 
figures,  among  which  was  conspicuously  displayed  on  the  back,  sleeves,  and  breast  the  arms  of 
the  wearer.  Saboroske,  the  sub-governor  of  Uraga,  wore  a  pair  of  very  broad  but  very  short 
trowsers,  which,  when  his  legs  (which  was  not  often  the  case)  stood  still  and  together,  looked  very 
much  like  a  slit  petticoat,  while  below,  his  nether  limbs  were  partly  naked  and  partly  covered 
by  black  woollen  socks.  Saboroske,  in  spite  of  his  elaborate  toilette  and  his  finery,  all  bedizened 
with  gold  thread,  glossy  silk,  and  gay  colors,  did  not  produce  a  very  impressive  effect ;  but  by 
his  comical  appearance  provoked  mirth  rather  than  admiration.  He  had,  in  fact,  very  much 
the  appearance  of  an  unusually  brilliant  knave  of  trumps.  * 

A  signal  was  now  hoisted  from  the  Susquehanna  as  a  summons  for  the  boats  from  the  other 
ships,  and  in  the  course  of  half  an  hour  they  had  all  pulled  alongside  with  their  various  officers, 
sailors,  and  marines,  detailed  for  the  day's  ceremonies.  Tiie  launches  and  cutters  numbered  no 
less  than  fifteen,  and  presented  quite  an  imposing  array;  and  with  all  on  board  them,  in  proper 
uniform,  a  picturesque  effect  was  not  wanting.  Captain  Buchanan,  having  taken  his  place  in 
his  barge,  led  the  way,  flanked  on  either  side  by  the  two  Japanese  boats  containing  the 
governor  and  vice-governor  of  Uraga  with  their  respective  suites  ;  and  these  dignitaries  acted  as 
masters  of  ceremony  and  pointed  out  the  course  to  the  American  flotilla.  The  rest  of  tlio  ships' 
boats  followed  after  in  order,  with  the  cutters  containing  the  two  bands  of  the  steamers,  who 
enlivened  the  occasion  witli  tlieir  cheerful  music. 


254  EXPEDITIONTOJAPAN. 

The  boats  skimmed  briskly  over  the  smooth  waters  ;  for  such  was  the  skill  and  consequent 
rapidity  of  the  Japanese  scullers  that  our  sturdy  oarsmen  were  put  to  their  mettle  to  keep  up 
with  their  guides.  When  the  boats  had  reached  halfway  to  the  shore  the  thirteen  guns  of  the 
Susquehanna  began  to  boom  away  and  re-echo  among  the  hills.  This  announced  the  departure 
of  the  Commodore  who,  stepping  into  his  barge,  was  rowed  oif  to  the  land. 

The  guides  in  the  Japanese  boats  pointed  to  the  landing  place  toward  the  centre  of  the  curved 
shore,  where  a  temporary  wharf  had  been  built  out  from  the  beach  by  means  of  bags  of  sand 
and  straw.  The  advance  boat  soon  touched  the  spot,  and  Captain  Buchanan,  who  commanded 
the  party,  sprang  ashore,  being  the  first  of  the  Americans  who  landed  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Japan.  He  was  immediately  followed  by  Major  Zeilin,  of  the  marines.  The  rest  of  the  boats 
now  pulled  in  and  disembarked  their  respective  loads.  The  marines  (one  hundred)  marched 
up  the  wharf  and  formed  into  line  on  either  side,  facing  the  sea ;  then  came  the  hundred 
sailors,  who  were  also  ranged  in  rank  and  file  as  they  advanced,  while  the  two  bands  brought 
up  the  rear.  The  whole  number  of  Americans,  including  sailors,  marines,  musicians,  and 
oflScers,  amounted  to  nearly  three  hundred  ;  no  very  formidable  array,  but  still  quite  enough 
for  a  peaceful  occasion,  and  composed  of  very  vigorous,  able-bodied  men,  who  contrasted 
strongly  with  the  smaller  and  more  effeminate  looking  Japanese.  These  latter  had  mustered 
in  great  force,  the  amount  of  which  the  governor  of  Uraga  stated  to  be  five  thousand  ;  but, 
seemingly,  they  far  outnumbered  that.  Their  line  extended  around  the  Avhole  circuit  of  the 
beach,  from  the  further  extremity  of  the  village  to  the  abrupt  acclivity  of  the  hill  which 
bounded  the  bay  on  the  northern  side  ;  while  an  immense  number  of  the  soldiers  thronged  in, 
behind  and  under  cover  of  the  cloth  screens  which  stretched  along  the  rear.  The  loose  order  of 
this  Japanese  array  did  not  betoken  any  very  great  degree  of  discijDline.  The  soldiers  were 
tolerably  well  armed  and  equipped.  Their  iiniform  was  very  much  like  the  ordinary  Japanese 
dress.  Their  arms  were  swords,  spears,  and  match-locks.  Those  in  front  were  all  infantry, 
archers  and  lancers  ;  but  large  bodies  of  cavalry  were  seen  behind,  somewhat  in  the  distance, 
as  if  held  in  reserve.  The  horses  of  these  seemed  of  a  fine  breed,  hardy,  of  good  bottom,  and 
brisk  in  action ;  and  these  troopers,  with  their  rich  caparisons,  presented  at  least  a  showy 
cavalcade.  Along  the  base  of  the  rising  ground  which  ascended  behind  the  village,  and 
entirely  in  the  rear  of  the  soldiers,  was  a  large  number  of  the  inhabitants,  among  whom  there 
was  quite  an  assemblage  of  women,  who  gazed  with  intense  curiosity,  through  the  openings  in 
the  line  of  the  military,  upon  the  stranger  visitors  from  another  hemisphere. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Commodore,  his  suite  of  officers  formed  a  double  line  along  the  landing 
place,  and  as  he  passed  up  between,  they  fell  into  order  behind  him.  The  procession  was  then 
formed  and  took  up  its  march  toward  the  house  of  reception,  the  route  to  which  was  pointed  out 
by  Kayama  Yezaiman  and  his  interpreter,  who  preceded  the  party.  The  marines  led  the  way, 
and  the  sailors  following,  the  Commodore  was  duly  escorted  up  the  beach.  Tlie  United  States 
flag  and  the  broad  pennant  were  borne  by  two  athletic  seamen,  who  had  been  selected  from  the 
crews  of  the  squadron  on  account  of  their  stalwart  proportions.  Two  boys,  dressed  for  the 
ceremony,  preceded  the  Commodore,  bearing  in  an  envelope  of  scarlet  cloth  the  boxes  which 
contained  his  credentials  and  the  President's  letter.  These  documents,  of  folio  size,  were 
beautifully  written  on  vellum,  and  not  folded,  but  bound  in  blue  silk  velvet.  Each  seal, 
attached  by  cords  of  interwoven  gold  and  silk  -with  jjcndant  gold  tassels,  was  encased  in  a 
circular  box  six  inches  in  diameter  and  three  in  depth,  wrought  of  pure  gold.     Each  of  the 


MEETING      WITH      T  II  K      JAPANESE     COMMISSIONERS.  255 

documents  together  with  its  seal,  was  phxcecl  in  a  box  of  rosewood  about  a  foot  long,  with  lock, 
hinges,  and  mountings,  all  of  gold.  On  cither  side  of  the  Commodore  marched  a  tall, 
■well-formed  negro,  who,  armed  to  the  teeth,  acted  as  his  personal  guard.  These  blacks,  selected 
for  the  occasion,  were  two  of  the  best  looking  fellows  of  their  color  that  the  squadron  could 
furnish.     All  this,  of  course,  was  but  for  effect. 

The  procession  was  obliged  to  make  a  somewhat  circular  movement  to  reach  the  entrance  of 
the  house  of  reception.  This  gave  a  good  opportunity  for  the  display  of  the  escort.  The 
building,  which  was  but  a  short  distance  from  the  landing,  was  soon  reached.  In  front  of  the 
entrance  were  two  small  brass  cannon  whicb  were  old  and  apparently  of  European  manufacture; 
on  either  side  were  grouped  a  rather  straggling  company  of  Japanese  guards,  whose  costume 
was  ditferent  from  that  of  the  other  soldiers.  Those  on  the  right  were  dressed  in  tunics, 
gathered  in  at  the  waist  with  broad  sashes,  and  in  full  trowsers  of  a  grey  color,  the  capacious 
width  of  which  was  drawn  in  at  the  knees,  while  their  heads  were  bound  with  a  white  cloth  in 
the  form  of  a  turban.  They  were  armed  with  muskets  upon  which  bayonets  and  flint-locks  were 
observed.  The  guards  on  the  left  were  dressed  in  a  rather  dingy,  brown-colored  imiform  turned 
up  with  yellow,  and  carried  old-fasliioned  match-locks. 

The  Commodore  having  been  escorted  to  the  door  of  the  house  of  reception,  entered  with  his 
suite.  The  building  showed  marks  of  hasty  erection,  and  the  timbers  and  boards  of  pine  wood 
were  numbered,  as  if  they  had  been  fashioned  previously  and  brought  to  the  spot  all  ready  to  be 
put  together.  The  first  portion  of  the  structure  entered  was  a  kind  of  tent,  principally 
constructed  of  painted  canvas,  upon  which  in  various  places  the  imperial  arms  were  painted. 
Its  area  enclosed  a  space  of  nearly  forty  feet  square.  Beyond  this  entrance  hall  was  an  inner 
apartment  to  which  a  carpeted  path  led.  The  floor  of  the  outer  room  was  generally  covered  with 
white  cloth,  but  through  its  centre  passed  a  slip  of  red-colored  carpet,  which  showed  the  direction 
to  the  interior  chamber.  This  latter  was  entirely  carpeted  with  red  cloth,  and  was  the  state 
apartment  of  the  building  where  the  reception  was  to  take  place.  Its  floor  was  somewhat  raised, 
like  a  dais,  above  the  general  level,  and  was  handsomely  adorned  for  the  occasion.  Violet- 
colored  hangings  of  silk  and  fine  cotton,  with  the  imperial  coat  of  arms  embroidered  in  w^hite, 
hung  from  the  walls  which  enclosed  the  inner  room,  on  three  sides,  while  the  front  was  left  open 
to  the  antechamber  or  outer  room. 

As  the  Commodore  and  his  suite  ascended  to  the  reception  room,  the  two  dignitaries  who  were 
seated  on  the  left  arose  and  bowed,  and  the  Commodore  and  suite  were  conducted  to  the  arm 
chairs  which  had  been  provided  for  them  on  the  right.  The  interpreters  announced  the  names 
and  titles  of  the  high  Japanese  iiinctionaries  as  Toda-Icku-no-kam! ,  Toda,  prince  of  Idzu,  and 
Ido-Iivami-no-kami,  Ido,  prince  of  Iwanii.  Tliey  were  both  men  of  advanced  years,  the  former 
apparently  about  fifty,  and  the  latter  some  ten  or  fifteen  years  older.  Prince  Toda  was  the 
better  looking  man  of  the  two,  and  the  intellectual  exjjression  of  his  large  forehead  and  amiable 
look  of  his  regular  features  contrasted  very  favorably  with  the  more  wrinkled  and  contracted, 
and  less  intelligent  face  of  his  associate,  the  prince  of  Iwami.  They  were  both  very  richly 
dressed,  their  garments  being  of  heavy  silk  brocade  interwoven  with  elaborately  wrought  figures 
in  gold  and  .silver. 

From  the  beginning,  tlie  two  princes  had  assumed  an  air  of  statuesque  formality  which  they 
preserved  during  the  whole  interview,  as  they  never  spoke  a  word,  and  rose  from  tlieir  seats  only 
at  the  entrance  and  exit  of  the  Commodore,  when  they  made  a  grave  and  formal  bow.     Yezaiman 


256  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

and  his  interpreters  acted  as  masters  of  ceremony  during  the  occasion.  On  entering,  they  took 
their  positions  at  the  upper  end  of  the  room,  kneeling  down  beside  a  large  lacquered  box  of 
scarlet  color,  supported  by  feet,  gilt  or  of  brass. 

For  some  time  after  the  Commodore  and  his  suite  had  taken  their  seats  there  was  a  pause  of 
some  minutes,  not  a  word  being  uttered  on  either  side.  Tatznoske,  the  principal  interpreter, 
was  the  first  to  break  silence,  which  he  did  by  asking  Mr.  Portman,  the  Dutch  interpreter, 
whether  the  letters  were  ready  for  delivery,  and  stating  that  the  prince  Toda  was  prepared  to 
receive  them  ;  and  that  the  scarlet  box  at  the  upper  end  of  the  room  was  prepared  as  the 
receptacle  for  them.  The  Commodore,  upon  this  being  communicated  to  him,  beckoned  to  the 
boys  who  stood  in  the  lower  hall  to  advance,  when  they  immediately  obeyed  his  summons  and 
came  forward,  bearing  the  handsome  boxes  which  contained  the  President's  letter  and  other 
documents.  The  two  stalwart  negroes  followed  immediately  in  rear  of  the  boys,  and  marching 
up  to  the  scarlet  receptacle,  received  the  boxes  from  the  hands  of  the  bearers,  opened  them,  took 
out  the  letters  and,  displaying  the  writing  and  seals,  laid  them  upon  the  lid  of  the  Japanese 
box — all  in  perfect  silence.  The  President's  letter,  the  Commodore's  letter  of  credence,  and 
two  communications  from  the  Commodore  to  the  Emperor,  are  here  given.  A  third  letter  from 
him  has  already  been  presented  on  a  previous  page.  All  these,  however,  accompanied  the  letter 
from  the  President  and  were  delivered  at  the  same  time  with  it. 

MILLARD   FILLMORE,   PRESIDENT    OF    THE    UNITED   STATES    OF   AMERICA,    TO    HIS    IMPERIAL   MAJESTY,    THE 

EMPEROR   OF   JAPAN. 

Great  and  good  Friend  :  I  send  you  this  public  letter  by  Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry,  an 
officer  of  the  highest  rank  in  the  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  commander  of  the  squadron 
now  visiting  your  imperial  majesty's  dominions. 

I  have  directed  Commodore  Perry  to  assure  your  imperial  majesty  that  I  entertain  the  kindest 
feelings  toward  your  majesty's  person  and  government,  and  that  I  have  no  other  object  in 
sending  him  to  Japan  but  to  propose  to  your  imperial  majesty  that  the  United  States  and  Japan 
should  live  in  friendship  and  have  commercial  intercourse  with  each  other. 

The  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  forbid  all  interference  with  the  religious  or 
political  concerns  of  other  nations.  I  have  jjarticularly  charged  Commodore  Perry  to  abstain 
from  every  act  which  could  possibly  disturb  the  tranquility  of  your  imperial  majesty's 
dominions. 

The  United  States  of  America  reach  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  our  Territory  of  Oregon  and 
State  of  California  lie  directly  opposite  to  tlie  dominions  of  your  imperial  majesty.  Our 
steamships  can  go  from  California  to  Japan  in  eighteen  days. 

Our  great  State  of  California  produces  about  sixty  millions  of  dollars  in  gold  every  year, 
besides  silver,  quicksilver,  ]ireeious  stones,  and  many  other  valuable  articles.  Japan  is  also  a 
rich  and  fertile  country,  and  produces  many  very  valuable  articles.  Your  imperial  nuijesty's 
subjects  are  skilled  in  many  of  the  arts.  I  am  desirous  that  our  two  countries  should  trade  with 
each  other,  for  the  benefit  both  of  Japan  and  the  United  States. 

We  know  that  the  ancient  laws  of  your  imperial  majesty's  government  do  not  allow  of  foreign 
trade,  except  with  the  Cliinesc  and  the  Dutch  ;  but  as  the  state  of  tlie  world  changes  and  new 
governments  are  formed,  it  seems  to  be  wise,  from  time  to  time,  to  nuike  new  laws.  There  was 
a  time  when  the  ancient  laws  of  your  imperial  majesty's  government  were  first  made. 


president's    letter    to  the    emperor.  2oT 

About  the  same  time  America,  whicli  is  sometimes  called  the  New  World,  was  first  discovered 
and  settled  by  the  Europeans.  For  a  long  time  there  were  but  a  few  people,  and  they  were  poor. 
They  have  now  become  quite  numerous  ;  their  commerce  is  very  extensive ;  and  they  think  that 
if  your  imperial  majesty  were  so  far  to  change  the  ancient  laws  as  to  allow  a  free  trade  between 
the  two  countries  it  would  be  extremely  beneficial  to  both. 

If  your  imperial  majesty  is  not  satisfied  that  it  would  be  safe  altogether  to  abrogate  the 
ancient  laws  which  forbid  foreign  trade,  they  might  be  suspended  for  five  or  ten  years,  so  as  to 
try  the  experiment.  If  it  does  not  prove  as  beneficial  as  was  hoped,  the  ancient  laws  can  be 
restored.  The  United  States  often  limit  their  treaties  with  foreign  States  to  a  few  years,  and 
then  renew  them  or  not,  as  they  please. 

I  have  directed  Commodore  Perry  to  mention  another  thing  to  your  imperial  majesty.  Many 
of  our  ships  pass  every  year  from  California  to  China  ;  and  great  numbers  of  our  people  pursue 
the  whale  fishery  near  the  shores  of  Japan.  It  sometimes  happens,  in  stormy  weather,  that  one 
of  our  ships  is  wrecked  on  your  imperial  majesty's  shores.  In  all  such  cases  we  ask,  and  expect, 
that  our  unfortunate  people  should  be  treated  with  kindness,  and  that  their  property  should  be 
protected,  till  we  can  send  a  vessel  and  bring  them  away.  We  are  very  much  in  earnest  in 
th.is. 

Commodore  Perry  is  also  directed  by  me  to  represent  to  your  imperial  majesty  that  we 
understand  there  is  a  great  abundance  of  coal  and  provisions  in  the  Empire  of  Japan.  Our 
steamships,  in  crossing  the  great  ocean,  burn  a  great  deal  of  coal,  and  it  is-  not  convenient  to 
bring  it  all  the  way  from  America.  We  wish  that  our  steamships  and  other  vessels  should  be 
allowed  to  stop  in  Japan  and  supply  themselves  with  coal,  provisions,  and  water.  They  will 
pay  for  them  in  money,  or  anything  else  your  imperial  majesty's  subjects  may  prefer  ;  and  we 
request  your  imperial  majesty  to  appoint  a  convenient  port,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Empire, 
where  our  vessels  may  stop  for  this  purpose.     We  are  very  desirous  of  this. 

These  are  the  only  objects  for  which  I  have  sent  Commodore  Perry,  with  a  powerful  squadron, 
to  pay  a  visit  to  your  imperial  majesty's  renowned  city  of  Yedo:  friendship,  commerce,  a  supply 
of  coal  and  provisions,  and  protection  for  our  shipwrecked  people. 

We  have  directed  Commodore  Perry  to  beg  your  imperial  majesty's  acceptance  of  a  few 
presents.  They  are  of  no  great  value  in  themselves ;  but  some  of  them  may  serve  as  specimens 
of  the  articles  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  and  they  are  intended  as  tokens  of  our  sincere 
and  respectful  friendship. 

May  the  Almighty  have  your  imperial  majesty  in  His  great  and  holy  keeping  ! 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  caused  the  great  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  hereunto  affixed, 
and  have  subscribed  the  same  with  my  name,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  in  America,  the  seat 
of  my  government,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  month  of  November,  in  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fifty-two. 
[Seal  attached.]  Your  good  friend, 

MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

By  the  President : 

EDWARD  EVERETT, 

Secretary  of  State. 
33  J 


258  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


Commodore  Perry  to  the  Emperor. 

UxiTED  States  Steam  Frigate  SrsQUEHAXNA, 

Off  the  coast  of  Japan,  July  7,  1853. 

The  iindersicneil,  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  of  America 
stationed  in  the  East  India,  China  and  Japan  seas,  has  been  sent  by  his  government  to  this 
country,  on  a  friendly  mission,  with  ample  powers  to  negotiate  with  the  government  of  Japan, 
touching  certain  matters  which  have  been  fully  set  forth  in  the  letter  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  copies  of  which,  together  with  copies  of  the  letter  of  credence  of  the  undersigned, 
in  the  English,  Dutch,  and  Chinese  languages,  are  herewith  transmitted. 

The  original  of  the  President's  letter,  and  of  the  letter  of  credence,  prepared  in  a  manner 
suited  to  the  exalted  station  of  your  imperial  majesty,  will  he  presented  by  the  undersigned  in 
person,  when  it  may  please  your  majesty  to  appoint  a  day  for  his  reception. 

The  undersigned  has  been  commanded  to  state  that  the  President  entertains  the  most  friendly 
feelings  toward  Japan,  but  has  been  surprised  and  grieved  to  learn  that  when  any  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States  go,  of  their  own  accord,  or  are  thrown  by  the  perils  of  the  sea,  within  the 
dominions  of  your  imperial  majesty,  they  are  treated  as  if  they  were  your  worst  enemies. 

The  undersigned  refers  to  the  cases  of  the  American  ships  Morrison,  Lagoda,  and  Lawrence. 

With  the  Americans,  as  indeed  with  all  Christian  people,  it  is  considered  a  sacred  duty  to 
receive  with  kindness,  and  to  succor  and  protect  all,  of  whatever  nation,  who  may  be  cast  upon 
their  shores,  and  such  has  been  the  course  of  the  Americans  with  respect  to  all  Japanese  subjects 
who  have  fallen  under  their  protection. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  desires  to  obtain  from  that  of  Japan  some  positive 
assurance  that  persons  who  may  hereafter  be  shipwrecked  on  the  coast  of  Japan,  or  driven  by 
stress  of  weather  into  her  ports,  shall  be  treated  with  humanity. 

The  undersigned  is  commanded  to  explain  to  the  Japanese  that  the  United  States  are  connected 
with  no  government  in  Europe,  and  that  their  laws  do  not  interfere  with  the  religion  of  their 
own  citizens,  much  less  with  that  of  other  nations. 

That  they  inhabit  a  great  country  which  lies  directly  between  Japan  and  Europe,  and  which 
was  discovered  by  the  nations  of  Europe  about  the  same  time  that  Japan  herself  was  first  visited 
by  Europeans;  that  the  portion  of  the  American  continent  lying  nearest  to  Europe  was  first 
settled  by  emigrants  from  that  part  of  the  world;  that  its  population  has  rapidly  spread  through 
the  country,  until  it  has  reached  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  ocean ;  that  we  have  now  large  cities, 
from  which,  with  the  aid  of  steam-vessels,  we  can  reach  Japan  in  eighteen  or  twenty  days;  that 
our  commerce  with  all  this  region  of  the  globe  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  the  Japan  seas  will 
soon  be  covered  with  our  vessels. 

Therefore,  as  the  United  States  and  Japan  are  becoming  every  day  nearer  and  nearer  to  each 
other,  the  President  desires  to  live  in  2)eace  and  friendship  with  your  imperial  majesty,  but  no 
friendship  can  long  exist,  unless  Ja2)an  ceases  to  act  toward  Americans  as  if  they  were  her 
enemies. 

However  wise  this  policy  may  originally  have  been,  it  is  unwise  and  impracticable  now  that 
the  intercourse  between  the  two  countries  is  so  much  more  easy  and  rapid  than  it  formerly  was. 

The  undersigned  holds  out  all  these  arguments  in  the  hope  that  the  Japanese  government 


COM  M  0  1)  O  li  E  "S      L  E  T  T  P:  R  S      TO      THE      E  M  T  E  K  ()  R.  259 

will  see  the  necessity  of  averting  unfriendly  collision  between  the  two  nations,  by  responding 
favorably  to  the  propositions  of  amity,  which  are  now  made  in  all  sincerity. 

Many  of  the  large  ships-of-war  destined  to  visit  Japan  have  not  yet  arrived  in  these  seas, 
though  they  are  hourly  expected ;  and  the  undersigned,  as  an  evidence  of  his  friendly  intentions, 
has  brought  but  four  of  the  smaller  ones,  designing,  should  it  become  necessary,  to  return  to 
Ycdo  in  the  ensuing  spring  with  a  much  larger  force. 

But  it  is  expected  that  the  government  of  your  imperial  majesty  will  render  such  return 
unnecessary,  by  acceding  at  once  to  the  very  reasonable  and  pacific  overtures  contained  in  the 
President's  letter,  and  which  will  be  further  explained  by  the  undersigned  on  the  first  fitting 
occasion. 

With  the  most  profound  respect  for  your  imperial  majesty,  and  entertaining  a  sincere  hope 
that  you  may  long  live  to  enjoy  health  and  happiness,  the  undersigned  subscribes  himself, 

M.  C.  PERRY, 
Commander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  Naval  Forces 

in  the  East  India,  China,  and  Japan  seas* 
To  His  Imperial  Majesty, 

the  Emperor  of  Japan. 


Commodore  Perry  to  the  Emperor. 

"  UxiTED  States  Steam  Frigate  Susqitehanna, 

"  Uraga,  Ycdo  Bay,  Juhj  14,  1853. 
"It  having  been  represented  to  the  undersigned  that  the  propositions  submitted  through  him 
to  the  government  of  Japan  are  of  so  much  importance,  and  involve  so  many  momentous 
questions,  that  much  time  will  be  required  to  deliberate  and  decide  upon  their  several  bearings : 
"The  undersigned,  in  consideration  thereof,  declares  himself  willing  to  await  a  reply  to  these 
propositions  until  his  return  to  Yedo  Bay  in  the  ensuing  spring,  when  he  confidently  hopes 
that  all  matters  will  be  amicably  arranged,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  two  nations. 

"With  profound  respect, 

"M.  C.  PERRY,     ■ 
''  Commander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  Naval  Forces 

"in  the  East  India,  China,  and  Japan  seas. 
' '  To  His  Imperial  Majesty, 

"the  Emperor  of  Japan." 


Letter  of  credence  to  Commodore  Perry. 

MILLARD    FILLMORE,    PRESIDENT    OF    TIIE    UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA,    TO    HIS    IMPERIAL    MAJESTY    THE 

EMl'EROR    OF    JAPAN. 

Reposing  special  trust  and  confidence  in  the  integrity,  prudence,  and  ability  of  Matthew  C. 
Perry,  a  captain  in  the  navy  of  the  United  States,  I  have  invested  him  with  full  power,  for  and 
in  the  name  of  the  said  United  States,  to  meet  and  confer  with  any  person  or  persons  furnished 
-with  like  powers  on  the  part  of  your  imperial  majesty,  and  with  him  or  them  to  negotiate, 

•  It  should  be  remarked  that  the  Commodore  framed  tliia  letter  on  his  letter  of  instructions  from  the  authorities  of  the  United 
Sutes. 


260  E  X  P  E  D  1  T  I  0  N      T  O     J  A  P  A  N . 

conclude,  and  sign  a  convention  or  conventions,  treaty  or  treaties,  of  and  concerning  the  friend- 
ship, commerce,  and  navigation  of  the  two  countries ;  and  all  matters  and  subjects  connected 
therewith  which  may  be  interesting  to  the  two  nations,  submitting  tlie  same  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States  for  his  final  ratification,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  hereunto  affixed. 

Given  under  my  hand,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  the  thirteenth  day  of  November,  in  the 
year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-two,  and  of  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America  the  seventy-seventh. 

MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

By  the  President : 

EDWARD   EVERETT. 

[  Seal  attached .  ]  Secretary  of  Slate. 

Accompanying  the  letters  were  translations  of  the  same  into  the  Chinese  and  Dutch 
languages.  After  the  documents  had  been  laid  upon  the  lid  of  the  imperial  box,  made  as 
their  receptacle,  Mr.  Portman,  Dutch  interpreter,  by  the  Commodore's  direction,  indicated  to 
Tatznoske,  the  Japanese  interpreter,  the  characters  of  the  various  documents,  upon  which  Tatz- 
noske  and  Keyama  Yezairaeu,  still  kneeling,  both  lx)wed  their  heads.  The  latter,  now  rising, 
approached  the  Prince  of  Iwami,  and  prostrating  himself  on  his  knees  before  him,  received  from 
his  hands  a  roll  of  papers,  with  which  he  crossed  over  to  the  Commodore,  and  again  falling 
upon  his  knees,  delivered  it  to  him.  The  Dutch  interpreter  now  asked  "what  those  papers 
were?"  to  which  it  was  answered,  "they  are  the  imjierial  receipt."  The  translation  of  it  is 
as  follows : 

[Translation  of  receipt  given  by  the  Princes  of  Idzu  and  Iwami  to  Commodore  Perry.] 

"The  letter  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  and  copy,  are  hereby 
received  and  delivered  to  the  Emperor.  Many  times  it  has  been  communicated  that  business 
relating  to  foreign  countries  cannot  be  transacted  here  in  Uraga,  but  in  Nagasaki.  Now  it  has 
been  observed  that  the  Admiral,  in  his  quality  of  ambassador  of  the  President,  would  be  insulted 
by  it;  the  justice  of  this  has  been  acknowledged ;  consequently,  the  above  mentioned  letter  is 
hereby  received,  in  opposition  to  the  Japanese  law. 

"Because  the  place  is  not  designed  to  treat  of  anything  from  foreigners,  so  neither  can  con- 
ference nor  entertainment  take  place.     Tlie  letter  being  received  you  will  leave  liere." 

[Here  follow  fac  similes  of  signatures  in  Japanese.] 

"The  ninth  op  the  sixth  month." 

The  above  is  a  literal  translation  from  the  Dutch,  in  wliich  language  the  conferences  were 
held,  and  into  which  the  receipt  of  the  chief  counsellors,  the  princes  of  Idzu  and  Iwami,  was, 
doubtless,  badly  translated  from  the  Japanese  by  their  interpreter. 

The  following  would  probaldy  be  tlie  correct  translation  from  the  Japanese: 

"The  letter  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  and  copy,  arc  liereby 
eceived,  and  will  be  delivered  to  the  Emperor. 

"It  has  been  many  times  intimated  tliat  business  relating  to  foreign  countries  cannot  be 
transacted  here  in  Uraga,  but  at  Nagasaki ;  nevertheless,  as  it  has  been  observed  that  the  Admiral, 
in  his  (quality  of  ambassador  of  tlie  President,  would  feel  himself  insulted  by  a  rei'usal  to  receive 
the  letter  at  this  place,  the  justice  of  which  has  been  acknowledged,  the  above  mentioned  letter 
is  hereby  received,  in  opposition  to  the  Japanese  law. 


TERMINATION      OF      THE      CONFERENCE.  2G1 

"As  this  is  not  a  place  wherein  to  negotiate  with  foreigners,  so  neither  can  conferences  nor 
entertainment  be  held.     Therefore,  as  the  letter  has  been  received  yon  can  depart." 

After  a  silence  of  some  few  minutes,  the  Commodore  directed  his  interpreters  to  inform  the 
Japanese  that  he  would  leave,  with  the  squadron,  for  Lew  Chew  and  Canton  in  two  or  three 
days,  and  to  offer  to  the  government  his  services,  if  it  wished  to  send  any  dispatches  or 
messages  to  those  places.  The  Commodore  also  stated  that  it  was  his  intention  to  return  to 
Japan  in  the  approaching  spring,  perhaps  in  April  or  May.  Tatznoske  then  asked  the  Dutch 
interpreter  to  repeat  what  he  had  said  about  the  Commodore's  leaving  and  returninr,  which 
he  did,  using  the  same  words  as  before.  Then  the  question  was  asked  "  whether  the 
Commodore  would  return  with  all  four  vessels?"  "All  of  them,"  answered  the  Commodore, 
"  and  probably  more,  as  these  are  only  a  portion  of  the  squadron."  Allusion  had  been  made 
to  the  revolution  in  China,  and  the  interpreter  asked  its  cause,  without  however  tran.slating  to 
the  Japanese  princes,  to  which  the  Commodore  dictated  the  reply,  that  "  it  was  on  account 
of  the  government." 

Yezaimen  and  Tatznoske  now  bowed,  and,  rising  from  their  knees,  drew  the  fastenings 
around  the  scarlet  box,  and  informing  the  Commodore's  interpreter  that  there  was  nothing 
more  to  be  done,  passed  out  of  tlie  apartment,  bowing  to  those  on  either  side  as  they  went. 
The  Commodore  now  rose  to  take  leave,  and,  as  he  departed,  the  two  princes,  still  preserving 
absolute  silence,  also  arose  and  stood  until  the  strangers  had  passed  from  their  presence. 

The  Commodore  and  his  suite  were  detained  a  short  time  at  the  entrance  of  the  building 
waiting  for  their  barge,  whereupon  Yezaimen  and  his  interpreter  returned  and  asked  some  of 
the  party  what  they  were  waiting  for;  to  which  they  received  the  reply,  "For  the  Commodore's 
boat."  Jsothing  further  was  said.  The  whole  interview  had  not  occupied  more  than  from 
twenty  to  thirty  minutes,  and  had  been  conducted  with  the  greatest  formality,  though  with 
the  most  perfect  courtesy  in  every  respect. 

The  procession  re-formed  as  before,  and  the  Commodore  was  escorted  to  his  barge,  and, 
embarking,  was  rowed  off  toward  his  .ship,  followed  by  the  other  American  and  the  two 
Japanese  boats  which  contained  the  governor  of  Uraga  and  his  attendants,  the  bands 
meanwhile  playing  our  national  airs  with  great  spirit  as  the  boats  pulled  off  to  the  ships. 
While  there  was  some  little  delay  in  embarking  all  the  party,  in  consequence  of  the  smallness 
of  the  landing  place,  which  was  now  flanked  by  some  sixty  or  seventy  Japanese  government 
boats,  the  soldiers  took  occasion  to  crowd  in  from  various  purts  of  the  shore,  either  to  satisfy 
their  curiosity,  or  to  show  a  more  formidable  front  ;  and  it  must  be  confessed  that,  had  such 
been  the  disposition  of  the  Japanese,  there  would  have  been  no  difficulty,  witli  tiieir  large 
force,  in  completely  hemming  in  the  Americans. 


262 


EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


CO.VCESSIOXS    OF  THE  JAPANESE. RELAXATION    OF  THEIR    RESTRICTIVE   LAWS. SATISFACTION    OF   BOTH  JAPANESE   AND  AMERICANS 

AT  THE    RESULT  OF  THE  VISIT  ON    SHORE  AND    DELIVERY  OF  THE    PRESIDENT'S    LETTER. VISIT   OF  KETAMA  YEZAIMEN   TO    THE 

SHIPS. IMPUDENCE    OF  THE  INTERPRETER  SABOROSKE. THE   SQUADRON   GOES   FURTHER  UP  THE  BAT  TOWARD  THE  CAPITAL. 

POLICY  OF  THIS  MOVEMENT. ALARM   OF  THE  JAPANESE  GRADUALLY   QUIETED. BEAUTIFUL  SCE.NERY  UP  THE  BAY. SURVEY   OF 

THE    BAY    CONTINUED. CONVIVIALITY    ON    BOARD. SURVEYING    BOATS    ENTER    A    SMALL    RIVER. CORDIAL    GREETING    OF    THE 

INHABITANTS. CROWD  DISPERSED  BY  A  JAPANESE   OFFICIAL. COMMODORE  TRANSFERS   HIS  PENNANT  FROM  THE  SUSQUEHANNA 

TO    THE    MISSISSIPPI. THE    LAST-NAMED    VESSEL    GOES    UP    IN    SIGHT    OF    THE    SHIPPING    PLACE    OF    YEDO. SINAGAWA. YEDO 

ABOUT    TEN    MILES    DISTANT  FROM    THE    POINT     WHERE  THE    SHIPS    TURNED    ABOUT. GOOD    DEPTH    OF     WATER    IN     YEDO    BAT, 

PROBABLY   ALMOST  UP  TO  THE  CITY. THE  BAY  PRETTY  THOROUGHLY  EXPLORED  AND   SOUNDED  BY  THE   SURVEYING  PARTIES. 

INTERCHANGE  OF  PRESENTS  WITH  THE  JAPANESE  OFFICERS. AVOWED   SORROW  OF  JAPANESE   OFFICIALS   ON  BIDDING  FAREWELL 

TO  THE  AMERICANS. COMMODORe's    REASO.NS    FOR    NOT   WAITING    FOR  A  REPLY  TO   THE    PRESIDENT'S    LETTER. LEAVES   YEDO 

BAY  DECLARING    HIS    INTENTION    TO    RETltRN    IN    THE    ENSUING    SPRING. THE    SARATOGA   SENT   TO    SHANGHAI    TO    LOOE    AFTER 

AMERICAN     INTERESTS. THE     PLYMOUTH      ORDERED     TO     LEW     CHEW. OUO-SIMA. SHIPS     ENCOUNTER     A     STORM. GENERAL 

RESULTS  OF   THE  FIRST   VISIT  OF   THE   SQUADRON  TO   THE  BAY    OF   YEDO. 


HE  Commodore  had,  previous  to  setting  out  on  the 
exjjcdition  ashore,  jilaced  his  two  steamers  in  such  a 
position  as  to  command  the  little  hay,  and  had  given 
orders  that  the  decks  should  he  cleared  and  everything 
gilt  ready  for  action.  Howitzers  were  placed  in  hoats 
[alongside,  in  readiness  to  he  dispatched  at  a  moment's 
'notice,  in  case  any  trouble  should  occur  on  land,  and 
the  ship's  guns  were  prepared  to  send  their  halls  and 
I  ells  in  showers  upon  all  the  line  of  Japanese  troops 
which  thronged  the  shore,  had  they  commenced  hostil- 
ities. There  was,  however,  no  serious  apprehension 
felt  of  any  warlike  termination  to  the  ceremonies  of 
the  day,  although  every  precaution  was  properly  taken  to  provide  against  the  least  untoward 
occurrence.  When  the  reception  was  over,  there  was  a  general  feeling  of  satisfaction  on  the  part 
of  every  man  in  the  squadron  at  the  successful  result.  Judged  hy  the  ordinary  relations  of 
civilized  nations,  there  was  not  much  ground  for  congratulation,  hut  when  considered  in  refer- 
ence to  the  exclusive  policy  of  Japan,  there  was  every  reason  for  a  proud  self-satisfaction  on  the 
part  of  each  American  who  had  shared  in  the  event  of  the  day. 

The  justice  of  the  Commodore's  demand  to  be  received  as  befitted  the  envoy  of  a  great  nation, 
was  acknowledged  in  the  remarkable  document  received  from  the  imperial  government,  and 
confirmed  in  the  most  impressive  manner  by  the  proceedings  of  the  day,  when  two  of  the  chief 


COMMODORE   PREPARES   TO   ASCEND   THE   BAY.  263 

princes  of  the  Empire,  actinpj  as  the  inimediate  representatives  of  the  highest  authority,  had  so 
far  raised  the  iron-like  mask  of  Japanese  reserve  as  to  sliow  themselves  face  to  face  to  the 
Americans,  and  receive  from  the  hands  of  an  American  amhassador  an  urgent  invitation  to 
share  in  the  comity  of  nations.  "As  it  has  been  observed  that  the  Admiral,  in  his  quality  of 
ambassador  of  the  President,  would  feel  himself  insulted  by  a  refusal  to  receive  the  letter  at  this 
place,  the  justice  of  which  has  been  acknowledged,  the  above  mentioned  letter  is  hereby  received 
in  opposition  to  the  Japanese  laws."  Such  are  the  remarkable  words  of  the  Japanese  docu- 
ment, and  thus,  in  this  striking  phrase,  "in  opposition  to  the  Japanese  laics,"  has  Japan  herself 
emphatically  recorded  the  American  triumph,  as  she  has,  perhaps,  foretold  her  own  regenera- 
tion. The  vigorous  grasp  of  the  hand  of  America  which  was  proffered  in  a  friendly  spirit,  but 
thrust  forward  with  an  energy  that  proved  the  power  to  strike,  as  well  as  the  disposition  to 
embrace,  had  stirred  Japanese  isolation  into  a  sensibility  of  its  relationship  to  the  rest  of  the 
world.  Japan  had  broken  its  own  code  of  selfish  exclusiveness  to  obey  the  universal  law  of 
hospitality. 

The  concession  to  the  demands  of  the  Commodore^,  though  great  for  the  Japanese,  was  yet 
very  far  from  all  that  was  to  be  reasonably  demanded  on  the  score  of  the  usual  comity  of 
nations.  The  communication  from  the  government  of  Jajjan,  remarkable  as  it  was  for  its 
breaking  through  the  Japanese  law  of  exclusion,  was  still  marked  with  traces  of  their 
restrictive  policy,  and  contained  these  words:  "Therefore,  as  the  letter  has  been  received,  you 
can  depart."  The  Commodore,  to  show  how  little  he  regarded  the  order  of  the  princes  to 
depart,  had  no  sooner  reached  his  ship,  after  the  interview  on  shore,  than  he  ordered  the  whole 
squadron  to  get  under  way.  This  was  not  to  leave  the  bay,  as  the  princes  doubtless  expected, 
but  to  go  higher  up.  The  Commodore  determined  to  examine  the  channel  toward  Yedo,  being 
satisfied  that  the  employment  of  so  large  a  force  in  surveying  service,  and  in  so  near  a 
neighborhood  to  the  capital,  would  produce  a  decided  influence  upon  the  pride  and  conceit  of  the 
government,  and  cause  a  more  favorable  consideration  of  the  President's  letter. 

The  Governor  of  Uraga,  Yezaimen,  and  Saboroske,  with  the  interpreters,  had  accompanied 
the  party  on  the  return  to  the  ships,  and,  on  going  on  board  of  the  Susquehanna,  were  received 
by  the  captains  and  the  Commodore's  aid  in  the  ujiper  cabin,  where  the  following  conversation 
ensued : 

Yezaimen.  We  are  happy  to  state  that  everything  has  passed  off  well  and  favorably. 

Captain  Buchanan.  We  hope  that  Japan  and  the  United  States  will  always  be  friends. 

Yezaimen.  When  do  you  intend  to  go  away? 

Capt.  B.  In  the  course  of  two  or  three  days.  The  Commodore  is  going  to  take  a  sail  up  the 
bay  to  see  the  anchorage.     He  does  not  like  his  first  place  of  anchorage. 

Yezaimen.  Will  you  anchor  there? 

Capt.  B.  Only  for  two  or  three  days,  until  wo  get  ready  to  go  to  sea. 

Yezaimen.  We  desire  to  take  leave  ofiicially  to-day,  that  it  may  not  be  necessary  for  us  to 
return  before  you  go. 

Capt.  B.  We  hope  to  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  again  before  many  months. 
Commodore  Perry  did  not  bring  this  time  with  him  the  presents  intended  for  the  Emperor  of 
Japan,  but  when  he  comes  again  he  will  bring  them.  Among  them  is  a  steara  engine  or 
locomotive,  for  railroads. 

Lieut.  Confee.  There  is  also  among  them  a  telegraph  long  enough  to  reach  from  Uraga  to  Yedo, 
by  means  of  which  you  can  speak  from  one  place  to  another  in  a  single  second. 


264  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

Yezatmen.  H.^w  many  miles  can  you  make  in  an  hour  with  your  steam  engine  ? 

Lieut.  C.  Eight  Japanese  or  thirteen  American  miles,  with  steam  only  and  witliout  wind. 
In  the  United  States,  there  are  some  very  light  steamers  on  the  river  wliich  can  go  eighteen 
miles  an  hour. 

Yezaimen.  Where  were  steamers  first  invented  ? 

Lieut.  C.  In  America  :  an  American  named  Fulton  first  invented  them  in  New  York. 

Yezaimen  having  been  urged  to  remain  and  observe  the  engine  in  motion,  his  curiosity 
prompted  him  to  do  so,  and  his  boat  and  that  of  Saboroskc  being  taken  in  tow,  these  two 
officials  and  their  interpreters,  while  the  anchors  were  weighing  and  the  steamers  were 
proceeding  to  their  old  anchorage,  partook  freely  of  the  hospitalities  of  the  officers,  and  busied 
themselves  in  gratifying  their  natural  desire  of  seeing  all  that  was  to  be  seen  on  board  the  ship. 

These  Japanese  officials,  evincing  as  they  always  did  a  certain  reserved  curiosity,  yet  showed  an 
intelligent  interest  in  the  structure  of  the  steamer  and  all  that  pertained  to  its  appointments. 
While  the  engines  were  in  motion  they  minutely  inspected  every  part,  but  exliibited  no  fear, 
nor  any  of  that  startled  surprise  that  would  be  expected  of  those  who  were  entirely  ignorant  of 
its  mechanism.  They  seemed  to  acquire  rapidly  some  insight  into  the  nature  of  steam,  and  into 
the  mode  with  which  it  was  applied  to  put  into  action  the  great  engine  and  move  by  its  power 
the  wheels  of  the  steamers.  Their  questions  were  of  the  most  intelligent  character,  and  they 
asked  again  by  whom  steamers  were  first  discovered,  and  to  what  speed  they  could  be  propelled 
through  the  water.  They  examined  with  marked  interest  various  engravings  which  were  shown 
them  of  American  river  and  sea  steam  vessels,  and  also  some  views  of  New  York,  New  Orleans, 
and  San  Francisco,  which  happened  to  be  on  board.  Yezaimen  having  observed  the  revolvers 
in  the  belts  of  some  of  the  American  officers,  expressed  a  desire  to  examine  the  construction  and 
see  one  let  ofl".  His  curiosity  was  accordingly  gratified  by  one  of  the  captains,  who  fired  off  a 
revolver  from  the  quarter  deck,  and  he  watched  the  repeated  discharges  of  the  six  barrels  with 
very  evident  astonishment  but  no  alarm. 

There  was  a  marked  contrast  observed  between  the  bearing  of  the  two  officials.  While 
Yezaimen  always  exhibited  a  modest  reserve  of  manner,  Saboroske  was  bold  and  pushing.  The 
former  evinced  an  intelligent  curiosity,  but  the  latter  showed  an  importunate  incjuisitiveness. 
Yezaimen  was  always  the  quiet,  courteous,  and  reserved  gentleman,  but  Saboroske  was  perpetually 
bustling,  rude,  and  intrusive.  The  latter  was  continually  peering  his  bold  and  impudent  face 
into  every  nook  and  corner,  whether  invited  or  not,  and  appeared  more  desirous  of  acting  the 
spy  than  of  gratifying  the  interest  of  a  liberal  curiosity. 

A  shrill  blast  of  the  steam  whistle  now  announced  the  arrival  of  the  steamers  off  Uraga, 
and  startled  the  Japanese  to  their  feet,  as  the  time  of  their  departure  had  arrived.  The  engines 
were  stopped  for  a  few  minutes  while  the  Japanese  boats  were  brought  alongside  from  the  stern, 
where  they  had  been  in  tow.  Yezaimen  and  his  party  were  evidently  disappointed  that  their 
visit  was  brought  so  soon  to  a  close,  and  expressed  some  reluctance  at  leaving  before  they 
had  fully  gratified  their  curiosity. 

The  whole  squadron  now  got  in  position,  the  steamers  having  been  joined  by  the  two  sloops- 
of-war,  the  Plymouth  and  Saratoga,  and  all  four  ships  presented  a  formidable  array  as  they 
stood  off'  in  a  line  abreast  of  each  other  and  advanced  with  running  lines  of  soundings  up  the 
bay.  The  course  was  now  directed  toward  the  eastern  shore,  leaving  on  the  west  the  promontory 
of  Uraga  and  a  beautiful  bay  beyond,  which  disclosed  to  the  view  its  surrounding  hills  of  the 


ASCENT  OF  THE  BAY  OF  TKDO.  265 

richest  verdure  with  numerous  villages  at  their  base,  as  the  squadron  moved  alono-  in  a 
diagonal  line. 

As  the  land  on  the  west  was  approached  to  within  three  miles,  it  was  seen  to  rise  gradually 
from  the  undulating  slopes,  near  the  waters  of  the  bay,  to  steep  mountains  in  the  distance. 
Fertile  fields,  expanding  parks,  bounded  with  plantations,  and  varied  here  and  there  with 
carefully  arranged  clumps  of  trees  of  advanced  but  vigorous  growth,  terraces  lifting  their 
smooth  surfaces  one  above  the  other,  in  the  richest  and  greenest  of  verdure,  and  retired 
groves  of  deep  shade,  showed  upon  the  acclivities  of  the  nearer  range  of  hills  all  the  marks 
of  a  long  and  most  perfect  cultivation,  and  presented  a  beauty  of  landscape  unrivalled  even 
by  the  garden-like  sceneiy  of  England  when  clothed  in  the  fresh  charms  of  a  verdant  spring. 
The  distant  hills  were  rugged  and  bare,  and  apparently  without  cultivation,  but  gave,  by  their 
contrasting  barrenness  and  rudeness  of  aspect,  a  heightened  beauty  to  the  rich  culture  of  the 
land  wliich  gradually  undulated  from  their  base  to  the  waters  of  the  bay.  As  the  squadron 
advanced  toward  the  north  the  shore  became  more  level,  and  a  stretch  of  sand  was  observed 
to  extend  for  three  or  four  miles  into  the  bay,  and  to  arise  near  its  termination  into  two 
considerable  elevations,  upon  which  forts  with  ten  guns  each  were  erected,  and  there  the  Japanese 
troops  had  been  seen  to  gather. 

The  ships  now  directed  their  course  toward  the  proposed  place  for  anchoring,  which  had 
been  surveyed  by  Lieutenant  Bent  on  the  previous  surveying  expedition.  Keeping  in  view  a 
bold  headland,  which  bounded  the  upper  part  of  the  bay,  to  which  the  squadron  was  tending, 
the  ships  steered  toward  the  western  shore,  and  finall}'  dropjied  their  anchors  in  the  afternoon 
in  a  place  which  the  Commodore  then  named  the  American  AncJiorage.  This  was  about  ten 
miles  distant  from  the  first  anchorage  off  Uraga,  and  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  shore,  in  a 
depth  of  water  which  gave  full  thirteen  fathoms.  Within  the  bay  in  which  tlie  ships  were 
anchored  were  two  beautiful  islands,  covered  with  a  green  growth  of  herbage  and  scattered 
groves.  The  coast  which  bounded  the  anchorage  was  composed  of  a  succession  of  steep 
cliffs  of  white  rock,  the  summits  of  which  were  covered  with  a  fertile  soil,  which  produced 
a  rich  vegetation  that  hung  over  from  above  in  heavy  festoons  of  green  shrubbery  and 
trailing  vines  and  plants,  while  the  sea  had  washed  the  base  of  the  cliffs  here  and  there  into 
caverns  where  the  water  flowed  in  and  out.  The  headland  at  the  north  was  about  six  miles 
distant  and  descended  in  green  slopes  to  the  bay,  and  from  the  thick  growth  of  trees  which 
covered  them  a  white  smoke  was  observed  to  wind  through  the  close  foliage,  and  was  supposed 
to  indicate  the  presence  of  some  encampment.  A  great  number  of  the  usual  government  boats, 
distinguished  liy  red  banners,  lined  a  long  stretch  of  the  shore  of  nearly  a  mile  in  length,  and 
the  fortresses  had  extended  their  usual  cotton  cloth  batteries  or  screens,  which  were  now,  on 
longer  experience,  supposed  to  be  rather  military  emblems,  like  the  flag  and  banners,  than 
sham  exhibitions  of  force  and  intended  evidences  of  hostility. 

Immediately  on  anchoring  the  Commodore  ordered  the  boats  out  upon  a  surveying 
expedition,  and  although  this  seemed  to  bring  out  the  soldiers  in  numbers  about  the  battery 
which  lay  opposite  to  the  ships,  as  well  as  some  of  the  government  boats  which  were  moored 
along  the  shore,  there  was  no  direct  interference  with  the  surveying  party.  The  Japanese 
boats,  however,  moved  backward  and  forward,  as  if  watching  the  movement  of  the  ship's 
cutters,  but  seemed  indisposed  to  do  more  than  show  themselves  in  force  and  on  the  alert. 
Soon,  however,  Yezaimen,  witli  his  iuterpreters,  were  seen  to  approacli  the  Susquehanna,  in 
their  usual  boat,  which  the  Japanese  oarsmen  were  sculling  with  all  their  might,  and  at  once 
34  J 


266  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

(lashed  up  alongside  the  steamer.  Yezaimcn  and  his  companions  hurried  up  the  companion 
way,  and  were  evidently  much  ruffled,  and  in  a  state  of  great  anxiety.  Tliey  were  at  once 
ushered  into  the  cahin,  where  they  were  received  as  iisual  by  the  captains,  who  were  coolly 
prepared  to  listen  to  what  they  had  to  say.  Tatznoske  at  once  burst  out  with  the  question, 
"  Why  do  your  ships  anchor  here  ?"  He  was  answered  that  as  they  had  been  already  informed 
by  the  Commodore,  the  ships  had  advanced  up  the  bay  in  order  to  obtain  a  more  secure 
anchorage.  The  interpreter  then  stated  that  that  part  of  the  Japanese  waters  had  always  been 
hitherto. respected  by  strangers,  and  that  the  squadron  must  not  go  any.  further.  He  then 
asked  whether  the  Commodore  intended  to  go  beyond,  and  if  not,  how  long  he  intended  to 
remain  where  he  then  was?  He  was  told  that  the  Comiuodore  intended  to  remain  three  or 
four  days  longer  for  the  purpose  of  finding  out  a  good  anchorage,  as  he  was  to  return  in  the 
ensuing  spring  with  many  more  ships  and  men,  and  that  it  was  desirable  that  the  most  secure 
place  should  be  found  for  mooring  his  vessels,  and  that  for  this  purpose  it  was  necessary  to 
survey  the  bay.  Uraga  had  been  tried,  but  it  was  found  insecure,  as  the  water  was  rough,  and 
the  winds  occasionally  blew  there  with  great  force.  Upon  the  interpreter  Tatznoske  asserting 
that  the  Commodore  had  promised  to  leave  the  bay  immediately  on  the  reception  of  the 
President's  letter  by  the  princes,  he  was  reminded  that  the  Commodore  had  only  promised  to 
leave  the  shore,  but  had  distinctly  stated  that  it  was  his  intention  to  advance  further  up  the 
bay  with  his  ships.  The  interpreter  continued  by  declaring  that  if  the  surveying  boats  should 
approach  any  nearer  to  the  land  that  there  would  be  trouble,  as  the  people  were  already  under 
considerable  excitement  from  observing  the  close  neighborhood  of  the  strangers.  He  was  then 
told  that  there  was  no  need  for  any  anxiety,  as  the  boats  should  not  land,  and  the  Americans 
would  not  interfere  with  the  Japanese  unless  they  were  first  disturbed  by  tliem.  Yezaimen 
still  persisted  through  his  interpreters  upon  the  squadron  leaving,  and  courteously  expressed 
his  assurance  that  the  Japanese  government  was  favorably  disposed  toward  the  Americans, 
and  tliat  as  the  President's  letter  had  been  received  it  would  undoubtedly  be  considered  with 
a  favorable  disposition.  He  concluded  by  expressing  the  hope  that  on  the  next  visit  of  the 
Commodore  he  would  not  advance  any  further  up  the  bay  than  Uraga,  as  that  place  offered 
every  convenience  for  the  proposed  negotiation.  Yezaimen  was  now  assured  that  the 
Americans  came  as  friends,  and  that  therefore  it  was  quite  unreasonable  that  any  opposition 
should  be  made  to  their  ships  seeking  a  suitable  anchorage.  They  were  moreover  told  that  it 
was  the  custom  in  the  United  States  to  afford  every  facility  to  foreigners  in  that  respect,  and 
that  if  the  Japanese  came  to  the  United  States  they  would  find  the  navigable  waters  of 
the  country  free  to  them,  and  that  they  would  not  be  debarred  even  from  the  rich  gold  fields  of 
California. 

Yezaimen  had  nothing  more  to  say,  and,  whether  persuaded  or  not,  had  the  courtesy  to  refrain 
from  pushing  his  demands  any  further.  He  and  his  companions,  upon  being  invited  to  partake 
of  some  refreshments,  readily  comjjlied,  and  were  soon  engaged  in  discussing  with  a  vigorous 
appetite  the  collation  that  was  spread  before  them.  Another  government  boat  was  at  this 
juncture  announced  as  being  alongside,  when  immediately  the  Japanese  officials  who  were  on 
board  of  it  were  invited  to  share  in  the  hosi>italities  of  the  cabin.  Quite  a  convivial  scene 
ensued,  in  the  course  of  which  abundant  supplies  of  ham,  ship's  biscuit,  and  other  stores, 
washed  down  by  plentiful  draughts  of  whiskey,  quickly  disappeared.  The  cheer  seemed  to  be 
much  relished,  and  the  interpreters  were  so  exceedingly  delighted  that  they  desired  to  bear 
away  some  substantial  mementos  of  the  pleasant  feast,  and,  accordingly,  not  satisfied  with  well- 


INTERCOURSE      WITH      INHABITANTS      ON      SHORE.  267. 

filled  paunches,  they  carried  off  in  their  capacious  sleeves  pieces  of  the  hread  and  ham,  -where- 
with to  refresh  their  memories  and  their  future  appetites.  As  the  night  approached,  the 
Japanese  took  their  departure,  full  of  courteous  expressions  of  satisfaction  at  the  hospitality  of 
the  ships. 

The  following  morning  (July  1.5t]i)  a  surveying  party  was  again,  at  a  very  early  hour, 
dispatched  by  the  Commodore  to  sound  further  up  the  hay.  Three  of  the  boats  pulled  round 
to  the  other  side  of  the  battery  whicli  shut  out  a  part  of  the  country  inland  from  the  view  of 
those  on  board  ship.  Here  they  found  an  inlet  and  a  beautiful  surrounding  country  watered 
by  a  stream,  upon  the  fertile  borders  of  which  were  grouped  a  great  number  of  picturesque 
Japanese  villages,  while  fertile  fields  and  highly  cultivated  gardens  stretched  out  beyond  them. 
The  officers  ordered  their  boats  up  the  river  and  were  met  as  they  advanced  by  crowds  of  the 
inhabitants,  gathering  upon  the  shores  to  satisfy  their  curiosity  in  a  look  at  the  strangers. 
Some  of  the  people  greeted  the  boats  with  every  indication  of  welcome,  and  readily  supplied 
those  on  board  with  water  and  some  excellent  peaches.  There  were  a  few  government  boats 
lying  near,  and  the  officers  on  board  gladly  welcomed  our  people  to  a  visit,  in  the  course  of 
which  such  a  mutual  friendliness  sprung  up  that  the  Americans  joined  the  Japanese  in  a  social 
pipe  or  two  of  tobacco.  Our  officers,  in  return  for  their  hospitable  entertainment,  amused  their 
newly-found  hosts  with  an  exhibition  of  their  revolvers  and  fired  them  ofl",  to  the  intense  sur- 
prise and  delight  of  the  Japanese.  In  the  midst  of  this  enjoyment  of  social  intercourse,,  where 
the  greatest  harmony  prevailed,  and  in  which  the  Japanese  seemed  remarkably  genial  in  manner 
and  expansive  in  hospitality,  down  came  some  severe  official  and  beckoned  off  his  countrymen, 
who  rapidly  scattered  away,  like  so  many  children  caught  in  the  very  act  of  some  awful 
disobedience. 

On  the  return  of  the  ships' boats  from  sounding,  all  the  officers  and  men  were  in  raptures 
with  the  kindly  disposition  of  the  Japanese  and  the  beauty  of  their  country.  In  fact,  nothing 
could  be  more  picturesque  than  the  landscapes  wherever  the  eye  was  directed,  and  even  those 
on  board  ship  never  tired  of  looking  at  the  surrounding  shores.  The  high  cultivation  of  the 
land  everywhere,  the  deep,  rich  green  of  all  the  vegetation,  the  innumerable  thrifty  villages 
embowered  in  groves  of  trees  at  the  heads  of  the  inlets  which  broke  the  uniformity  of  the  bay, 
and  the  rivulets  flowing  down  the  green  slopes  of  the  hills  and  calmly  winding  through  the 
meadows,  combined  to  present  a  scene  of  beauty,  abundance,  and  happiness,  which  every  one 
delighted  to  contemplate. 

In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  the  Commodore  transferred  his  pennant  from  the  Susquehanna 
to  the  Mississippi.  He  then  proceeded  some  ten  miles  further  up  the  bay  toward  Yedo,  and 
reached  a  point  estimated  to  be  distant  twenty  miles  from  the  anchorage  at  Uraga.  The  port 
or  shipping  place  of  Yedo  was  distinctly  seen  on  the  southern  side  of  the  capital,  but  not  tlie 
capital  itself,  which,  being  composed  of  low  houses,  like  those  of  China,  was  completely  hidden 
behind  a  projecting  point,  beyond  which  the  bay  took  an  easterly  direction,  and  was  bounded  by 
a  shore  of  low  alluvial  land.  The  town  observed  was  probably  Sinagawa,  a  suburb  of  Yedo. 
On  the  western  side  of  the  bay  a  view  was  obtained  of  Kanagawa  and  Konazaki,  two  populous 
places.  Some  four  miles  beyond  the  extreme  point  reached  by  the  Mississippi- there  was  a  cape 
formed  by  a  projecting  point  of  land,  and  marked  by  a  wliite  tower,  which  resembled  in 
appearance  a  light-house  ;  it  was  some  three  or  four  miles  still  further  where  the  shipi)ing  and 
supposed  port  of  Yedo  appeared  to  the  view.  The  Commodore  thus  supposed  that  he  had  taken 
his  ship  within  ten  miles  of  Yedo,  and  as  the  lead  gave   twenty  fathoms  where  he  put  about   he 


268  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

concluded  that  he  could  readily  have  gone  still  higher  up.  He  vras  apprehensive,  however,  of 
causing  too  much  alarm,  and  thus  throwing  some  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  favorable  reception  at 
court  of  the  President's  letter,  that  had  only  been  delivered  the  day  before,  and  which  was 
probably  then  under  consideration.  The  Commodore  tlius  thinking  that  he  had  done  enough, 
without  going  further,   caused  the  ship  to  rejoin  the  squadron  at  the   "  American  Anchorage." 

During  the  passage  of  the  Mississippi,  there  was  no  show  of  opposition  to  her  movements, 
although  there  was  a  considerable  display  of  troops  about  the  batteries,  loosely  grouped,  as  if 
gathered  for  curiosity  and  not  for  martial  manifestation,  and  an  occasional  government  boat  put 
out  from  the  shore  with  the  apparent  design  of  watching  the  steamer.  While  the  Commodore 
was  absent  on  his  expedition  up  the  bay,  Yezaimen  and  his  interpreters  came  alongside  the 
Susquehanna,  bringing  some  boxes  containing  presents,  but  neither  they  nor  their  presents  were 
received,  as  the  Commodore  had  given  orders  that  no  one  from  the  shore  should  be  admitted  on 
board  the  ship  without  his  special  permission.  Upon  being  told  this,  the  Japanese  first 
expressed  a  wish  to  wait,  but  finally  pushed  oif,  saying  that  they  would  return  another  time. 
All  the  boats  which  could  be  spared  from  the  several  ships,  amounting  to  twelve,  were  busily 
engaged  during  the  whole  day  in  surveying  the  western  shore  of  the  bay  above  Uraga. 

At  daylight  next  morning  (Saturday,  16th  July,)  the  ships  were  moved  to  a  bay  about  five 
miles  from  Uraga,  which  the  Commodore  named  "Susquehanna  Bay, ".and  in  the  survey  of 
which  the  boats  were  kept  diligently  occupied,  and  without  interference  or,  in  fact,  any  expressed 
objection.  The  squadron  was  now  anchored  much  closer  to  the  shore  than  before,  at  a  distance  of 
less  than  a  mile,  and  from  the  ship's  deck  a  distant  view  was  had  of  the  land  on  the  west,  which 
was  singularly  green  with  vegetation  and  beautiful  in  aspect.  The  present  anchorage  was 
completely  land-locked.  On  one  side  was  the  charming  little  island  named  "Perry  Island," 
by  Lieutenant  Bent,  who  was  in  command  of  the  surveying  party  which  first  examined  its 
neighboring  waters.  Out  of  the  trees  which  grew  to  the  summit  of  the  rising  land  peered,  with 
a  suspicious  look,  a  Japanese  battery.  Below,  some  miles  to  the  south,  the  promontory  which 
extends  out  into  the  bay  beyond  Uraga  closed  in  the  ships  which  were  moored  so  far  under  the 
cover  of  its  lofty  flank,  that  the  view  of  the  eastern  shore  for  a  considerable  extent  was 
entirely  blotted  out.  Two  villages,  of  the  name  of  Orsa  and  Togirasaki,  nestled  among  the 
trees  within  the  curve  of  the  bay,  and  presented  to  the  eye  a  charming  aspect  of  repose  and  rural 
delight. 

Yezaimen,  the  governor  of  Uraga,  was  again  alongside  the  Susquehanna  before  she  had 
anchored.  He  came  to  renew  his  assurance  of  the  favorable  reception  of  the  President's  letter, 
and  as  nothing  was  said  now  of  sending  the  answer  to  Nagasaki,  it  seemed  that  the  nearer  the 
Commodore  approached  the  im2)erial  city  of  the  Japanese  the  more  conciliating  and  friendly 
they  became.  The  governor  had  brought  with  him  some  presents,  consisting  of  some  pieces  o^ 
silk,  .some  fans,  lacquered  tea-cups  and  tobacco  pipes.  These  objects  were  interesting  as 
specimens  of  Japanese  manufacture,  and  though  not  very  valuable,  were  creditable  evidences  of 
mechanical  skill.  The  cups  were  made  of  a  very  light  wood,  neatly  executed  and  beautifully 
polished  in  surface  with  the  famous  Japanese  lacquer.  The  silks  were  of  fine  texture,  richly 
interwoven  with  braids  of  gold  and  silver,  elaborately  wrought  into  various  ornamental  figures. 
The  fans  were  covered  with  those  "dragons  and  chimeras  dire"  in  which  the  grotesque  fancy  of 
Japanese  art  seems  especially  to  delight,  and  the  pipes  were  small  and  like  what  had  been 
previously  observed  in  use  among  the  Lew  Chewans. 


PRESENTS     EXCHANGED.  269 

Tczaimcn  was  informed,  by  the  orders  of  the  Commodore,  that  the  presents  which  he  had 
brought  could  not  be  received  unless  others  from  the  Commodore  were  accepted  in  return.  To 
this  Yezaimen  at  first  demurred  by  interposing  the  invariable  plea  that  the  Japanese  law 
forbade  it.  He  was  now  answered  that  American  laws  enjoined  a  reciprocity,  and  that 
his  presents  could  not  be  otherwise  received.  Finding  the  Commodore  resolute  upon  this, 
as  upon  all  other  points  of  ceremony,  Yezaimen  consented  at  last  to  receive  in  return 
whatever,  with  the  exception  of  arms,  there  was  a  disposition  to  give  him.  Accordingly,  some 
few  articles  of  more  value  tlian  those  brought  by  the  Japanese  were  sent  on  deck ;  but  when 
Yezaimen  saw  them  he  declared  that  they  were  of  too  much  value,  and  that  he  dared  not  take 
on  shore  anything  but  what  he  and  his  interpreter  could  conceal  about  their  persons.  He  was 
then  informed  that  if  he  could  not  receive  the  articles  openly,  and  without  concealment^  that 
those  which  he  had  brought  with  him  would  be  put  back  into  his  boat.  He  then  departed, 
carrying  with  him  all  the  Commodore's  presents,  with  the  ♦exception  of  three  swords,  which 
be  was  permitted  to  leave. 

In  the  afternoon,  Yezaimen  and  his  interpreters  came  on  board  again,  with  a  trifling  present 
of  some  fowls  in  wicker  cages  and  several  boxes  of  eggs.  They  seemed  in  very  good  humor, 
as  there  had  been  no  objection  urged  on  shore  to  their  retaining  the  presents  they  had 
received  fi-om  the  Commodore  in  the  morning.  The  Commodore,  on  receiving  the  fowls  and 
eggs,  sent  presents  to  the  wives  of  the  Japanese  officials,  as  he  was  determined  to  be  under 
no  obligation  to  them.  Another  important  point  had  been  gained  in  persuading  the  Japanese 
to  consent  to  an  exchange  of  presents,  a  concession  which  had  hitherto  been  unprecedented  in 
all  their  previous  relatious  with  foreign  nations. 

Among  the  articles  given  to  Yezaimen  was  a  large  box  containing  a  variety  of  American 
seeds  and  some,  if  not  equally  useful,  not  less  acceptable,  cases  of  wine.  The  governor 
had  showed  his  appreciation  of  the  latter  article  by  the  gusto  with  which  he  shared  in  the 
conviviality  on  board  which  marked  his  last  visit.  Yezaimen  and  liis  interpreters,  Tatznoske 
and  Toksaro,  evidently  lingered  with  pleasure  on  board  the  ship  and  were  loth  to  say  the  final 
good-bye.  Over  the  board  which  was  spread  to  refresh  and  to  do  honor  to  tliem  they  became 
remarkably  jovial  and  communicative.  Yezaimen's  disposition  was  naturally  genial,  and  it 
became  still  more  exi^ansive  in  its  bonhommie  under  the  by  no  means  restricted  draughts  of 
champagne.  His  aifection  towards  his  American  friends  was  liberally  acknowledged^  and  he 
confessed  such  a  yearning  for  them  that  he  declared  he  would  not  be  able  to  restrain  his  tears 
on  their  departure.  The  interpreters,  though  less  bibulous  and  more  reserved  than  their 
superior,  were  evidently  in  a  very  joyous  mood  and  disposed  to  be  confidential.  Tatznoske, 
with  a  knowing  look,  hinted  in  a  low,  whispering  tone  of  voice,  that  the  President's  letter  had 
a  very  fair  chance  of  a  satisfactory  answer,  and  that  Yezaimen  had  a  good  prospect  of  promotion 
from  the  governorship  of  Uraga  to  some  higher  grade  of  official  distinction. 

The  Japanese,  however,  were  always  on  the  alert  to  gain  a  point  in  diplomacy,  and  despite 
their  convivial  freedom  did  not  forget  their  official  duties.  Captain  Buchanan  had  informed 
Tatznoske  of  the  intention  of  the  Commodore  to  leave  Yedo  Bay  next  day,  whereupon  tliat 
shrewd  gentleman  put  down  his  glass  of  champagne,  and  showing  his  usual  eager  attention  to 
business,  even  in  the  midst  of  pleasure,  asked  the  captain  for  a  declaration  in  writing  of  what 
he  had  said  in  words  about  the  srjuadron's  departure.  This  was  refused  with  an  expression  of 
cold  reserve  on  the  part  of  Captain  Buchanan,  as  it  would  seem  to  imply  a  doubt  of  his  word. 


270  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

•The  Japanese  officials  now  prepared  to  depart,  and  finally,  after  expressing  in  the  most 
courteous  terms  their  thanks  for  the  treatment  they  had  received,  and  their  regret  on  leaving 
their  American  friends,  shook  all  the  officers  warmly  by  the  hand^  and  went  bowing  and 
smiling  over  the  side  of  the  ship  into  their  boat.  No  sooner  were  they  seated  on  their  mats, 
than  Yezaimen  showed  his  appreciation  of  the  present  of  wine  by  ordering  one  of  the  cases  to 
be  immediately  opened,  and  taking  the  first  bottle  that  came,  impatiently  knocked  off  its  neck, 
and  without  more  ado  commenced  imbibing  its  contents,  probably  desiring,  with  his  usual 
courtesy,  to  drink  a  parting  health  to  his  American  friends.  His  boat  soon  pulled  out  of  sight 
behind  the  projecting  promontory  of  Uraga,  and  nothing  more  was  seen  of  the  courteous 
Yezaimen  and  his  worthy  and  learned  associates  Tatznoske  and  Toksaro. 

The  survey  of  the  west  side  of  the  magnificent  bay  having  been  completed  from  Uraga  to  a 
point  about  fourteen  miles  below  Yedo,  and  the  steamer  Mississippi  having  ascended  with  the 
boats  and  sounded  six  miles  nearer  to  that  capital,  the  Commodore  believed  that  a  sufficient 
knowledge  was  obtained  of  the  navigation  of  the  bay  to  conduct  the  man-of-war,  the  Vermont, 
which  was  to  join  his  squadron  on  his  next  visit,  to  the  American  anchorage,  or  even  higher  if 
necessary. 

The  governor  of  Uraga,  as  will  have  been  observed,  had  evinced  a  great  anxiety,  during  the 
several  conferences  on  board  the  Susquehanna,  to  learn  how  long  the  Commodore  intended  to 
remain  on  the  coast.  On  these  occasions  Yezaimen  always  took  care  to  remark  that  it  was  the 
custom  of  the  Japanese  government  to  be  very  slow  in  deciding  upon  matters  having  reference 
to  foreign  countries.  In  consequence  of  these  representations,  and  knowing  that  tlie  propo- 
sitions contained  in  the  President's  letter  were  of  such  importance  as  to  require  time  for 
deliberation,  overturning,  as  they  would,  if  acceded  to,  many  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  the 
Empire,  the  Commodore  deemed  it  advisable  not  to  wait  for  a  reply.  To  these  were  added 
other  reasons  of  importance.  The  Commodore  had  not  provisions  or  water  sufficient  to  allow  of 
his  remaining  on  the  coast  more  than  a  month  longer,  and  he  well  knew  that  the  Japanese 
authorities  could  easily,  and  with  every  apparent  show  of  reason,  defer  any  satisfixctory  reply  to 
a  jjeriod  beyond  the  time  when  it  would  be  absolutely  necessary  for  him  to  leave.  They  would 
be  prepared,  as  an  excuse  for  delay,  to  allege  the  necessity  of  calling  together  and  conferring 
with  the  princes  of  the  Empire,  as  also  of  consulting  the  Dairi  or  Ecclesiastical  Emperor,  and 
thus  the  Commodore  might  be  put  off  from  day  to  day,  and  ultimately  be  obliged  to  sail  without 
any  satisfaction  whatever.  Such  a  result  would  have  been  construed  into  a  triumph  by  the 
Japanese,  and  would  have  caused,  as  the  Commodore  believed,  a  serious  injury  to  the  success  of 
his  mission. 

The  Commodore,  moreover,  was  glad  to  have  a  good  excuse  for  waiting  until  the  ensuing 
spring  for  the  final  answer  from  the  Japanese  government,  because  he  knew  that  some  of  his 
ships  were  required  to  protect  American  interests  on  the  coast  of  China,  then  somewhat 
endangered  in  consequence  of  the  disturbed  state  of  that  country.  He  could  not  spare  any  of 
the  squadron  while  he  remained  in  Japan,  for  the  vessels  promised  by  the  Navy  Department 
had  not  yet  followed  him  as  he  liad  expected.  He  was  also  unprepared  to  respond  with  becoming 
courtesy  to  any  concession  or  act  of  friendliness  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  government,  in 
consequence  of  not  having  received  the  presents  from  the  United  States  that  were  expected  in 
the  Vermont,  and  which  it  was  essential  to  have  ready  upon  the  reception  of  a  favorable  answer 
to  the  President's  letter. 


CAUSES     OF     commodore's     LEAVING      JAPAN.  271 

The  Commodoi'e  preferred,  then,  to  wait  until  the  ensuing  spring,  when  he  wouhl  be  able  to 
concentrate  his  wliole  force,  and  he  pre^jared  with  store  and  coal  vessels,  and  all  other  con- 
veniences for  remaining  an  indefinite  time  to  secure  whatever  concessions  the  Japanese  should 
be  disposed  to  make.  His  policy,  though  in  conformity  with  the  exigencies  of  his  position,  was 
at  the  same  time  a  courteous  concession  to  the  deliberate  ceremoniousness  of  Japanese  diplomacy, 
and  was  crowned  by  the  happiest  result.  A  letter  signifying  his  intention  to  leave  immediately 
and  return  the  ensuing  spring  for  an  answer  to  the  President's  letter,  had  been,  it  will  be 
recollected,  delivered  with  that  letter  on  the  occasion  of  the  Commodore's  reception  on  shore. 

The  squadron  left  the  anchorage  in  Susquehanna  Bay  on  Sunday  morning,  (July  It.)  With 
the  steamer  Susquehanna  towing  the  Saratoga,  and  the  Mississippi  the  Plymouth,  the  four 
vessels  began  their  voyage  and  started  away  rapidly  without  a  yard  of  canvas  set.  The  morning 
was  fine,  and  as  the  departure  of  the  Americans  was  a  great  event,  and  the  appearance  of  the 
four  ships  moving  ofi"  in  stately  procession,  succeeding  each  other  in  regular  line,  was  imposing 
and  novel  to  the  Japanese  unfamiliar  with  the  power  of  steam,  crowds  of  people  gathered  upon 
the  land  to  behold  the  sight.  As  the  promontory  of  Uraga  was  doubled  the  soldiers  thronged 
out  of  the  batteries,  and  hurrying  to  the  loftiest  summits  eagerly  looked  at  the  passing  ships. 
The  course  of  the  squadron  was  down  the  centre  of  the  bay.  and  the  inhabitants  on  both  shores 
could,  in  the  clearness  of  the  day,  equally  gratify  their  curiosity.  Many  were  not  content  with 
the  distant  view,  and  crowding  into  boats  had  pushed  off  in  the  stream  in  such  multitudes  that 
the  waters  were  covered  with  many  hundreds  of  them. 

As  the  squadron  steamed  out  of  the  bay  a  parting  look  was  obtained  of  the  lofty  summit  of 
Mount  Fusi,  both  behind  and  in  advance ;  as  the  ships  took  an  easterly  course,  the  mountainous 
coast  of  the  province  of  Awa,  at  the  northern  entrance  to  the  lower  bay  of  Tedo,  ro.se  to  the 
view.  Yries'  Island,  or,  as  it  is  otherwise  called,  Oo-Sima,  was  left  to  the  south  ;  and,  though 
partly  obscured  with  clouds,  the  convex  outline  of  the  lower  part  of  its  mountainous  elevation 
could  be  distinctly  traced.  The  course  of  the  ships  was  now  directed  toward  the  south,  when 
the  various  islands  which  extend  in  a  line  from  the  mouth  of  the  bay  of  Yedo  were  gradually 
approached  and  observed.  They  mostly  were  marked  with  the  usual  features  of  volcanic  origin, 
having  a  rounded  contour,  with  their  summits  rising  into  cones,  their  steep  sides  scarred  with  the 
burning  currents  of  lava,  and  their  bases  surrounded  with  irregular  shaped  detached  rocks.  A 
rich  vegetation,  as  is  common  in  such  latitudes,  had  thrown  its  green  mantle  over  the  sides  of 
some  of  the  islands,  which  presented  a  striking  contrast  of  verdant  beauty  with  the  bared  ribs  and 
fire-blasted  surface  of  others.  Vulcan  Island  was  conspicuous  among  the  rest  with  its  volcanic 
summit  and  its  acclivities  of  cooled  lava.  Fatsicio,  the  penal  island  of  Japan,  was  in  the 
distance  at  the  south  ;  but  as  the  shades  of  evening  gathered  as  the  ships  approached,  it  was  not 
come  up  with  before  it  was  too  dark  to  obtain  a  good  view.  As  several  of  the  islands  were  not 
laid  down  in  any  of  the  charts  in  possession  of  the  Commodore,  he  took  the  usual  privilege  of 
American  and  European  discoverers  and  gave  names  to  some  of  the  chain.  One  was  called, 
after  the  steamer,  the  Mississippi  Island  ;  a  cluster  of  rocks,  described  as  resembling  somewhat 
the  ba.saltic  formation  of  the  Giant's  Causeway,  was  called  after  the  Susquehanna ;  and  the 
other  .ships,  the  Plymouth  and  Saratoga,  each  came  in  for  the  honor  of  giving  her  name  to  a  rock 
or  an  island.  The  whole  chain  was  composed  of  a  great  number  of  islands  or  islets,  as  many  as 
eight  being  in  view  at  one  time.  They  showed  no  marks  of  iiabitation ;  but  from  tiieir  proximity 
to  the  Japanese  coast  they  were  probably  utilised  for  some  purpose  and  peopled  more  or  less. 
Fatsicio,  it  is  known,  is  used  as  a  penal  settlement,  and  it  is  probable  some  of  the  other  islands 


272  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

may  be  also  forced  into  some  service  by  the  Japanese  people,  who  seem  ever  on  the  alert  to 
make  any  available  use  of  their  territory. 

On  the  next  day,  after  the  departure  of  the  squadron  from  Yedo  bay,  the  wind,  which  had 
been  steadily  blowing  from  east  to  E.S.E.,  began  to  increase  with  such  force  as  made  it 
necessary  to  cast  off  the  two  sloops-of-war,  the  commanders  of  which,  having  been  ordered  by 
signal  to  proceed  to  the  duty  previously  assigned  them,  then  parted  company.  Commander 
Walker,  in  the  Saratoga,  had  received  written  instructions  from  the  Commodore  to  make  the 
best  of  his  way  to  Shanghai  to  protect  American  life  and  property  and  to  look  after  the  general 
interests  of  the  United  States  in  that  vicinity.  Commander  Kelly,  in  the  Plymouth,  was 
instructed  to  proceed  to  Lew  Chew,  and  on  his  way  to  examine  the  western  shores  of  Oho-Sima. 
It  was  the  intention  of  the  Commodore  to  have  surveyed  the  eastern  shores  of  this  island,  but 
he  was  prevented  by  the  weather. 

After  the  Plymouth  and  Saratoga  had  been  cast  off,  the  wind  gradually  increased  to  a  strong 
gale.  The  two  steamers  were  now  hove  to  on  the  port  tack.  The  wind  being  at  east  by  soikh, 
beating  up  an  ugly  sea,  the  Susquehanna  rolled  very  deeply,  but  otherwise  made  tolerable 
weather.  The  Mississippi  apparently  was  doing  better,  but  nevertheless  lost  two  of  her  boats 
during  the  gale.  The  storm  did  not  begin  to  abate  imtil  the  tliird  day,  when  the  Commodore 
continued  his  course,  without  delay,  for  Napha.  During  the  passage  to  and  from  Yedo  bay, 
the  current  set  invariably  with  more  or  less  strength,  according  to  the  wind,  to  the  north  and 
east,  while  in  the  bay  of  Yedo  itself,  the  tides  were  regular  and  set  up  and  down  the  channel 
opposite  Uraga  at  the  rate  of  two  and  a  half  knots. 

At  the  close  of  a  chapter  which  completes  the  account  of  the  first  visit  of  Commodore  Perry 
to  Japan,  it  seems  appropriate  to  sura  up  briefly  the  results  of  that  visit.  Short  as  was  the  stay 
of  the  squadron  in  the  waters  of  the  bay  of  Yedo,  the  ships  having  first  anchored  on  the  eighth 
of  July  and  taken  their  departure  on  the  seventeenth  of  the  same  month,  no  imimportant 
results  had  been  effected.  These,  to  be  fully  appreciated,  must  be  considered  not  absolutely  in 
regard  to  their  own  intrinsic  value,  but  relatively  to  the  former  policy  of  Japan,  in  its  restricted 
intercourse  with  foreign  nations. 

During  the  eight  days,  which  was  the  full  extent  of  his  first  visit.  Commodore  Perry  had 
gained  in  behalf  of  his  country  several  advantages  hitherto  denied  to  all  other  nations.  It  is 
true  certain  concessions  had  been  made,  but  in  a  very  limited  degree,  to  the  Dutch  and  Chinese ; 
and  these,  small  as  they  were,  were  awarded  to  them  at  the  expense,  on  their  ])art,  of  the  most 
degrading  conditions.  The  first  point  conceded  was  the  release  of  the  American  squadron  from 
the  perpetual  presence  of  the  Japanese  guard-boats,  which  had  always  hitiierto  surrounded 
foreign  ships,  and  placed  them,  as  it  were,  under  arrest  during  their  visit.  A  resolute  resistance 
was  at  once  opposed  by  Commodore  Perry  to  this  degrading  imposition  of  force  upon  a  peaceful 
visitor,  and,  in  spite  of  all  the  Japanese  autliorities  could  urge  on  the  score  of  their  own 
exclusive  laws  and  inhospitable  practice,  a  new  precedent  was  established  in  conformity  with  the 
comity  of  civilized  nations. 

The  second  point  gained  was  the  accomplishment  of  the  Commodore's  predetermined  intention 
to  confer  with  no  one  but  a  dignitary  of  the  highest  rank  in  tlie  Empire,  and  to  obtain  a  recep- 
tion in  every  respect  honorable  to  himself  and  the  country  which  he  represented.  Tiiis  was 
effected  without  the  slightest  deviation  on  the  part  of  the  Commodore  from  those  simple  rules 
of  diplomatic  courtesy  recognised  by  our  institutions.  For  example,  during  the  reception  on 
shore,  while  the  governor  of  Uraga  prostrated  himself  on  every  occasion  when  he  addressed  the 


ADVANTAGES     OF     SURVEY     OF     THE     BAY     OP     YEDO. 


273 


Prince  of  Idzu  and  his  associate,  the  Prince  of  Iwami,  the  Commodore  and  his  staff  remained 
qiiietlj-  seated,  and  used  no  more  ceremony  toward  the  Japanese  princes  than  wouhl  have  heen 
proper  in  a  similar  conference  with  the  commissioners  of  any  country  duly  credited. 

The  survey  of  the  hay  of  Tedo,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  the  authorities,  and  under  the  very 
guns  of  their  hatteries,  was  an  important  advantage.  It  not  only  taught  the  Japanese  the  folly 
of  attempting  to  frighten  away  the  Americans  hy  bravado  and  sham  exhibitions  of  force^  but 
has  proved  to  the  world,  for  the  first  time,  the  practicability  of  sailing  even  to  the  capital  of 
Japan,  and  secured  every  fticility  for  approaching  it  in  the  charts  which  have  been  the  results 
of  the  observations  of  the  hydrographical  department  of  the  expedition. 

The  Commodore,  conscious  that  he  was  dealing  with  a  ceremonious  people,  never  lost  an 
opportunity  of  symbolising,  even  by  form  and  etiquette,  his  resolute  determination  to  ujjhold 
the  dignity  of  his  mission.  Thus,  in  the  matter  of  giving  and  receiving  presents,  it  was  taken 
care  that  the  invariable  eastern  custom  should  be  strictly  followed,  and  that  the  advantage,  on 
the  score  of  the  value  of  gifts,  should  never  be  on  the  side  of  the  Japanese.  Heretofore  it  had 
been  the  policy  of  China  and  Japan  to  consider  and  receive  all  presents  as  so  many  tributes  to 
their  superior  power.  In  the  equal  exchange  carefully  regarded  by  the  Commodore  he  deter- 
mined that  presents  should  be  considered  merely  as  a  mutual  interchange  of  friendly  courtesy, 
and  he  accordingly  never  received  anything  without  returning  at  least  its  equivalent. 

"While  the  Commodore  strove  to  impress  the  Japanese  with  a  just  idea  of  the  power  and 
superiority  of  his  country,  be  was  ever  studious  of  exhibiting  the  most  friendly  disposition  in  all 
his  relations  with  the  authorities  of  Japan,  that  they  might  understand  that  it  was  the  desire  of 
the  United  States  to  cultivate  a  kindly  intercourse.  Thus,  on  the  one  hand,  a  resolute  deter- 
mination was  shown  to  demand  a  respectful  hearing,  and  to  secure  at  all  hazards  a  jirotection 
for  American  citizens  who  might  be  at  the  mercy  of  Japan,  and  on  the  other,  a  courteous 
desire  was  exjiressed  of  cultivating  a  mutual  trade  and  commerce,  by  which  international  good 
feeling  and  reciprocal  interests  are  most  securely  created  and  safely  guaranteed.  The  Japanese 
were  reminded  how  closely  the  geographical  position  of  their  Empire  had  been  brought  to  the 
United  States  by  the  new  possessions  on  the  Pacific,  and  the  development  of  the  mighty  power 
of  steam,  the  effective  operation  of  which  had  been  so  strikingly  revealed  to  the  people  of  Japan 
by  the  appearance  of  the  American  naval  steamers  almost  within  gun-shot  of  their  capital. 
How  far  this  policy,  which  proved  the  power  to  compel,  while  it  exhibited  the  disposition  to 
conciliate,  was  successful,  will  be  developed  in  the  future  pages  of  the  narrative. 


35  J 


271 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


AMAKIRIMA     ISLANDS. —  STATE     OP    FEELING     IN    LEW    CHEW. COMMODOBe's    MEASURES    FOR    PERMANENT    ARRANGEMENTS    WITH 

THE    AUTHORITIES. COAL    DEPOT. PROTEST    AGAINST    ESPIONAGE. TRADE    IN    OPEN    MARKET. LETTER    TO    THE    REGENT. 

INTERVIEW    WITH     THE      REGENT. ENTERTAINMENTS      OF      THE      COMMODORE. DURING      DINNER      THE     REGENt's    ANSWER     IS 

BROUGHT. UNSATISFACTORY    TO  THE  COMMODORE. LETTER  HANDED  BACK  TO  THE  REGENT,  AND  THE  COMMODORE  PREPARES 

TO  LEAVE  THE  HOUSE. INFORMS  THE  REGENT  THAT  HE  MUST  HATE  A  SATISFACTORY  ANSWER  ON  THE  NEXT  DAT,  OTHER- 
WISE    HE     WILL     LAND    AND     TAKE     POSSESSION    OF    THE    PALACE    AT    SHUI    AND    RETAIN    IT    UHTIL    MATTERS    ARE    ADJUSTED. 

PROBABLE     EFFECTS     OF     HUNTING     UP     THE     OLD     SEDAN    CHAIR    ON    SHORE. COMMODORe's    PROPOSITIONS    ALL    ACCEPTED. 

COAL   DEPOT   BUILT. — TISIT   TO    THE    CASTLE    OF    TIMA-GUSKO  PURCHASES    IN    THE    BAZAAR. — DEPARTURE    FROM    NAFUA    FOR 

CHINA. PLYMOUTH    LEFT    BEHIND  WITH    ORDERS    TO  VISIT    BONIN    ISLANDS  AND    MAKE    FURTHER    SURVEYS. CAPTAIN  KELLy's 

REPORT  OF  THE  VISIT  AND  SURVEYS. — FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT  AND  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  SETTLERS  ON  PEEL  ISLAND. — 
GENERAL  EFFECT  OF  THIS  LAST  TlSlT  TO  LEW  CHEW. — ARRIVAL  OF  THE  VANDALIA  ;  OF  THE  POWHATAN. — OVERHAULINO 
OF    THE    VESSELS    OF    THE    SQUADRON    AT   HONG    EONG. 


HE  storm  wtiich  began  to  blow  soon  after  tbe  de- 
parture from  the  bay  of  Yedo  continued  for  three 
days,  and  the  two  steamers  rolled  heavily  and 
were  much  tossed  by  its  violence,  making  it  neces- 
sary to  send  down  the  topmasts  and  secure  the 
great  guns  by  strong  lashings ;  they,  however,  rode 
lut  the  storm  in  safety,  and  finally  arrived  at 
Xapha  on  the  25th  of  July.  On  the  approach 
"to  the  coast  of  Lew  Chew  the  weather  was  so  hazy 
that  the  land  could  not  be  discerned  at  any  dis- 
tance, and,  night  coming  on,  it  was  thought  ad- 
visable for  the  ships  to  stand  off,  which  they  did,  and  were  carried  very  much  to  the  southward 
and  westward  by  the  current.  This  current,  according  to  the  generally  received  accounts, 
should  have  been  setting  in  a  contrary  direction,  and  consequently  the  allowance  for  a  northeast 
set  was  wrongly  made. 

The  atmosi)liere  continued  hazy  throughout  the  night,  and  as  the  day  dawned  the  land  was 
still  concealed  from  view,  and  it  was  some  hours  before  the  position  of  the  steamers  could  be 
determined  by  the  sight  at  last  of  the  Amakirima  Islands.  At  some  distance  from  the  islands  a 
patch  of  breakers  was  observed,  which  was  duly  noted  in  the  chart.  Tlie  discovery  of  these 
breakers  and  other  dangers  among  the  Amakirima  group  show  the  necessity  of  a  thorough 


MEASURES  FOR  PERMANENT  ARRANGEMENTS.  275 

survey  of  the  islands  lying  west  of  Great  Lew  Chew,  and  a  surveying  expedition  could  not  bo 
better  employed  than  in  making  the  proper  investigations. 

On  coming  to  anchor  in  the  harbor  of  Napha,  at  noon  on  Monday,  (25th  July,)  the  storeship 
Supply  was  found  there  rolling  in  the  swell  of  the  bay  like  a  great  log,  and  the  officers  stated 
that  the  gale  had  blown  with  great  Tiolence  with  them  and  had  raged  several  days,  while  those 
upon  the  land  declared  that  it  had  been  one  of  the  severest  storms  they  had  ever  experienced. 

Upon  the  Commodore's  arrival  at  Lew  Chew  he  lost  no  time  in  advancing  the  chief  purpose 
of  his  visit,  and  prepared  at  once  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  the  authorities  for  obtaining 
from  them  further  relaxations  in  their  laws  respecting  strangers.  Having  been  comparatively 
Buccessful  with  the  Japanese,  the  Commodore  felt  confident  of  gaining  additional  concessions 
from  the  Lew  Chewans,  and  that  too  without  resort  to  any  act  of  unkindnesb,  or  the  adoption  of 
their  policy  of  deceit  g,nd  falsehood. 

The  officers  of  the  Supply,  which  vessel  had  been  left  at  Napha  during  the  Commodore's  visit 
to  Japan,  stated  that  the  people  had  evinced  no  unfriendly  feeling  towards  them,  but  were  still 
very  much  reserved  and  as  tenacious  as  ever  of  their  system  of  espionage.  Supplies  of  pro\asions, 
however,  had  been  regularly  furnished  through  the  agency  of  Dr.  Bettleheim,  and  payment  had 
been  also  received  through  him. 

The  Commodore  had  no  time  to  spare,  as  his  present  visit  was  intended  to  be  very  short,  and 
he  was  not  disposed  to  be  put  off  for  a  moment  by  the  usual  temporizing  policy  of  the  slow- 
moving  Lew  Chewans,  so  he  demanded  at  once  an  interview  with  the  regent ;  the  demand  was 
immediately  granted,  and  a  day  appointed  for  the  meeting.  Previous,  however,  to  the  inter- 
view, the  Commodore  had  caused  the  regent  to  be  made  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  propo- 
sitions, upon  a  favorable  concession  to  which  he  had  resolutely  fixed  his  mind.  Commander 
Adams  was  commissioned  to  lay  these  propositions  before  the  mayor  of  Najiha  and  some  of  the 
authorities,  and  accordingly  went  ashore,  accompanied  by  Dr.  Williams,  the  Chinese  interpreter, 
bearing  the  following  instructions  from  the  hands  of  the  Commodore : 

"Establish  rate  and  pay  for  rent  of  house  for  one  year.  State  that  I  wish  a  suitable  and 
convenient  building  for  the  storage  of  coal,  say  to  hold  six  hundred  tons.  If  they  have  so  such 
building,  I  desire  to  employ  native  workmen  to  erect  one  after  the  fashion  of  the  island  ;  or  if 
the  Lew  Chewan  government  prefers,  it  can  be  done  under  the  inspection  of  the  mayor,  at 
government  expense,  and  I  will  agree  to  pay  an  annual  rent  for  it.  Either  one  or  the  other 
arrangement  must  be  made." 

"  Speak  about  the  spies,  and  say  if  they  continue  to  follow  the  officers  about,  it  may  lead  to 
serious  consequences,  and  perhaps  to  bloodshed,  which  I  should  deplore,  as  I  wish  to  continue  on 
the  most  friendly  terms  with  the  authorities.  That  should  any  disturbance  ensue,  it  wUI  be  the 
fault  of  the  Lew  Cliewans,  who  have  no  right  to  set  spies  upon  American  citizens  who  may  be 
pursuing  their  own  lawful  business." 

"  We  must  have  a  free  trade  in  the  market,  and  the  right  to  purchase  articles  for  the  ships." 

"  It  will  be  wise,  therefore,  for  the  Lew  Chewans  to  abrogate  those  laws  and  customs  which 
are  not  suited  to  the  present  age,  and  wliich  they  have  no  power  to  enforce,  and  by  a  persistence 
in  which  they  ■srill  surely  involve  tliemselves  in  trouble." 

"  Let  the  mayor  clearly  imderstand  that  this  port  is  to  be  one  of  rendezvous,  probably  for 
years,  and  that  the  authorities  had  better  come  to  an  understanding  at  once." 


276  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

"  Thank  the  mayor  for  the  kind  act  of  the  authorities  in  putting  a  tombstone  over  the  remains 
of  the  boy  buried  from  tiie  Siisquehanna,  and  ask  the  privilege  of  paying  the  cost  of  the  same." 
"  Require  prompt  and  early  replies  to  all  these  propositions  and  demands." 
The  Commodore,  in  addition  to  these  instructions  by  which  Commander  Adams  was  to  be 
governed  in  his  interview,  sent  a  formal  communication  to  the  regent,  in  these  words  : 

''To  his  Excellency  the  Tsung-li-kwan  of  the  Kingdom  of  Lew  Chew: 

"Sir:  The  commander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  naval  forces  in  the  East  India,  China, 
and  Japan  seas,  having  returned  to  this  port  from  Japan,  is  about  sailing  for  China,  and  before 
leaving  is  desiroTis  of  communicating  to  his  excellency  the  Tsung-li-kwan  a  few  observations, 
having  reference  to  the  intercourse  of  persons  under  his  command  with  the  authorities  and  people 
of  Lew  Ciiew. 

"  The  commander-in-chief,  while  he  thanks  the  officers  of  the  Lew  Chewan  government  for 
the  services  which  they  have  already  rendered  in  fiumishing  a  few  supplies  to  the  ships  of  the 
squadron,  cannot  see  the  necessity  of  enforcing  against  strangers  a  system  of  restriction  which  is 
altogether  at  variance  with  the  customs  and  practices  of  all  civilized  nations,  and  which  cannot 
at  the  present  day  be  recognized  as  just  or  proper. 

"  The  commander-in-chief  is  especially  desirous  of  remaining  on  the  most  friendly  terms  with 
the  government  of  Lew  Chew,  and  of  contributing  all  in  his  power  to  the  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness of  the  people  ;  and  he  claims  that  the  officers  and  men  undet  his  command  shall  be  received 
on  the  same  footing  as  those  who  arrive  from  China  and  Japan  ;  that  they  shall  have  the  privilege 
of  purchasing  in  the  market  and  shops  whatever  they  may  need,  and  for  which  they  will  pay  the 
prices  demanded  by  the  sellers  ;  that  the  inhabitants,  particularly  the  women  and  children,  shall 
not  fly  from  us  as  if  we  were  their  greatest  enemies;  and,  finally,  that  our  officers  and  men  shall 
not  be  watched  and  followed  by  low  officials  and  spiesi  He  declares  that  if  this  systen  of 
espionage  is  persisted  in,  he  will  on  his  return  to  Lew  Chew  take  the  necessary  steps  to  stop  it. 

"It  is  repugnant  to  the  American  character  to  submit  to  such  a  course  of  inhospitable  dis- 
courtesy, and  though  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  when  abroad,  are  always  regardful  of, 
and  obedient  to,  the  laws  of  the  countries  in  which  they  may  happen  to  be,  provided  they  are 
founded  upon  international  courtesy,  yet  they  never  can  admit  of  the  propriety  or  justice  of 
those  of  Lew  Chew,  which  bear  so  injuriously  upon  the  rights  and  comforts  of  strangers 
resorting  to  the  island  with  the  most  friendly  and  peaceful  intentions. 
"  With  the  highest  consideration, 

"M.  C.  PERRY, 
"  CommanderAn-CMef  of  the  United  States  Naval  Forces, 

"  in  the  East  India,  China,  and  Japan  Seas." 

Upon  Commander  Adams  laying  the  propositions  of  the  Commodore  before  the  mayor  of 
Napha,  he  was  told  by  that  official  that  he  could  do  nothing  of  his  own  accord,  and  was  obliged 
to  refer  all  the  demands  of  the  Americans  to  the  Tsung-li-kwan,  or  regent  of  Lew  Chew,  as 
his  own  powers  were  entirely  subordinate  to  those  of  that  high  dignitary.  Captain  Adams 
then  told  the  mayor  that  he  must  inform  the  regent  that  the  Commodore  desired  to  have  an 
interview  with  him,  cither  the  next  day  or  tlie  day  after,  at  any  hour  or  place  he,  the  regent, 
might  appoint ;  and,  moreover,  that  his  excellency  must  come  prepared  to  answer,  unequivo- 


INTERVIEW      WITH      THE      REGENT.  277 

cally  and  without  discussion,  the  propositions  just  presented.  To  this  the  mayor  replied  that 
tlie  regent  would  he  immediately  notified,  and  that  the  Commodore  should  he  informed  as  to  the 
time  and  place  of  meeting. 

Next  morning,  Lieutenant  Contee,  the  Commodore's  aid,  was  sent  ashore  to  call  upon  the 
mayor  of  Napha,  from  whom  he  learned  that  the  regent  had  appointed  the  ensuing  day,  (Friday, 
July  28,)  and  the  Kung-qua  at  Napha,  as  the  time  and  place  for  the  interview. 

Accordingly,  on  Friday  the  interview  came  off,  and  its  details  are  minutely  given  in  the 
following  report,  prepared  hy  a  suhordinate  ofiicer  appointed  for  that  special  service  : 

"By  previous  arrangement,  two  o'clock,  p.  m.,  had  heen  fixed  upon  as  the  hour  for  the 
interview,  and  the  regent  had  sent  word  that  he  would  leave  Shui  at  noon.  About  half-past 
one,  however,  a  boat  came  off  to  the  Susquehanna  with  the  Pe-ching,  Chang-yiien,  on  hoard,  to 
inform  the  Commodore  that  everything  was  in  readiness  for  his  reception,  and  the  regent 
already  in  waiting.  The  place  selected  for  the  purpose  was  the  Kung-qua  of  Napha,  which  is 
used  on  all  official  occasions.  The  Commodore  went  ashore  at  two  o'clock,  accompanied  hy 
Captain  Adams,  captain  of  the  fleet,  Lieutenant  Contee,  flag  lieutenant.  Captain  Lee,  of  the 
Mississippi,  Captain  Kelly,  of  the  Plymouth,  and  twelve  other  oflicers,  making  a  staff  of  sixteen 
persons. 

"  On  landing  he  was  received  hy  a  deputation  of  oflicers,  headed  hy  the  Pe-ching,  and  con- 
ducted to  the  place  of  reception,  which  is  situated  on  the  main  street  or  road  leading  from 
Napha  to  Shui,  and  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  heach.  It  is  a  small  hut  neat  building, 
surrounded  hy  a  high  wall,  whicli  screens  it  from  all  observation  from  without.  The  mayor  of 
Napha,  with  some  of  his  attendant  officers,  stood  at  the  entrance,  and  the  regent  advanced  to 
the  door  of  the  enclosure  to  receive  the  Commodore.  Within  the  building,  tables  were  already 
prepared  for  a  collation,  similar  to  that  given  at  Shui  hy  the  former  regent,  though  not  on  so 
extensive  a  scale.  The  feast  was  arranged  in  precisely  the  same  manner,  the  Commodore  and 
Captain  Adams  occupying  the  first  table  on  the  right  hand,  while  the  regent  and  mayor  took 
that  on  the  left,  opposite  to  him.  After  tea  had  heen  brought,  the  regent  made  a  com- 
plimentary remark  to  the  Commodore,  hoping  that  he  had  returned  in  good  health.  Ichirazichi 
acted  as  interpreter,  and  the  conversation  was  carried  on  by  Mr.  Williams,  through  the  medium 
of  the  Chinese  language. 

"  The  Commodore  stated  that  he  would  leave  in  a  few  days  for  China,  but  should  return 
again  to  Lew  Chew  in  a  few  months.  Before  he  left,  however,  he  wished  to  have  a  settlement 
of  all  those  matters  concerning  whicli  he  had  addressed  them.  His  demands  were  reasonable 
and  proper,  and  he  exiiected  that  they  would  he  comiilied  witli.  The  Americans  were  persons 
of  few  words,  hut  they  always  meant  what  they  said.  The  regent  answered  that  his  reply 
would  soon  he  ready,  and  invited  the  Commodore,  in  the  meanwhile,  to  partake  of  some 
refreshments.  He  was  answered  that  we  preferred  business  first  and  the  refreshments  after- 
wards. The  requests  made  were  fair  and  simple,  aid  the  Commodore  was  dissatisfied  witli  any 
delay  in  granting  them.  We  had  been  to  Japan,  where  we  had  been  received  in  a  very  friendly 
manner.  We  had  exchanged  presents  with  Japanese  governors,  and  were  on  friendlj'  terms 
with  the  Japanese.  We  hoped,  now,  to  be  on  friendly  terms  also  with  the  Lew  Chewans.  Mr. 
Williams  then,  at  the  Commodore's  request,  gave  a  brief  narration  of  his  reception  hy  the 
jirinccs  of  Idzu  and  Iwami,  and  of  our  exploration  and  survey  of  the  bay  of  Yedo.  The  regent 
observed,  in  return,  that  his  reply  would  he  very  soon  delivered. 


278  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN, 

"The  dinner  then  commenced,  and  seven  or  eight  of  the  twelve  courses  of  soups  had  heen 
served,  when  the  letter  was  brought  in  and  given  to  the  regent,  who  took  it,  and,  accompanied 
by  the  mayor  and  interpreter,  advanced  to  the  Commodore's  table,  where  he  presented  it  with 
every  appearance  of  submission  and  humility.  His  demeanor  during  the  dinner  was  even  more 
constrained  and  impassive  than  on  the  occasion  of  his  dining  on  board  the  Susquehanna,  pre- 
vious to  our  departure  for  Japan.  Tlie  letter  was  enclosed  in  an  envelope,  and  stamped  with 
the  great  seal  of  Lew  Chew.  Mr.  Williams,  at  the  Commodore's  order,  opened  and  read  it  on 
the  spot. 

"It  commenced  by  affirming  the  small  size  and  poverty  of  the  island,  stating  that  Dr.  Bettle- 
heim's  residence  among  them  had  given  them  much  trouble,  and  that  if  we  should  erect  a 
building  for  coal  their  difficulties  would  be  greatly  increased.  Besides,  they  said,  the  temple 
which  they  had  a})propriated  to  our  use  was  thereby  rendered  useless  to  them,  and  their  priests 
were  prevented  from  performing  their  worship  in  it.  The  productions  of  the  island  were  few, 
as  they  derived  all  of  their  teas,  silks,  cloths,  and  many  other  articles  from  Japan  and  Cliina. 
With  regard  to  the  shops  and  markets,  that  was  a  matter  that  depended  on  the  people  them- 
selves, and  if  they  chose  to  keep  their  sIio^ds  shut,  the  regent  could  not  interfere.  He  declared, 
moreover,  that  the  persons  who  had  followed  us  whenever  we  had  gone  ashore  were  not  spies, 
but  officers  appointed  to  act  as  guides,  and  to  prevent  us  from  being  annoyed  by  the  people. 
Since  we  had  not  found  them  to  be  of  service,  and  objected  to  them,  they  would  be  directed  not 
to  follow  us  in  future. 

"After  the  letter  had  been  read,  the  Commodore  ordered  it  to  be  delivered  back  to  the  regent, 
stating  that  it  was  not  at  all  satisfactory,  and  could  not  be  received.  We  had  asked,  he  said, 
for  no  more  than  is  accorded  to  us  in  other  countries — ^for  no  more  than  we  already  had  in 
China,  and  expected  to  have  in  Japan.  With  regard  to  the  temple,  that  they  had  themselves 
assigned  it  to  our  use,  as  they  invariably  had  done,  for  those  foreigners  who  had  visited  them 
previous  to  our  arrival.  We  would  pay  them  rent  for  it,  and  expected  to  pay  for  everything 
that  we  obtained.  We  had  travelled  over  their  island,  and  knew  that  the  soil  was  rich,  the 
people  thrifty,  and  supplies  of  all  sorts  abundant.  As  we  paid  for  all  we  received,  our  presence 
was  an  advantage  to  the  people,  who  found  in  our  vessels  a  good  market  for  their  productions. 
If  tliey  did  not  wish  to  erect  a  building  for  coal,  we  would  send  a  vessel  with  materials,  and 
put  it  up  ourselves.  The  regent  ventured  to  say  that  there  were  some  difficult  points  in  the 
Commodore's  communication,  and  they  had  much  deliberation  concerning  them,  before  the 
reply  was  written.  The  Commodore  reiterated  what  he  had  previously  said,  that  all  his 
demands  were  plain  and  simple,  and  ought  to  be  granted  without  hesitation.  The  Lew 
Chewans  should  be  satisfied,  by  this  time,  that  we  had  no  intention  to  injure  them.  They  had 
not  been  molested  in  any  way  by  any  of  our  men.  and  if  they  persisted  in  following  us  with 
spies  hereafter  he  would  not  be  answerable  for  tlie  consequences. 

"The  regent  attempted  to  come  forward  and  again  present  the  rejily ;  but  tlie  Commodore  rose 
and  prepared  to  leave,  declaring  that  if  he  did  not  receive  satisfactory  answers  to  all  his 
demands  by  noon  the  next  day,  he  would  land  two  hundred  men,  march  to  Slmi,  and  take  pos- 
session of  the  i^alace  there,  and  would  hold  it  until  the  matter  was  settled.  With  this  declara- 
tion, he  left,  the  regent  attending  him  to  the  gateway,  where  he  remained  until  all  the  officers 
had  taken  their  departure.  The  Commodore  returned  to  the  beach,  attended  by  his  staff,  and 
immediately  went  on  board  the  Susquehanna." 


commodore's    propositions    all    accepted.  279 

It  will  be  observed  tbat  the  new  regent,  Shang-Hiung-IIiun,  was  a  great  adept  in  the  tem- 
porizing policy  of  bis  government,  and  was  ever  ready  with  a  thousand  crooked  arguments  for 
not  giving  a  direct  answer  to  a  direct  demand. 

The  Commodore,  however,  was  not  to  be  balked  of  bis  purpose  by  any  of  the  shams  and 
devices  of  Lew  Chew  policy,  and  went  straight  on  to  the  end  proposed,  without  allowing  himself 
to  be  diverted  from  a  broad,  honest  course  of  fair  dealing,  into  any  of  the  bye-ways  of  the 
oriental  hide-and-go-seek  diplomacy.  As  to  resorting  to  force,  which  had  been  threatened  at 
the  close  of  the  conference  with  the  regent,  the  necessity  of  violent  measures  was  never  seriously 
contemplated  by  the  Commodore,  as  it  was  rightly  judged  that  a  resolute  attitude  would  answer 
all  the  purpose  of  a  blo-w.  The  Commodore,  therefore,  sent  Commanders  Adams  and  Buchanan, 
accompanied  by  Dr.  Williams,  to  the  mayor  of  Napha.  These  gentlemen  were  instructed  to 
obtain  categorical  replies  to  all  the  demands  made  upon  the  regent  the  previous  day.  Simulta- 
neously with  this  mission  ashore,  an  incident  occurred,  which,  however  slight  in  itself,  had 
probably  no  small  effect  upon  the  timid  hearts  of  the  Lew  Chewans.  The  Commodore  had 
dispatched  his  carpenter  to  look  after  the  sedan  chair  which  had  been  deposit'ed  in  the  temple  at 
Tumai,  since  its  use  on  the  previous  occasion  of  the  grand  procession  to  the  palace  of  Shui. 
The  people  of  Lew  Chew  watched,  with  considerable  anxiety,  the  movements  of  the  carpenter, 
and  their  frightened  imaginations  already,  no  doubt,  fancied  the  Commodore  borne  on  in  his  car 
of  state,  the  aforesaid  sedan  chair,  as  a  triumphant  victor  within  the  walls  of  their  capitol. 

Whether  this  looking  after  the  sedan  chair  was  accidental  or  not,  it  happened  in  the  very 
nick  of  time,  and  probably  hastened  the  decision  of  the  Lew  Chew  authorities.  The  mayor  of 
Napha  was  very  prompt  in  complying,  to  the  extent  of  his  authority,  with  the  demands  of  the 
Commodore,  as  urged  in  his  behalf,  by  his  representative  Commander  Adams,  who  returned  to 
the  ship  bearing  the  message  that  the  regent  would  be  immediately  communicated  with,  and 
that  the  Commodore  might  be  assured  that  a  definite  answer  would  be  given  to  his  propositions 
the  next  day. 

Accordingly,  at  about  ten  o'clock  the  following  morning,  the  mayor  came  on  board  the 
Susquehanna,  with  the  information  that  all  the  Commodore's  propositions  had  been  acceded  to, 
and  would  be  carried  out  as  far  as  the  people  could  be  controlled.  He  then,  in  detail,  stated  the 
various  concessions  to  which  the  government  had  finally  yielded.  In  regard  to  the  coal  depot, 
he  said  that  preparations  had  already  been  made  for  its  construction,  and  that  the  government 
had  agreed  upon  the  amount  of  rent,  which  was  to  be  ten  dollars  per  month.  As  for  access  to 
the  market,  it  having  been  stated  that  the  difficulty  was  with  the  common  people,  and  particu- 
larly the  women,  who  were  averse  to  entering  into  immediate  commerce  with  strangers,  a 
compromise  was  proposed  by  the  Commodore,  and  agreed  to  on  the  part  of  the  mayor,  which 
was  to  the  effect  that  a  bazaar  should  be  opened  in  the  Kung-qua  for  the  sale  of  the  various 
products  of  the  country  which  the  Americans  might  desire  to  purchase. 

The  mayor  proposed  the  subsequent  Sunday  for  the  opening  of  the  bazaar,  when  he  was  told 
that  that  was  a  day  kept  holy  by  Christians,  when  buying  and  selling  were  contrary  to  their 
religion.  It  was  then  proposed,  and  acceded  to,  that  as  the  squadron  was  not  to  sail  until 
Monday,  at  nine  o'clock,  that  the  market  should  be  opened  at  six  o'clock  on  tlie  morning  of 
that  day. 

Although  the  authorities  had  soon  found  that  it  was  necessary  to  give  a  favorable  answer  to 
the  demands  of  the  Commodore,  and  the  mayor  of  Napha  had  come  on  board  for  tlie  express 


280  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

purpose  of  giving  sncli  an  answer,  which  he  accordingly  did  at  once,  yet  while  yielding  each 
point,  he  still  pertinaciously  insinuated  all  sorts  of  trivial  objections  to  the  Commodore's  plans. 
He  said  tliat  the  coal  would  not  be  safe  on  shore,  as  the  natives  would  probably  steal  it ;  in 
answer  to  which  he  was  told  that  the  government  of  Lew  Chew  would  be  held  responsible  for 
every  lump  of  it.  The  mayor  was  then  ready  with  another  objection,  stating  that  typhoons 
blew  very  severely  on  the  island,  and  would  no  doubt  sweep  away  the  coal  depot ;  and  thus,  to 
the  very  last,  while  forced  to  grant  all  that  was  asked,  the  authorities  still  clung  to  their 
prevaricating  policy,  as  if  deceit  was  so  much  a  part  of  their  nature  that  they  practiced  it  for 
its  own  sake  alone. 

During  the  few  days  in  which  the  steamers  remained  at  Napha  a  party  of  the  officers  and 
artists  of  the  exjiedition,  at  the  suggestion  of  Commodore  Perry,  availed  themselves  of  the  occa- 
sion to  visit  the  ruins  of  the  castle  of  Tima-gusko.  The  Commodore  had  requested  them  to  take 
their  supplies  with  them,  that  they  might  be  entirely  independent  of  the  natives  for  the  satisfac- 
tion of  their  wants.  They  accordingly  set  out  well  provided  with  a  supply  of  ship  biscuit,  and 
some  American  saki,  wliich  Japanese  word  was  now  pretty  generally  accepted  as  the  generic 
term  for  all  that  was  intoxicating  and  potable.  Trusting  to  the  general  direction  that  the  castle 
was  situated  at  the  southern  end  of  the  island,  and  constantly  repeating  with  an  interrogatory 
tone,  whenever  they  met  a  native,  the  word  "  Tima-gusko f"  the  jiarty  proceeded  on  their  way. 
Passing  from  the  little  village,  on  the  southern  side  of  Junk  river,  they  got  upon  a  narrow  paved 
road  leading  eastward  along  its  banks.  By  the  way  they  reached  a  large  village,  where  they 
were  hospitably  entertained  at  tea,  in  a  handsome  Kung-qua,  embowered  in  fruit-bearing  lime 
trees,  and  succeeded  in  making  friends  with  the  Lew  Chewan  host,  and  a  party  of  his  neighbors, 
who  just  dropped  in  to  get  a  glance  at  the  strangers,  and  to  share  in  their  supplies  of  ship 
biscuit  and  foreign  saki,  wliich  were  liberally  dispensed  by  the  American  officers,  and  highly 
relished,  as  usual,  by  the  Lew  Chewans. 

Tima-gusko?  Tima-gusko?  which  was  about  the  extent  of  tlie  limited  vocabulary  of  the 
Americans,  seemed  quite  intelligible,  and  the  interrogatory  repetition  of  the  word  was  responded 
to  by  an  offer  on  the  part  of  the  Lew  Chewan  tea  party  to  act  as  guides.  They  were,  undoubtedly, 
some  of  the  spies  who  swarmed  everywhere,  but  it  was  thought  advisable,  as  it  seemed  quite 
impracticable  to  get  rid  of  them,  to  turn  these  fellows  to  some  good  purpose,  and  their  services 
as  guides  were  accordingly  accepted.  In  spite,  however,  of  their  assistance,  it  was  a  long  time 
before  the  right  road  was  discovered,  and  tlien  only  after  a  very  tedious  tram])  through  rice  fields 
flooded  with  water,  and  the  climbing  of  a  steep  hill,  from  which  a  beautiful  view,  however,  of 
the  palace  of  Shui  and  its  groves,  and  Napha  with  its  white  tombs  and  red  tiled  houses,  and  its 
inner  and  outer  bays,  and  of  the  wliole  amphitheatre  of  the  verdant  hills  of  the  island,  proved 
some  compensation  for  the  labor  lost. 

The  true  road  was  only  reached  at  last  by  turning  back,  in  accordance  with  the  direction  of 
the  Lew  Chewan  guides,  or  rather  spies,  in  whom  it  would  have  been  better  to  have  trusted  from 
the  first ;  but  these  timid-hearted  natives  had  become  so  impressed  with  the  obstinacy  of  the 
self-willed  Yankees,  and  their  resolute  determination  to  have  their  own  way,  wherever  it  might 
lead,  that  they  seemed  half  afraid  of  iirging  the  right,  wlien  they  knew  the  Americans  were 
pursuing  the  wrong.  It  was  thus,  from  the  apparent  distrust  in  their  own  knowledge  on  the 
part  of  the  Lew  Chewans,  that  the  party  from  the  ship  had  followed  their  own  bent,  but  finding 
at  last  that  it  was  wrong,  they  trusted  to  the  leadership  of  their  guides. 


VISIT      TO     THE     CASTLE     OF     TIMA-GUSKO.  281 

On  returning  through  the  rice  fields  towards  the  bridge  of  IsJiirashi,  as  the  natives  called  it, 
and  which  was  supposed  to  he  the  same  as  tliat  of  Madato-darki,  as  it  had  been  termed  by  Dr. 
Bettleheim,  the  Lew  Chcwans  pointed  up  to  some  ruined  walls  which  stood  upon  the  brink  of  a 
lofty  and  precipitous  hill,  which  overlooked  the  town  of  Napha,  and  a  large  circuit  of  the 
country  and  the  surrounding  waters. 

The  report,  as  drawn  up  by  one  of  the  party  and  laid  before  the  Commodore,  describes  Tima- 
gusko  as  distant  four  miles  in  a  southeast  direction  fi-om  Napha,  and  as  being  on  a  large  scale, 
covering  about  eight  acres,  but  in  a  state  of  utter  ruin.  It  seemed  to  have  no  regular  plan,  and 
the  walls  had  been  erected  upon  various  projecting  points  of  the  rock,  and  often  i)arallel  to  each 
other  in  several  lines,  for  the  pui-pose  of  strengthening  the  defences.  The  neck  of  the  headland 
connecting  it  with  the  hills  behind  had  been  separated  by  a  moat,  which  was,  however,  hardly 
perceptible  from  the  profuse  growth  of  vegetation,  which  filled  it  up  and  concealed  it  from  the 
eye.  On  a  lofty  eminence  of  the  headland  there  was  an  oblong  space  shut  in  with  walls,  and 
thickly  crowded  with  a  dense  thicket  of  trees  and  undergrowth.  This  part  ef  the  fortress  was 
in  a  better  state  of  preservation  than  the  rest,  and  the  original  height  of  the  wall,  which  reached 
about  twelve  feet,  was  discernable.  On  the  western  side  there  was  a  massive  arched  gateway, 
with  a  wooden  door,  closed  by  what  appeared  to  be  a  Chinese  lock.  As  a  large  tree,  growing  on 
the  summit  of  the  arch,  had  sent  dowu  its  twisted  roots  among  the  stones  which  formed  the  sides 
of  the  entrance,  a  natural  ladder  was  thus  formed,  by  which  the  party  succeeded  in  clambering 
over  into  the  enclosed  space.  Following  a  narrow  pathway  through  the  otherwise  impenetrable 
thicket,  a  heap  of  ruins  was  reached,  upon  the  summit  of  which  were  two  stones  marked  with 
Chinese  characters,  and  the  remains  of  some  joss  sticks.  From  these  it  was  concluded  that  the 
present  inhabitants  of  Lew  Chew  still  retain  some  forms  of  this  worship.  Tiina-giisko  is 
undoubtedly  the  remains  of  the  southern  one  of  the  three  castles  which  were  the  strongholds  of 
the  three  several  kings  who  at  one  time  divided  the  dominion  of  Lew  Chew.  The  traditional 
account  of  the  former  dynasties,  as  given  by  Klaproth  in  his  translation  of  the  "  Kan-to-sits," 
seems  remarkably  confirmed  by  the  observations  of  our  officers  at  Lew  Chew.  The  two  castles 
of  the  north  and  the  south  were  found  in  ruins,  while  the  central  one  of  Shui,  now  the  habitation 
of  the  present  supposed  young  king,  was  seen  to  be  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation,  and 
indicated  that  the  dynasty  of  Lew  Chew  had  been  finally  concentrated  in  a  single  ruler. 

In  accordauce  with  the  arrangements  between  the  Commodore  and  the  authorities  of  Napha, 
the  bazaar. was  opened  at  six  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  steamer's  departure_,  (Monday, 
August  1.)  The  Kung-qua,  the  place  selected  for  the  mart,  was  found  duly  prepared,  with 
heaps  of  Lew  Chewan  productions,  a  motley  assortment  of  lacquered  cups,  plates  and  boxes, 
pieces  of  grass-cloth,  and  the  various  articles  of  Lew  Chew  costume,  such  as  cotton  and  silk 
sashes,  sandals  of  straw,  and  hair  jiins  of  brass  and  silver,  fans,  chow-chow  boxes,  which 
correspond  somewhat  with  our  sandwich  cases,  smoking  pipes  and  a  plentiful  supply  of  tobacco. 
The  interpreter,  Ichirazichi,  was  the  presiding  genius,  or,  rather,  roguish  Mercury  of  this 
market,  who  went  busily  about  performing  his  functions  as  general  broker,  accompanied  by  a 
group  of  subordinate  officials.  The  various  parties  from  the  ship  soon  commenced  a  brisk 
business,  and  succeeded  in  spending,  in  the  aggregate,  about  a  himdred  dollars.  As  the  demand 
increased  it  was  found,  in  accordance  with  the  usual  law  of  trrde,  that  the  supply  augmented, 
and  the  Lew  Chew  mercliants  were  not  backwanl  in  illustrating  this  princijile  of  jwlitical 
economy.  The  prices  were  not  very  heavy  at  first,  but  the  natives,  in  the  course  of  the  business, 
36  J 


282  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

began  to  improve  in  this  particular,  and  it  was  found  that  some  from  the  ships  had  paid  at  least 
double  the  sum  paid  by  others  for  a  similar  article.  The  objects  obtained  were  of  not  much 
importance,  but  the  chief  interest  of  the  occasion  arose  from  the  fact  that  this  dealing  with 
foreigners  was  the  first  authorized,  and  was  in  direct  opposition  to  a  fundamental  law  of  the 
island,  the  abrogation  of  which  cannot  but  result  in  the  greatest  advantage  to  the  people  of  Lew 
Chew.  The  signal  of  departure  being  hoisted,  the  party  of  purchasers  returned  to  their  respective 
ships,  and  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  (August  1)  the  Commodore  started  for  Hong  Kong. 

So  prompt  had  been  the  effect  of  the  Commodore's  resolute  demands  upon  tlic  authorities  of 
Lew  Chew,  that  on  the  day  of  sailing,  the  building  for  the  storage  of  coal,  commenced  only  two 
days  previous,  had  been  framed  and  reared,  and  it  was  learned  afterward  that  it  was  entirely 
finished  in  two  days  more.  The  building  is  50  by  60  feet  in  dimensions,  with  a  water-tight 
thatched  roof,  with  the  caves  projecting  beyond  the  sides,  which  are  boarded  up  more  than  half 
the  distance  from  the  ground  to  the  roof,  leaving  an  open  space  sufficient  for  purposes  of  ventila- 
tion. It  was  originally  of  sufficient  capacity  to  hold  500  tons  of  coal,  and  the  first  cargo  placed 
in  it  was  that  of  the  Caprice,  which  arrived  soon  after  the  departure  of  the  Commodore.  Subse- 
quently, the  Southampton  landed  her  cargo,  shipped  at  Macao,  when  it  was  thought  advisable 
to  enlarge  the  depot,  and  accordingly  the  authorities  added  a  wing  to  each  side. 

The  Commodore,  conceiving  it  to  be  of  the  highest  importance  that  a  ship  of  the  squadron 
should  be  stationed  almost  constantly  at  Lew  Chew,  to  keep  alive  the  fi-iendly  interest  and  good 
feeling  then  subsisting  between  the  Americans  and  the  islanders,  who  were  becoming  daily  more 
cordial,  he  determined  to  leave  the  Plymouth,  Commander  Kelly,  there.  He,  however,  instructed 
this  officer  to  run  over  to  the  Bonin  islands,  after  the  termination  of  the  hurricane  season,  for  the 
purpose  both  of  visiting  the  settlement  at  Port  Lloyd  and  of  surveying  the  southern  cluster  of 
the  Bonins,  originally  called  the  Coffin  islands,  after  the  first  American  discoverer  in  1823, 
though,  as  we  have  stated  before,  subsequently  appropriated  and  named  by  the  English  Captain 
Beechy,  the  Baily  group. 

The  instructions  of  the  Commodore  to  Commander  Kelly  referred  generally  to  the  conciliatory 
but  firm  attitude  he  desired  should  be  sustained  in  all  the  relations  of  the  Americans  with  the 
Lew  Chewans.  It  was  strictly  enjoined  upon  Captain  Kelly  that  he  should  receive  nothing  from 
the  islanders  without  returning  a  fair  compensation,  and  always  bear  himself  towards  them  in 
such  manner  as  to  prove  that  it  was  the  desire  of  the  United  States  to  cultivate  their  friendship 
and  secure  their  confideilce.  The  Commodore,  in  addition  to  some  detailed  instructions  in  regard 
to  the  construction  of  the  coal  depot  and  landing  the  cargoes  from  the  expected  storeships,  directed 
that,  in  his  absence,  the  survey  of  Melville  harbor  and  the  coast  of  the  island  should  be  made, 
the  investigations  already  commenced  in  the  waters  of  Napha  be  continued,  and  a  boat  and  officer 
kept  in  readiness  to  pilot  in  any  of  the  American  squadron  that  might  arrive. 

In  regard  to  Captain  Kelly's  visit  to  the  Bonin  Islands,  he  was  instructed  to  proceed  with  the 
Plymouth,  after  the  hurricane  season,  about  tlic  1st  of  October,  provided  nothing  occurred  to 
detain  him  at  Lew  Chew,  to  Port  Lloyd,  where  he  was  to  enquire  into  the  condition  of  the 
settlers,  especially  with  respect  to  Nathaniel  Savory  and  John  Smith,  two  persons  who  had  been 
enrolled  on  the  books  of  the  steamer  Susquehanna.  Ho  was  also  directed,  after  obtaining  tiie 
services  of  some  of  the  settlers  at  Port  Lloyd  as  guides  or  pilots,  to  visit  the  group  of  islands 
lying  south  of  Peel  Island,  and  named  on  Beechy's  chart  Baily's  group.  Captain  Kelly  was 
then  to  lay  out  a  chart,  giving  the  result  of  his  survey,  and  to  be  careful  to  give  the  name  of 


SURVEYS  OP  CAPTAIN  KELLY  IN  THE  PLYMOUTH.        283 

Coffin,  tlie  original  discoverer,  to  the  group  of  islands  alluded  to.  The  largest  single  island,  or 
the  one  containing  the  best  harbor,  was  to  be  called  Hillsborough,  and  its  port  to  be  termed 
Newport.  To  these  directions  were  added  general  instructions  to  examine  and  survey  the  harbor 
and  coasts,  and  to  investigate  the  geological  formation  and  the  nature  and  condition  of  the  soil 
of  the  Coffin  Islands. 

In  anticipation  of  the  regular  course  of  the  narrative,  it  may  be  well  to  give  here  the  result  of 
Captain  Kelly's  observations  and  proceedings  at  the  Lew  Chew  and  Bonin  Islands,  in  accordance 
with  the  Commodore's  instructions.  The  officer  appointed  by  the  commander  of  the  Plymouth 
for  the  survey  of  the  middle  group  of  the  Lew  Chew  Islands  and  the  neighboring  waters,  reports 
that  on  September  15,  1853,  he  and  his  party  encamped  on  the  island  of  Kindaka,  the  south- 
eastern one  of  the  chain  extending  along  the  east  coast  of  Great  Lew  Chew.  Here  a  bay  was 
discovered,  but  it  was  found  to  be  of  no  practical  utility,  being  filled  with  coral  reefs,  which 
extend,  in  fact,  in  an  unbroken  chain  outside  of  all  the  islands  as  far  as  the  northeast  point  of 
Ichey,  with  the  exception  of  a  narrow  ship  channel  between  the  islet  off  the  northeast  end  of 
Kindaka  and  the  island  of  Ta-k'ing.  But  as  this  channel  leads  to  a  bay  with  numerous  reefs,  it  is 
not  safe  to  enter  it.  In  regard  to  Barrow's  Bay,  the  survey  proved  it  to  be  useless  for  all  purposes 
of  navigation,  from  its  exposure  to  easterly  winds  and  the  swell  from  the  ocean. 

A  port  of  refuge,  however,  was  discovered  on  the  west  side  of  the  island  of  Icliey,  which  forms 
the  southern  point  of  Barrow" s  Bay,  as  well  as  under  Hanadi,  toward  both  of  which  a  secure 
anchorage  may  be  found.  This  is,  in  fact,  the  only  harbor  of  refuge  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the 
Lew  Chew  group. 

The  position  of  Sidmouth  Islands  was  found  to  be  in  latitude  26°  43'  30"  north,  differing  3' 
30"  from  that  assigned  to  it  by  Captain  Basil  Hall  in  his  sketch  of  the  Lew  Chew  group. 

And  the  outline  of  the  coast  was  observed  also  to  nm  in  a  direction  varying  somewhat  from 
that  laid  down  by  that  navigator.  The  whole  of  the  island  of  Great  Lew  Chew  was  circumnavi- 
gated in  the  course  of  this  survey,  under  the  directions  of  Commander  Kelly. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Plymouth  at  the  Bonins,  it  was  found  that  the  settlers  on  Peel  Island, 
the  principal  one  of  the  group,  had  of  their  own  accord  organized  a  municipal  government, 
under  the  title  of  "</te  Colony  of  Peel  Island."  Commander  Kelly  also,  in  accordance  with  the 
instructions  of  Commodore  Perry,  visited  the  islands  hitherto  termed  "Baily's,"  took  formal 
possession  of  them  in  the  name  of  the  United  States,  and  gave  them  their  proper  name  of  Coffin, 
a  due  record  of  which  was  made  upon  the  chart,  and  upon  the  spot,  by  affixing  a  plate,  inscribed 
with  the  fact,  to  a  large  sycamore  tree  growing  about  twenty  feet  from  the  beach,  near  the  north- 
west point  of  the  cove,  and  burying  one  also,  with  some  documents  placed  in  a  bottle,  giving  a 
true  history  of  the  discovery  of  the  islands,  and  assigning  the  credit  to  the  genuine  discoverer, 
the  American  whaling  captain.  Coffin.* 

•  As  an  interesting  specimen  of  this  original  efibrt  at  constitution-making  by  wanderers  from  many  lands,  civilized  and  savage, 
we  subjoin  a  copy  of  the 

"ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    SETTLERS    OF    PEEL    ISLAND." 

"We,  the  undersigned,  residents  and  settlers  on  Peel  Island,  in  convention  assembled,  wishing  to  promote  each  other's 
mutual  welfare,  by  forming  a  government,  have  ordained  and  established  the  following  articles,  which  we  sole^^nly  bind  our- 
selves to  support  for  the  period  of  two  years." 


284  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

On  leaving  Napha,  the  reflection  naturally  suggested  itself  to  the  mind  of  the  Commodore  as 
to  the  effect  produced  upon  the  Lew  Chewans  by  his  visit.  It  seemed  evident  that  a  very 
marked  change  had  taken  place  in  the  deportment  of  the  islanders  toward  the  Americans. 

There  was  less  mystery  about  them,  and  some  of  the  spies  had  thrown  off  a  portion  of  their 
reserve.  The  Lew  Chew  authorities  probably  conjectured,  and  with  good  cause,  that  the  trouble 
they  had  taken  in  their  attempts  to  deceive  the  Commodore,  with  respect  to  the  condition  of 
their  government,  the  poverty  of  the  islands,  and  the  harmless  innocence  of  the  people,  was 
ftitile,  and  so  much  labor  lost.  And  accordingly  it  was  found  that,  although  they  still  adhered, 
as  if  by  instinct,  to  their  system  of  deception,  they  were  not  quite  so  ready  with  their  mis- 
representations. 

But,  after  all,  many  allowances  should  be  made  for  these  misgoverned  people,  who  have  been, 
doubtless,  taught  from  infancy  to  practice  duplicity  and  lying  as  a  necessary  part  of  an  accom- 


APiTICLE    I. 

"The  style  of  our  government  shall  be  the  '  Colony  of  Peel  Island.'  " 

ARTICLE    II. 

"The  government  shall  consist  of  a  chief  magistrate,  and  a  council,  composed  of  two  persons  ;  and  by  virtue  of  tliis  article, 
we  hereby  unanimously  elect  and  appoint  Nathaniel  Savory,  chief  magistrate,  and  James  Mailley  and  Thomas  H.  Webb, 
councilmen  ;  each  to  bold  his  said  office  of  chief  magistrate  and  councilman  for  the  period  of  two  years  from  the  date  of  this 
convention.  The  said  chief  magistrate  and  council  shall  have  power  to  enact  such  rules  and  regulations  for  the  government 
of  this  island  as  te  them,  from  time  to  time,  may  appear  necessary  for  the  public  good  ;  such  rules  and  regulations,  to  become 
binding  on  the  residents,  must  have  the  approval  and  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  residents. " 

AETICLE    III. 

"  Until  such  time  as  the  chief  magistrate  and  council  may  be  enabled  to  form  a  code  of  regulations,  we  unanimously  ordain 
and  establish  the  following  thirteen  sections,  under  this  article,  which  shall  have  full  force  and  effect  until  the  adoption  of 
others,  and  until  the  expiration  of  two  years." 

Section  1. 

"  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  any  and  all  person  or  persons  having  claims  and  demands  against  each  other,  or  who  shall  have  any 
dispute  or  difficulties  between  themselves,  which  they  cannot  amicably  settle,  to  refer  the  same  to  the  chief  magistrate  and 
council,  for  adjudication  and  settlement ;  and  their  decision  to  be  final  and  binding." 

Section  2. 

"  All  penalties  in  this  colony  shall  be  a  pecimiary  fine  ;  and  no  penalty  for  anj  offence  shall  exceed  the  sum  of ." 

Section  3. 

"The  chief  magistrate  and  council  shall  have  pow'er  to  direct  the  seizure  and  s;ile  of  any  property  of  any  offenders,  sufficient 
to  pay  the  same,  against  whom  a  fine  has  been  decreed,  wherever  it  may  be  found  within  the  limits  of  Peel  Island." 

Section  4. 

"  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  resident,  settler,  or  other  person,  on  the  island,  to  entice  anybody  to  desert  from  any  vessel 
that  may  come  into  this  port,  or  to  secrete  or  harbor  any  such  deserter." 

Section  5. 

"  Any  person  who  shall  entice,  counsel,  or  aid,  any  other  person  to  desert  from  any  vessel  in  this  port,  or  shall  harbor  or 
conceal  him  to  prevent  his  apprehension,  shall  be  liable  to  a  fine,  not  exceeding  J50  (fifty  dollars)." 

Section  6. 

"  All  moneys  arising  from  the  levy  of  fines  upon  offenders  shall  be  a  public  fund  for  the  use  and  behalf  of  the  colony  ;  and 
the  same  shall  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  chief  magistrate  for  safe  keeping,  and  to  be  appropriated  to  such  public  purposes 
as  the  chief  magistrate  and  council  may  deem  necessary  and  proper  ;  and  a  correct  account  of  all  expenditures  of  said  moneys 
shall  be  kept  by  them,  and  a  statement  of  receipts  and  expenditures  published  at  the  end  of  one  year." 

Section  7. 

"  .\11  public  moneys  remaining  unexpended  at  the  end  of  one  year  shall  be  equally  divided  among  the  present  settlers,  nnlew 
otherwise  ordained  by  a  convention  of  the  people  " 


CONSTITUTION     OF     THE     SETTLERS     ON      PEEL     ISLAND.  285 

plished  education,  and  altogether  essential  to  advancement.  It  is  certain  that  they  do  not,  any 
more  than  the  Japanese,  place  the  least  confidence  in  each  other,  and  the  government  in 
employing  their  agents  invariably  send  tliem  forth  in  coui)les,  one  to  watch  the  otlier. 

The  abominable  system  of  espionage  imposes  great  hardships  on  all  classes,  as  those  in  power 
can  never  know  how  soon  any  of  their  acts,  however  harmless  they  may  appear  to  themselves, 
may  be  construed  into  offences  against  the  state.  They  thus  find  their  lives  in  constant 
jeopardy,  and  are  often  compelled  to  purchase  safety  by  the  most  servile  humility,  or  a  good 
share  of  their  substance.  If,  by  the  most  prostrate  servility,  or  by  the  prodigal  forfeit  of 
property,  they  fail  to  obtain  immunity,  they  are  forced  to  commit  suicide,  in  order  to  save  their 
fortunes  from  confiscation  and  theii'  families  from  ruin.     The  lower  classes  are  by  no  means  the 

Section  8. 

"  Port  Regulations. — There  shall  be  two  regularly  appointed  and  recognized  pilots  for  this  port,  and,  by  virtue  of  this  section 
of  article  3,  we  hereby  unanimously  appoint  James  JIaitley  and  Thomas  H.  Webb  as  such  for  a  period  of  two  years  from  the 
date  of  this  convention.  Said  pilots  may  appoint  capable  substitutes  under  them  ;  and  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  other  person 
or  persons  to  perform  the  duty  of  pilots.  Any  one  who  shall,  without  the  authority  of  either  of  the  appointed  pilots,  attempt 
to  pilot  any  vessel  into  or  out  of  this  port,  shall  be  liable  to  a  fine  equal  to  the  amount  of  the  established  rate  of  pilotage." 

Section  9. 

"  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  commander  of  a  vessel  to  discharge  any  of  his  crew  in  this  port  without  permission  from  the 
chief  magistrate  and  coumil,  and  no  commander  of  a  vessel  shall  leave  any  sick  or  helpless  man  or  men  upon  the  island,  unless 
he  procure  a  bouse  for  him  or  them  and  make  suitable  arrangements  for  his  or  their  comfort  and  subsistence  during  his  or  their 
illness." 

Section  10. 

"Any  person  or  persons  not  owning  land  upon  this  island  who  may  hereafter  enter  into  partnership  in  trade  with  a  resident 
and  landholder,  or  who  shall  purchase  an  undivided  interest  in  the  land  of  a  resident,  must  enter  into  written  articles  of  agree- 
ment, and  obtain  a  written  title  to  the  undivided  interest  he  may  purchase  in  lands,  stock,  &c.  ;  and  in  the  event  of  dissolution 
of  partnership,  or  death  of  either  party,  partition  of  the  property  shall  be  made  by  the  chief  magistrate  and  council,  whose 
duty  it  shall  be  to  secure  and  take  charge  of  the  property  and  effects  of  any  deceased  person  for  the  benefit  of  his  friends." 

Section  11. 

"  Any  person  or  persons  who  shall  be  guilty  of  trespass  or  waste  upon  the  lands  of  any  of  the  inhabitants,  shall  be  fined  in  a 
sum  equal  to  the  value  of  the  damage  or  waste  he  or  they  may  commit  thereon,  upon  a  proper  adjudication  thereof  by  the  chief 
magistrate  and  council." 

Section  12. 

"  The  chief  magistrate  and  council  may,  when  they  deem  it  necessary,  call  a  convention  of  the  people  to  propose  new,  and 
make  amendments  to  the  foregoing,  rules  and  regulations." 

Section  13. 

"  Any  and  all  person  or  persons  who  shall  hereafter  emigrate  to  or  settle  in  this  colony,  shall  be  subject  and  held  amenable 
to  the  foregoing  rules  and  regulations." 

All  the  above  articles  of  government  having  been  prepared,  concurred  in,  and  adopted  by  us,  in  convention  assembled,  at  the 
house  of  Nathaniel  Savory,  in  Port  Lloyd,  Peel  Island,  on  the  28th  day  of  August,  A.  D.  1&53,  we  solemnly  pledge  ourselves 
to  each  other  to  support  and  carry  out  the  same. 

In  testimony  whereof  we  have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names  the  day  and  year  aforesaid. 

NATHANIEL  SAVORY, 
THOMAS  H.  WEBB, 
JA.MES  MAITLEY, 
WILLIAM  GILLY,  jr., 
JOHN  BHONA, 
JOSEPH  CULLEN, 
GEORGE  W.  BKUNO, 
GEORGE  HORTON. 


286  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

smallest  sufferers,  for  it  is  their  hard-tasked  labor  which  supports  the  whole  system  which  is 
carried  on  hy  swarms  of  spies,  who  infest  every  corner  and  nook  of  the  island. 

On  the  second  evening  after  leaving  Xapha,  as  the  Susquehanna  and  Mississippi  were 
proceeding  on  their  course  to  Hong  Kong,  a  sail  was  seen  ahead  in  the  distance,  steering  in  a 
northeasterly  direction.  At  first  there  were  some  doubts  as  to  what  she  was,  but  these  were 
Buon  cleared  up  by  the  flashing  of  her  guns,  in  the  approaching  darkness  of  tlie  night,  which 
showed  that  she  was  saluting  the  Commodore's  flag  on  the  Susquehanna.  It  was  now  certain 
that  she  was  an  American  man-of-war,  and  soon  she  was  discovered  to  be  the  long-expected 
Vandalia.  As  she  lay  to,  the  Susquehanna  steered  toward  her,  making  a  signal  for  her 
commander  to  come  on  board,  and  soon  a  boat  came  off,  bringing  Captain  Pope,  who  at  once 
reported  to  the  Commodore.  The  voyage  of  the  Yandalia  had  been  a  remarkably  fine  one, 
having  left  Pliiladeljihia  only  on  the  fifth  of  March,  touching  at  Rio  Janeiro  by  the  way.  Her 
commander  brought  the  information  of  the  arrival  of  the  Powhatan  from  the  United  States  at 
Hong  Kong,  and  of  her  proposed  departure  for  Lew  Chew.  This  information  made  Commodore 
Perry  very  anxious  to  reach  port  before  the  sailing  of  the  Powhatan,  as  her  trip  to  the  north 
would  be  utterly  useless,  and  the  consequent  consumption  of  coal  a  serious  loss  to  the  limited 
stock  of  the  squadron.  The  Vandalia  being  ordered  back  to  Hong  Kong,  the  fleet  continued  its 
course  to  that  place,  where  the  steamers  arrived  on  Sunday,  August  Y,  1853. 

The  Vandalia,  however,  did  not  get  back  to  Hong  Kong  until  the  fifteenth.  The  Commodore 
was  much  disappointed  to  find  that  the  Powhatan  had  sailed  just  the  day  before  his  arrival,  and 
as  she  had  taken  the  Formosa  passage,  he  had  thus  lost  the  chance  of  intercepting  her.  She 
did  not  return  to  Hong  Kong  until  the  25th  of  August,  having  been  detained  ten  days  at  Lew 
Chew  for  the  repair  of  her  machinery  ;  and  similar  delays  had  been  found  necessary,  in 
the  opinion  of  her  chief  engineer,  at  almost  every  port  at  which  the  Powhatan  touched 
on  her  outward  passage. 

As  the  typhoon  season  was  approaching,  and  the  ships  all  required  a  general  overhauling, 
the  engineers  asking  for  sixty  working  days  for  putting  the  Powhatan  alone  in  order,  and  the 
crews  needing  some  relaxation,  the  Commodore  determined,  in  consideration  of  these  circum- 
stances, to  give  all  his  vessels  a  thorough  refitment. 


\  inn  ol  Ouirr   UarUer  of  Nuplm   (roiti  tLc  Oiqxtau. 


ALARM      OF    AMERICANS     IN     CHINA. 


287 


CHAPTER   XVI. 


ALARM    OF    AMERICANS    IX  CHINA. REQUEST  TO  COMMODORE  THAT  HE  TTOrLD  SENT)  A   SHIP  TO  CAXTOy. SrPPLT  SENT. THE    REST 

OF   THE   SQCADROX  AT  CUM-SING-MOOX. HOSPITAL  ESTABLISHED  AXD  HOUSE  TAKEX  AT  MACAO. 5ICKXESS  IX  THE   SQfADROX. 

WORK    KEPT     CP     IN     ALL     DEPARTMEXTS,    XOTWITHSTAXDIXC. HEALTHIXESS     OF    CAXTON. GLCTTONT    OF     THE     CHINESE. 

CHINESE    SERVAXTS  CHIXESE    ENGLISH,   OR    "  PIGEON." MALE  DRESSMAKERS,  CHAMBER  SERVANTS,  ETC.— CHINESE  FEMALE 

FEET. CHINESE      CDILDS.^ BEGGARS. CHARITABLE     INSTITUTIONS. THIEVES  BOATMEN. LABORING      CLASSES. DOMESTIC 

SERVANTS. POLYGAMY    AND    ITS     MORAL     RESULTS. DECADENCE     OF    MACAO. HUMBLED    CONDITION    OF    THE     PORTUGUESE. 

HARBOR    OF    MACAO. COMMODORE     ESTABLISHES     HIS     DEPOT     FOR    THE     SQUADROX    AT    HONG    KONG. PLEASANT     SOCIETY     OF 

MACAO. POWHATAN   STATIONED  AT  WHAMPOA  TO    RELIEVE    THE    SUSQUEHANNA. SUPPLY   STILL  AT  CANTON. CHINESE  PEACE- 
ABLE TOWARD  FOREIGNERS. STEAMER  'QCEEN'  CHARTERED  TO  PROTECT  AMERICAN  INTERESTS  IN  CHINA  WHILE  THE  SQUADRON 

SHOULD    GO  TO  YEDDO. SUSPICIOUS  MOVEMEXTS   OF  RUSSIANS  AND   FRENCH    IXDUCE  THE    COMMODORE    TO    HASTEN    HIS    RETURN 

TO    JAPAN. LEXINGTO.X    ARRIVES. THE     SQUADRON    ORDERED    TO    RENDEZVOUS    AT    NAPHA,    LEW    CHEW. ORDERS     RECEIVED, 

JUST  AS    THE    SQUADRON    LEAVES    CHINA,  TO    DETACH  A  STEAMER    FOR  THE    USE    OF    MR.  MCLANE,  AMERICAN    COMMISSIONER    TO 

CHINA. — EMBARRASSMENT    OF     THE     COMMODORE    IN    CONSEQUENCE. HIS    MODE    OF     PROCEEDING    TO    ACCOMPLISH     BOTH    THE 

OBJECTS    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT. CORRESPOXDEXCE    WITH    SIR    GEORGE    BONHAM    TOHCHIXO    THE    BOXIN    ISLANDS. COURTESY 

OF    THE   ENGLISH    ADMIRAL    PILLOW. — SQUADRON    ASSEMBLES    AT    NAPHA. 


rcH  time  Lad  not  elapsed  after  the  arrival  of  Com- 
modore Perry  at  Houg  Kong  before  the  American 
merchants  at  Canton  applied  to  him  for  further 
protection  to  their  lives  and  property,  which  they 
believed  endangered  by  what  appeared  to  them  the 
imminent  prospect  of  a  revolutionary  outbreak  in 
the  city.  These  gentlemen  addressed  a  communi- 
^  cation  to  the  Commodore,  in  which  they  expressed 
^==^ their  great  satisfaction  at  his  determination  to  re- 
main upon  the  Chinese  coa.'it  witii  his  squadron 
i^^r  until  he  was  prepared  to  rcsiunc  negotiations  with 
Japan.  They  moreover  stated  their  belief  that 
the  revolution  wlm  ii  Jiad  commenced  in  China  would  result  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Tartars, 
with  no  immediate  prospect  for  the  future  but  a  confused  state  of  anarchy,  without  a  power 
anywhere  to  reduce  it  to  the  order  of  a  settled  government. 

While  it  was  acknowledged  that  the  majority  of  the  Chinese  people  are  distinguished  by  a 
disposition  to  cultivate  the  peaceful  pursuits  of  industry  and  commerce,  and  the  opinion  was 


288  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

expressed  that  the  revolutionists  -n-ere  favorahly  disposed  toward  foreign  intercourse,  thus  giving 
hopes  for  the  future  prosperity  of  trade,  still  it  was  dechired  that  the  disturbed  condition  of  the 
country  was  such  that,  if  continued,  foreign  commerce  would  be  destroj'ed,  and  the  importation 
of  American  goods,  so  vastly  important  to  the  United  States,  be  entirely  extinguished. 

The  chief  purpose,  however,  of  the  communication  from  the  American  merchants  was,  as  it 
stated,  to  urge  upon  the  Commodore  to  send  one  or  more  of  his  vessels  to  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  the  factories  at  Canton,  the  whole  country  about  which  place  was  swarmiug  with 
thieves  and  desperate  fellows,  lying  in  wait  for  an  opportunity  to  attack  and  plunder  the  foreign 
residences,  if  not  to  wreak  their  vengeance  upon  the  persons  of  their  occupants. 

The  Commodore  ])romptly  answered  this  communication  with  assurances  of  his  determination 
to  give  his  countrymen  all  the  protection  required  in  the  prevailing  crisis  of  China  afl'airs.  He 
had  already  sent  the  Mississippi  to  Blenheim  Keach  to  protect  the  shipping  at  Whampoa,  as 
also  to  guard  against  the  numerous  pirates ;  and  had  directed  an  examination  of  the  river  with 
a  view  of  moving  that  steamer  nearer  Canton  ;  but  as  for  placing  her  at  the  point  desired  by  the 
American  merchants,  it  was  impossible,  from  her  draught  of  water.  The  Commodore,  however, 
promised  that  the  Supply,  which  had  an  efficient  armament  and  accommodations  for  a  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  should  be  sent  on  her  arrival,  if  it  were  necessary,  to  the  city  of  Canton  itself, 
and  if  there  was  any  delay  in  the  arrival  of  that  vessel  that  the  storeship  Southampton  should 
take  her  place.  In  the  meantime  the  merchants  were  informed  that  they  could  have,  if  they 
desired,  a  guard  of  marines  and  one  or  more  pieces  of  artillery  from  the  Mississippi,  which 
would  be  landed  and  stationed  at  the  Factories.  Moreover,  Commander  Lee,  of  the  steamer 
Mississippi,  was  instructed  to  be  prepared  to  land,  on  the  requisition  of  the  acting  American 
vice  consul,  at  a  moment's  notice,  an  advanced  guard,  to  be  followed,  if  need  be,  by  a  much 
larger  force,  composed  of  detachments  from  the  other  ships  in  the  river. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Supply  from  Amoy,  the  Commodore  dispatched  her,  as  he  had  promised, 
to  take  her  station  at  the  anchorage  opposite  the  city  of  Canton.  Meanwhile  the  remainder  of 
the  squadron  were  ordered  to  rendezvous  at  Cum-sing-moon,  a  port  lying  between  Hong  Kong 
and  Macao.  This  port  was  more  safe  and  commodious,  as  well  as  more  healthful,  tlnin  any  of 
the  other  harbors  or  anchorages  in  the  neighborhood,  and,  being  the  rendezvous  of  the  opium 
vessels  belonging  to  the  merchants  of  Canton,  possessed  the  additional  advantage  of  constant 
communication  with  the  neighboring  towns. 

The  Commodore,  having  thus  disposed  of  his  squadron,  found  it  convenient,  in  order  to  arrange 
the  accumulated  results  of  his  voyage  to  Japan  and  the  Lew  Chew  and  Bonin  Islands,  to  take  a 
house  at  Macao,  for  facilitating  his  own  business,  and  for  the  accommodation  of  the  surveying 
officers  and  artists  of  the  expedition  to  bring  up  their  work.  A  hospital  was  also  established  in 
the  town  under  the  superintendence  of  the  fleet  surgeon.  The  Commodore  found  the  station  he 
selected  much  more  advantageous  than  it  would  have  been  on  board  cither  of  the  ships,  or  at 
Canton  or  Hong  Kong ;  as  Macao  was  an  intermediate,  or  rather  central  point  between  those 
two  places  and  Cum-sing-moon,  and  where,  with  mails  arriving  and  departing  daily,  and 
steamers  and  dispatch  boats  almost  hourly,  he  was  enabled  to  hold  communication  with  them  all. 

The  hospital  soon  had  a  good  number  of  inmates  sent  from  the  diifcrent  ships.  Scarcely  an 
officer  or  man  escaped  an  attack  of  fever  of  more  or  less  severity,  and  some  few  deaths  occurred, 
among  which  were  those  of  Lieutenant  Adams,  of  tlic  Powhatan,  and  tlie  master  of  tlic  band 
belonging  to  the  steamer  Mississippi.     The  Commodore  himself,  worn  out  by  duties  which  were 


HEALTUINESS     OP    CANTON.  289 

more  than  iisiially  heavy,  in  consequence  of  the  supervision  of  the  lahors  in  connexion  Tvith  the 
accnmuhited  results  of  the  expedition,  and  large  correspondence  that  became  necessary  from  the 
appreliensions  of  the  danger  entertained  by  the  American  merchants  as  likely  to  result  from  the 
disturbed  state  of  China,  was  finally  prostrated  and  suffered  from  an  attack  of  illness.  Notwith- 
standing, however,  the  work  of  the  expedition  was  not  allowed  any  remission.  The  surveying 
oflScers  continued  their  hydrographical  labors  and  succeeded  in  preparing  fair  copies  of  the 
charts  which  had  been  constructed  during  the  late  cruise.  The  artists  and  draughtsmen  were 
constantly  engaged  in  making  and  completing  their  sketches  and  drawings,  of  which  more  than 
two  hundred  were  finished.  The  several  apparatus  of  the  magnetic  telegraph,  the  Daguerre- 
otype, and  the  Talbotype  were  arranged  and  put  in  full  operation. 

Macao  had  always  hitherto  been  considered  a  remarkably  salubrious  place,  and  chosen  as  the 
usual  summer  resort  of  families  from  Canton  and  Hong  Kong ;  but  the  epidemic  which  prevailed 
in  1853  proved  that  it  was  not  always  to  be  exempt  from  those  destructive  visitations  of  disease 
to  which  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  east  are  so  much  exposed.  During  the  time  that  so  much 
sickness  prevailed  at  Macao,  Canton  was  comparatively  exempt.  In  fact,  this  latter  city  is 
looked  upon,  and  justly  so,  as  a  healthful  place  when  compared  with  otlier  cities  in  the  neighbor- 
hood ;  and  this  seems  more  remarkable  when  it  is  considered  that  the  inhabitants  are  constanly 
breathing  the  miasmatic  atmosphere  arising  from  the  luxuriant  and  marshy  fields  of  rice  and 
other  grains  which  surround  Canton.  Many  parts  of  the  town  itself,  in  fact,  are  periodically 
overflowed  by  the  rising  of  the  river,  which  makes  the  circumstance  of  its  comparative 
healthfulness  still  more  extraordinary.  While  there  was  so  miich  sickness  at  Macao,  the  public 
garden  of  the  Factories  at  Canton  was  covered  with  water  which  approached  to  the  very  doors 
of  the  merchants,  and  this  too  at  a  season  when,  in  all  inter-tropical  latitudes,  local  fevers  are 
to  be  expected.  And  notwithstanding  all  these  exciting  causes  of  disease,  the  officers  and  crew 
of  the  Supply,  at  anchor  off  the  city,  and  within  the  direct  influence  of  them,  remained 
perfectly  healthy,  while  those  on  board  the  other  ships  suffered  more  or  less  from  the  prevailing 
epidemic. 

Various  speculations  have  been  advanced  to  account  for  the  singular  exemption  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Canton  from  the  effects  of  malaria.  Some  have  ascribed  it  to  the  vast  amount 
of  smoke  produced  by  the  burning  of  wood  for  domestic  purposes,  while  others  have  attributed 
it  to  the  abstemiousness  of  the  people.  These  reasons  seem,  however,  insufficient  to  account 
for  it ;  for  if  smoke  only  be  effective  to  dispel  the  ill  influences  of  malaria.  New  Orleans  should 
be  free  from  them,  for  more  fuel  is  certainly  burned  there  than  at  Canton.  As  for  the 
abstemiousness  of  the  people,  which  certainly  exists,  but  from  necessity,  not  choice,  it  is  hardly 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  that  would  counteract  the  other  habits  of  their  lives,  which  certainly 
would  appear  to  be  highly  unfavorable  to  healtli.  If  narrow,  filthy  streets,  ill-ventilated  and 
crowded  hou.ses,  and  unclcanliness  of  person,  can  produce  disease,  then  it  would  appear  that  the 
people  of  Canton  should  be  sorely  afflicted.  But  yet  all  these  predisposing  causes  seem  to  have 
DO  effect  either  upon  the  myriads  who  live  and  die  in  crowded  boats  upon  the  river,  or  upon 
those  who  throng  the  land,  and  years  pass  away  without  any  serious  epidemic. 

In  regard  to  the  abstemiousness  of  the  Chinese,  this,  as  has  been  remarked,  is  altogether  a 
virtue  of  necessity,  as  they  seem  to  be  fond  enough  of  flesh  and  of  all  sorts  of  food,  however 
gross,  when  they  can  get  it.  They  are  certainly  the  most  inordinate  feeders  in  tlie  world,  when 
37  J 


290  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

supplied  with  tlic  material  necessary  for  tlie  exercise  of  their  gastronomical  propensities.  The 
poorer  classes  are  accustomed  to  the  use  of  hoiled  rice  only,  mixed  with  small  proportions  of 
dried  fish,  and  occasionally  with  some  simple  condiments,  and  they  consume  enormous  quan- 
tities of  this  food,  if  they  have  the  means  of  procuring  it.  Dogs  and  cats,  which  are  carried 
about  the  streets  for  sale,  must  he  considered  delicacies  ahove  the  reach  of  the  poorer  classes, 
judging  from  the  prices  demanded  for  them.  Eats,  mice,  and  other  vermin,  are  also  eagerly 
sought  after,  and  arc  made  up  into  various  savory  dishes.  To  the  families  belonging  to  the  fast 
boats  attached  to  the  ship  a  good  fat  rat  was  one  of  the  most  acceptable  of  presents,  which  they 
cooked  and  served  up  with  their  rice,  making  a  dish  very  much  like  the  French  one  of  Poulet- 
au-riz  in  appearance  ;  but  as  for  the  taste,  that  question  must  be  referred  to  Chinese  authorities, 
as  no  American  or  European  has  yet  been  found,  it  is  believed,  to  test  it  by  actual  experiment. 

Those  Chinese  emjiloyed  in  the  ships  of  the  squadron  have  always  found  the  navy  ration 
insufficient  to  satisfy  their  gluttony,  notwithstanding  that  of  the  United  States  vessels  is  far 
more  abundant  and  of  better  quality  than  the  ration  of  the  navy  of  any  other  country.  A  mess 
of  ten  American  seamen  usually  stop  each  two  rations,  for  which  they  receive  the  commutation 
in  money.  The  Chinese,  however,  although  the  most  sordid  of  beings,  not  only  devoured  the 
entire  ration  served  out  to  them,  but  went  about  the  decks  collecting  what  they  could  pick  up 
from  the  leavings  of  the  messes,  and  invariably  beset  the  ship's  cooks  for  the  scrapings  of  the 
coppers. 

The  Chinese  servants  emjiloyed  in  the  Commodore's  cabin  ate,  in  miscellaneoiis  food,  including 
rice,  bread,  beef,  pork,  and  the  leavings  of  tlie  table,  three  times  as  much  as  the  other 
attendants.  In  fact,  the  enormoi:s  quantities  of  rice  they  consumed,  with  whatever  else  they 
could  seize  upon,  is  almost  incredible.  As  for  sugar  and  other  sweets,  there  would  have  been 
no  end  to  their  pilfering,  if  they  had  not  been  carefidly  watched  by  the  steward.  This  gross 
feeding  exhibited  its  efiects  upon  the  Chinese  servants,  as  it  does  upon  dumb  animals,  for  they 
soon  became  fat  and  lazy. 

Most  of  the  Chinese  servants  employed  in  the  European  and  American  families  settled  in  China 
engage  to  find  their  own  food.  Their  wages  vary  from  four  to  six  and  seven  dollars  per  month ; 
the  cooks,  however,  receive  from  seven  to  ten.  All  articles  for  household  consumption,  in  the 
foreign  establishments,  are  procured  through  the  agency  of  a  person  called  a  comprador,  who 
hires  the  servants,  pays  them  their  wages,  and  becomes  security  for  their  honesty ;  he  keeps  a 
regular  account  of  the  domestic  expenditiire,  and  settles  with  his  employers  at  established 
periodical  seasons.  In  the  large  mercantile  establishments  the  profits  of  these  compradors  are 
very  considerable.  However  ample  a  dinner  may  have  been  furnished,  it  would  be  difticult  to 
secure  at  some  of  the  residences,  where  little  attention  is  paid  to  the  economy  of  the  household 
by  the  proprietors  themselves,  anything  for  a  late  guest  arriving  half  an  hour  after  the  meats 
had  been  served.  Scarcely  are  the  dishes  taken  from  the  dining  room,  before  they  are  on  their 
way  to  the  neighboring  eating  houses,  there  to  be  rehashed  into  stews,  and  sold  to  the  middle 
classes.  In  the  hongs  of  the  merchants,  who  are  called  upon,  as  a  part  of  their  business,  to 
keep  up  abundant  tables,  great  waste  must  necessarily  take  place,  but  as  the  expenditure  goes 
to  the  profit  and  loss  of  the  concern,  it  is  of  little  consequence.  The  missionaries  and  others,  of 
small  means,  are  necessarily  hard  put  to  it  to  make  both  ends  meet. 

In  the  houses  of  the  foreign  merchants,  where  there  happen  to  be  no  ladies,  female  servants 


CHINESE     SERVANTS. 


291 


are  unknown ;  and  wliat  would  appear  to  be  repugnant  to  our  own  sense  of  delicacy,  there  are 
even  some  English  and  American  families  without  female  domestics,  although  ladies  form  part 
of  the  household.     The  reason  assigned  is  the  difficulty  of  olitaiuiug  trusty  maid  servants. 


Chinese  Girl,  Showing  Female  Head  Dress. 


It  was,  however,  observed,  that  in  all  the  families  containing  children,  either  maid  servants 
or  women  of  Macao,  called  Amahs  or  Ayahs,  were  employed. 

The  wages  of  the  latter  at  Macao  are  four  dollars  a  month,  but  if  taken  to  Canton  or  Hong 
Kong  they  demand  additional  comi^ensation.  Many  of  the  women  speak  a  little  of  the  lingua 
called  Chinese  English,  or  in  the  cant  phrase,  pigeon,  which  sounds  very  ludicrous  to  those  first 
hearing  it,  but  one  soon  finds  liimsclf  drawn  necessarily  into  this  manner  of  making  himself 
understood.     The  Macao  women  possessing  this  elegant  accomplishment  demand  higher  wages. 

There  is  certainly  some  excuse  for  employing  male  attendants  about  the  bed  chamber  and 
dressing  rooms,  when  it  is  known  that  the  Chinese  lords  of  creation  are  the  only  tailors,  dress- 
makers, washers,  ironers  and  doers  up  of  fine  linen.  In  Canton,  however,  there  are  some  women 
hired  by  the  tailors  to  do  plain  sewing,  for  which  they  receive  nearly  as  little  as  our  needle 
workers,  and  those  poor  creatures  in  Great  Britain,  over  whose  misery  and  living  death  Hood 
sang  his  dirge.  Their  pay  is  from  five  to  seven  cents  a  day.  The  male  tailors  are  somewhat 
better  paid,  and  will  go  to  any  house  and  work  for  twelve  hours  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  cents 
a  day,  they  finding  their  own  food,  or,  as  they  call  it,  their  "cliow-chow."  It  is  not  uncommon 
to  see  a  dirty  small-footed  female  sitting  at  some  corner  in  the  street,  with  a  supply  of  sewing 
materials  and  a  few  rags,  ready  to  stitch  up  a  rent  or  put  a  patch  ii])<in  tlie  garments  of  any  passer 


292  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

by  who  may  want  her  serviees.  Toward  night  she  may  he  seen  hohhling  home,  with  her  stock  in 
trade,  on  her  disgusting  stumps,  of  wliich  she  is  seemingly  very  proud. 

All  the  Chinese  women,  in  fact,  pride  themselves  very  much  on  their  goat-like  hoofs,  and  have 
the  greatest  possible  contempt  for  a  natural  foot.  Little  girls  are  said  to  importune  their  mothers 
with  tears  in  their  eyes  to  compress  their  feet,  as  promising  them  a  higher  position  in  society, 
although  females  of  the  lower  orders  are  frequently  observed  with  the  aristocratic  hoof,  but  these 
are  those  who  have,  possibly,  seen  better  days.  It  is  difficult  for  strangers  to  get  a  sight  of  these 
sino-ular  deformities,  as  the  Chinese  women  manifest  the  greatest  reluctance  to  show  them;  but 
Dr.  Parker  prevailed  upon  a  girl  of  thirteen,  who  was  a  patient  in  his  hospital,  to  unbandage  in 
the  presence  of  her  mother,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  curiosity  of  the  Commodore,  who  had  quite 
enough  in  one  glance  of  that  .shapeless  stump,  whicli  appeared  more  like  a  specimen  of  bad  surgery, 
such  as  Dr.  Parker  would  have  been  doubtless  ashamed  of,  than,  as  the  Chinese  considered  it, 
an  elegance  of  fashion. 

These  horrid  hoofs  are  very  carefully  looked  after  by  the  Chinese  women,  and  are  swathed  in 
gay  bandages  of  all  colors,  and  shod  with  a  high  heeled  shoe,  richly  worked  and  adorned. 

A  fashionable  ladies'  dressmaker  in  China,  where  all  these  indispensible  servitors  of  fashion  aro 
males,  is  always  greatly  in  demand  among  the  foreign  ladies,  and  it  is  as  necessary  to  bespeak 
his  services  in  time  at  Canton  and  Macao  as  it  is  those  of  a  Miss  Lawson  in  New  York. 
These  man-milliners  generally  require  what  they  call  a  muster,  or  pattern,  which  they, 
with  the  usual  Chinese  imitative  skill,  reproduce  exactly,  whether  of  London,  Paris  or  New 
York  fashion,  and  adapt  it  to  any  form  or  size.  It  was  by  no  means  an  agreeable  sight,  on 
passing  one  of  the  dark  and  dirty  tailor  shops  at  Macao,  to  behold  the  greasy  and  half  naked 
Chinaman,  late  at  night,  busily  plying  his  dirty  fingers  about  a  splendid  female  dress,  destined 
to  drape  the  graceful  form  of  some  beautiful  woman  at  the  coming  ball  or  dinner  party.  These 
male  dressmakers  are  held  in  such  estimation  by  those  resident  in  China,  that  some  few  European 
and  American  ladies  have  been  known,  on  leaving  the  country,  to  carry  away  a  China  man- 
milliner  with  them. 

The  ordinary  compensation  for  all  operatives  in  Canton,  who  find  their  food,  varies  from  twelve 
to  twenty  cents  a  day.  Farm  hands,  when  fed,  receive  six  cents  for  twelve  hours  work,  being 
at  the  rate  of  a  farthing  an  hour.  The  day  laborers,  chair  bearers,  and  porters,  if  not  hired  by 
the  job,  are  paid  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  cents.  Boatmen's  wages  are  from  one  and  a  half  to 
two  and  a  quarter  dollars  per  month,  when  found,  which  latter  condition  generally  includes 
food,  not  only  for  themselves,  but  for  their  wives  and  children,  who  live  with  them  in  the  boat. 

Porters,  and  those  of  other  crafts  in  Canton,  form  themselves  into  guilds,  and  appoint  leaders, 
or  headmen,  who  contract  for  labor  of  various  sorts.  This  system  of  organization  is  not 
confined  to  those  who  work,  but  extends  to  those  who  beg.  The  beggars,  like  the  gipsies,  have 
their  kings,  who  assign  to  their  ragged  subjects  their  particular  ofiices  of  vagabondage  and  their 
respective  fields  of  operation ;  and  what  is  singular,  the  laws  of  China  secure  to  these  rogues 
certain  rights  and  privileges.  These  laws  give  to  them  the  right  of  approaching  and  knocking 
at  the  door  of  any  domicile,  or  to  enter  the  shops,  and  there  to  strike  together  a  couple  of  sticks 
similar  to  those  used  by  the  watchmen  emj)loyed  by  families  to  guard  their  premises  against 
thieves ;  these  sticks  produce  a  disagreeable  sound,  and,  however  long  the  beggars  keep  uj)  this 
annoyance,  they  cannot  be  legally  ejected  until  they  are  paid  the  usual  gratuity,  which  is  the 
smallest  coin  in  use,  termed  a  ca.sh,  and  which  in  value  is  about  the  twelfth  of  a  cent;  when 


BEGGARS. — CHARITABLE     INSTITUTIONS. 


293 


Biipplied  with  this  the  heggar  takes  his  departure,  and  repeats  the  stick  striking  nuisance  next 
door,  and  so  on  until  he  has  completed  his  daily  circuit. 


Chinese  Beggar — Macao. 


It  is  said  that  one  hundred  of  these  mendicants  are  assigned  by  their  king  to  Old  China 
street  alone,  which  is  altogether  occupied  by  wealthy  shop  keepers.  Some  of  these  commute 
with  the  beggars,  by  paying  them  a  round  sum  for  exemption  from  the  annoyance  of  tliose  noisy 
visitors ;  others  refuse  to  do  this,  and  hold  out  as  long  as  their  patience  will  allow,  with  a  view 
of  wasting  the  time  of  the  suppliant,  who,  having  a  right  to  visit  all  the  shops,  desires  to  make 
the  greatest  number  of  calls  possible  in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  thus  be  able  to  pay  into  the 
general  treasury  at  night  the  largest  amount  of  cash.  The  organized  beggars  have  their  own 
benevolent  institutions,  where  provision  is  made  for  the  sick  and  needy  and  the  old  and  infirm. 
The  number  of  these  well  disciplined  gentry  can  hardly  be  estimated  by  a  stranger,  but  it  is 


294  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

undoubtedly  very  large,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  crowds  which  infest  those  parts  of  the  city  of 
Canton  accessible  to  foreigners. 

Each  city  has  its  own  laws  with  respect  to  mendicants,  and  its  own  charitable  institutions. 
In  Canton  there  are  four  principal  benevolent  establishments :  one  for  widows,  another  for 
foundlings,  a  third  for  furnishing  coffins  for  the  dead  relations  of  indigent  families,  and  the 
fourth  for  "  loafers."  They  are  all,  however,  so  badly  managed,  that  they  answer  very 
indifierently  the  purpose  intended,  for  it  happens  very  generally  in  China,  as  is  too  often  the 
case  in  Christianized  countries,  that  those  who  have  the  control  of  these  institutions  contrive  to 
embezzle  the  revenues,  and  thus  make  themselves  rich  by  taking  care  of  the  poor.  Whether 
thieving  is  one  of  the  recognized  functions  of  these  beggars  or  not,  is  not  known  ;  but  it  is 
quite  clear  that  they  can  and  do  turn  their  hand  with  great  skill  to  occasional  small  pilfering, 
in  which  they  show  themselves  as  great  adepts  as  the  most  accomplished  pickpockets  in  any  part 
of  the  world. 

The  Americans,  during  the  detention  of  the  squadron  on  the  coast  of  China,  had  occasion  to 
become  practically  acquainted  with  the  mode  of  carrying  on  business  on  the  part  of  the  lower 
or  laboring  classes.  Among  these,  the  boatmen  and  boatwomen  were  those  with  whom  there 
was,  of  course,  the  most  frequent  relations.  The  men-of-war,  as  in  fact  do  most  of  the 
merchant  vessels,  employ  what  is  called  a  fast  boat,  which  is  always  in  charge  of  a  skipper. 
This  man's  family,  if  he  have  one,  which  is  almost  universally  the  case,  lives  with  him  in  his 
boat,  and  assists  in  rowing,  steering,  managing  the  sails,  and  in  otherwise  conducting  the  craft. 
The  children  are  born  and  grow  up  in  the  boat,  rarely  leaving  her,  and,  in  proportion  to  their 
number  and  strength,  contribute  to  the  profit  of  their  father,  who  happens  to  be  the  proprietor. 
The  females  lend  a  hand  as  readily  as  the  males,  and  both  sexes  are  seen  laboring  alike.  A 
skipper  who  has  the  misfortune  to  be  childless,  has  to  employ  six  or  eight  laborers  to  assist  him 
in  the  management  of  his  fast  boat ;  while  he  who  has  been  blessed  with  a  numerous  progeny 
can  dispense  with  these  expensive  assistants.  Forty  dollars  a  month  is  the  ordinary  rate  paid 
by  ships  for  the  hire  of  one  of  these  boats. 

There  are  various  other  descriptions  of  boatmen  and  boatwomen  plying  their  curious  craft  in 
the  Canton  river  ;  there  are  those  who  manage  the  flower  boats,  the  hon(j  boats,  the  pull-away 
boats,  the  numerous  fishing  boats,  and  the  Tanka  boats.  The  latter,  and  their  picturesquely 
costumed  female  tenders,  have  been  already  described  somewhat  in  a  previous  chapter  ;  but  it 
may  not  be  uninteresting  to  give  some  additional  details  in  regard  to  them.  They  are  used  as 
passenger  boats  to  carry  peoisle  backwards  and  forwards  from  the  laud  to  the  shipping  in  the 
harbor.  In  construction  they  are  short,  but  broad  in  beam.  In  the  centre  there  is  a  canopy  of 
matting  under  which  the  passengers  sit  or  recline.  The  crew  generally  consists  of  two  women, 
who  are  often  quite  young,  and  who  are  generally  joint  proprietors,  and  a  little  female  apjuen- 
tice  of  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age.  One  of  the  elder  girls  sculls  and  steers  the  Tanka  boat, 
the  other  sits  in  the  bow  and  rows,  while  the  chief  function  of  the  youthful  apprentice  is  to 
collect  the  fare,  see  to  the  comfort  of  the  passengers,  and  make  herself  generally  useful. 

These  girls  rarely  leave  their  boats  except  to  purchase  their  simple  food  of  rice,  dried  fish, 
and  leeks,  which  they  cook  on  board,  except  in  very  boisterous  weather,  when  it  becomes 
necessary  to  haul  their  craft  on  shore.  On  the  latter  occasion  they  are  always  ready  to  lend 
each  other  a  hand,  and  getting  their  boats  high  and  dry  on  tlie  land,  and  snugly  protected, 
they  form  quite  a  group  on  tlie  sliore,  like  a  flock  of  amjjhibious  niurine  birds,  and  avail  them- 


LABORING     CLASSES. — DOMESTIC     SERVANTS. 


295 


selves  of  the  opportunity  to  gossip  and  visit  each  other,  which  they  do  on  board  of  their 
stranded  barks. 

In  regard  to  the  lower  or  laboring  classes  of  Cliina,  of  whom  the  Commodore  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  forming  some  judgment,  as  he  was  brought  in  contact  witli  thom  from  the  necessity  of 
availing  himself  of  their  services,  he  was  agreeably  disappointed,  as  he  found  them,  practically, 
not  so  bad  after  all.  It  is  true  honesty  is  only  a  conventional  virtue  with  the  Chinese;  but  it 
can  be  obtained  for  money,  like  anything  else  among  that  nation  of  shopkeepers;  and  if  a 
Chinese  laborer  stipulates  to  be  honest  for  a  consideration,  he  may,  in  ordinary  cases,  be 
depended  upon,  especially  if  he  furnishes  security  for  the  fulfilment  of  his  contract.  If,  how- 
ever, honesty  has  not  been  made  expressly  a  part  of  the  bargain,  a  Chinaman  thinks  he  retains 
the  right  of  lying,  cheating,  and  thieving,  to  the  full  extent  of  his  opportunity  and  the  utmost 
bent  of  his  inclinations.  In  engaging  servants,  it  is  customary  to  require  of  them  to  produce 
securities  who  will  hold  themselves  accountable  for  their  honesty  and  good  conduct.  Without 
an  endorsement,  no  foreign  merchant  would  think  of  taking  a  Chinese  domestic  into  his  house- 
hold any  more  than  he  would  receive  across  the  desk  of  his  counting-room  an  equivocal  note 
without  the  secui-ity  of  a  good  house  or  name. 


Chinese  Fruit  Seller — Macao. 

It  is  difficult  to  form  any  just  estimate  of  the  higher  classes  in  Cliina  without  an  opportunity, 
wliicli  few  can  possess,  of  mixing  in  intimate  social  intercourse  with  tliem.  Tlie  foreign 
merchants,  whose  relations  with  the  country  are  entirely  commerciiil,  have  but  little  occasion  of 
knowing  any  others  tlian  those  engaged  in  trade.  Tlie  missionaries  have  an  opportunity, 
undoubtedly,  of  extending  their  observations  over  a  wider  range,  but  their  experience  is 
generally  confined  to  the  outskirts  of  society. 

There  wa*  no  very  complete  account  of  the  social  habits  and  characteristics  of  the  Chinese 


296 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


people  until  the  publication  of  Pere  Hue's  book  of  travels,  -which  contains  certainly  the  best 
account  extant  of  the  inner  life  of  China.  What  is  seen  by  a  casual  visitor  of  Chinese  society  is 
not  calculated  to  impress  him  very  favorably.  The  position  of  women  is  such  as  to  destroy  all 
the  best  features  of  domestic  life.  Polygamy  being  allowed  by  the  laws  of  China,  as  well  as 
concubinage,  women  are  naturally  considered  as  mere  household  slaves  to  gratify  the  passions 
and  do  menial  service  at  the  will  of  their  lords  and  masters.  The  men  do  not  treat  females  as 
equals,  and  seemingly  avoid  their  society  as  much  as  possible,  for  they  are  passing  their  leisure 
hours  at  the  tea  and  opium  houses,  while  the  women  are  kept  at  home  in  a  state  of  domestic 
slavery.  As  among  the  negroes  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  the  wealth  of  a  king  or  chief  is 
estimated  by  the  stock  of  wives  he  has  been  enabled  to  purchase,  with  all  the  cocoa-nut  oil,  gold 


Dress  of  Chinese  Lady  of  Rank. 

dust,  and  elephant's  tusks  he  can  muster,  so  in  Cliina,  the  number  of  damsels  who  can  be  bought 
to  call  a  man  husband,  make  up  the  estimate  of  his  wealth  and  swell  his  importance.  The  very 
wealthy  and  aristocratic  are  the  exclusive  few,  however,  in  China,  who  can  afford  the  luxury  of 
a  multiplicity  of  wives. 


DECADBNCK    OF    MACAO. 


297 


The  Commodore's  residence  at  Macao  gave  liim  an  opiiortuuity  of  extending  his  observations 
of  that  place,  beyond  what  had  been  offered  by  liis  previous  casual  visit. 

Macao,  once  so  famed  for  its  extensive  and  profitable  commerce  and  for  its  wealth,  is  now  entirely 
divested  of  them,  and  seems  to  be  sustained  only  by  a  small  coasting  trade,  the  expenditures  of 
a  limited  garrison,  and  those  of  the  families  of  the  English  and  American  merchants  who  make 
it  a  summer  resort,  and,  having  abundance  of  money,  freely  disburse  it.  The  Portuguese 
jurisdiction  is  confined  within  very  narrow  limits.  The  Chinese  settlements  seem  to  bo  fast 
absorbing  the  whole  place  ;  in  tact,  the  larger  portion  of  the  population  of  the  town  is  already 
composed  of  China  men  and  women,  who  perform  most  of  the  menial  duties  in  the  domestic 
establishments,  both  of  the  Portuguese  and  of  other  foreigners. 


^.'tK^^'^-^^"^" 


Ohinctte  llarbur — Macao. 


Tlie  Cliinese  arc  also  tlic  8hoi)kecpers,  the  mechanics,  and  the  market  people.      Wliat  the 
native  Portuguese  have  to  do  it  would  bedilFicult  toconjcclurc.     They  are,  with  some  exceptions 
•38  J 


298 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


of  ■wealthy  merchants,  mostly  very  poor  anil  too  proud  to  work ;  tliere  are  some  few,  however, 
who  are  employed  as  clerks  in  the  various  foreign  mercantile  houses,  while  the  greater  portion 
spend  their  time  in  idleness,  living  upon  the  remnants  of  the  once  princely  fortunes  of  their 
ancestors,  and  still  occui)y,  in  heggarly  poverty,  the  stately  mansions  erected  in  the  olden  time 
of  Macao's  splendid  prosperity. 

There  is  still  a  show  of  military  possession  on  the  part  of  the  Portuguese,  who  hold  the 
surrounding  hills,  covering  the  city  with  fortified  works,  constructed  after  the  fashion  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  These  seem  quite  sufficient  to  keep  the  Chinese  in  due  awe,  wlio,  if 
they  had  the  least  energy,  could  easily  dislodge  the  Portuguese,  for  whom  they  have  no  great 
affection,  and  might  drive  them  altogether  from  the  country.  The  Portuguese  garrison  consists 
of  ahout  two  hundred  regular  soldiers  and  as  many  local  militia,  all  of  whom  are  under  excellent 
discipline,  and  hetter  dressed  and  more  orderly  men  are  seldom  seen. 

It  will  he,  perhaps,  recollected  that  the  English  East  India  Company,  hefore  the  aholition  of 
its  charter,  made  Macao  a  sort  of  entrepot  for  its  China  trade,  and  some  of  the  finest  residences 
were  erected  hy  that  muuificeut  corporation,  or  hy  the  ostentatious  Portuguese  in  their  days  of 
wealth  and  prosperity.  One  of  these  magnificent  dwellings,  with  a  garden  of  more  than  an 
acre  in  extent,  tastefully  laid  out,  and  still  kept  in  order  at  considerable  cost,  could  he  hired,  at 


., ,,  ^^^^^Ji,^    .,.'^^.„-< 


I^Vm  nn 


■  J 


I'roteslanl  tiravc  Vurd — M.tcuo. 


the  time  of  the  Commodore's  visit,  for  the  small  sum  of  five  Imiidred  dollars  a  year ;  and  this 
jdace  has  the  additional  advantage  of  the  romantic  association  witli  the  name  of  the  ])oc't 
Camoens,  it  having  Wn  his  favorite  resort,  and  tlie  spot  upon  wliicli,  as  the  reader  has  already 


NAVAL     DEPOT      AT     IIONG     KONG.  299 

seen,  a  moiinmcnt  to  his  memory  lias  licen  erected.  It  was  from  Macao,  in  the  days  of  ita 
opulence,  that  many  of  the  coniraercial  expeditions  of  the  Portuguese  were  dispatched  to  Japan; 
and  at  Jlacao,  too,  the  church  of  Rome  liad  one  of  its  most  powerful  ecclesiastical  estahlislnnents, 
sustained  hy  the  dread  might  of  tlie  inquisition,  which,  in  former  times,  exercised  in  the  east  the 
full  force  of  its  dark  and  cruel  discipline.  Now,  however,  the  opulence  and  enterprise  of  its 
merchants  are  gone,  and  the  awful  dominion  of  the  haughty  ecclesiastics  and  their  bloody 
tribunal  has  lapsed  into  the  weak  hands  of  a  few  impoverished  priests,  who  meekly  appeal  to 
the  pity,  and  barely  live  upon  the  bounty,  of  the  reduced  Portuguese  population. 

Since  the  constriiction  of  vessels  of  greater  draught  than  those  of  former  times,  few  tliat  visit 
Macao  can  enter  the  inner  harbor  ;  it,  however,  is  sufficiently  deep  for  those  vessels  engaged  in 
the  coasting  trade,  sailing  under  the  Portuguese  flag,  and  called  Lorchas,  which  arc  a  sort  of 
nondescript  of  curious  rig  and  construction.  Tlie  Chinese  junks  are  also  enabled  to  enter  the 
inner  port,  as  are  occasionally  a  brig  or  schooner.  The  storeship  Southampton,  drawing 
thirteen  and  a  lialf  feet,  anchored  inside.  Tliirteen,  and  at  high  tides  fourteen,  feet  can  be 
carried  into  tliis  inner  port,  and  about  as  much  into  a  small  harbor  opposite  the  city,  called  the 
Ti/pa.  It  was  in  the  Tyjja  that  the  Portuguese  corvette,  Don  John  the  Second,  was  lying  when 
blown  up,  when  the  United  States  sloop-of-war  Marion,  being  at  anchor  near  by,  rendered  much 
service.  The  Portuguese  .ship  is  generally  sujiposed  to  have  been  blown  up  purposely  by  the 
gunner,  who  had  been  punLshed  in  the  morning  by  the  cajitain  for  neglecting  some  necessary 
preparation  to  do  honor  to  the  day,  which  was  some  national  anniversary. 

Ships  of  war  and  large  merchant  vessels,  resorting  to  Macao,  anchor,  as  has  been  observed  in 
a  previous  chapter,  in  the  road,  at  a  distance  of  from  three  to  five  miles  from  the  city ;  this 
makes  the  communication  with  the  shore  at  all  times  inconvenient,  and  in  blowing  weather 
altogether  impracticable.  This,  together  with  other  reasons,  prompted  the  Commodore  to 
recommend  tlie  removal  of  the  naval  depot  to  Hong  Kong.  Commodore  Perry,  on  this  subject, 
gave  his  views  at  length,  in  a  communication  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  He  there  stated 
that,  in  consideration  of  the  inconvenience  and  consequent  delay,  with  the  increased  expense  of 
landing  and  shipping  at  Macao  articles  sent  from  the  United  States  for  the  use  of  the  squadron, 
and  especially  the  coal,  that  he  at  once  saw  the  necessity  of  having  a  depot  at  Hong  Kong, 
which  had  been  originally  the  naval  station  ;  but  as,  at  the  time  of  the  agitation  of  the  Oregon 
question,  a  rupture  had  been  supposed  to  be  imminent  with  Great  Britain,  it  had  been  removed. 
No  such  troubles  now  threatening,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  government  property  would 
be  safer  at  Hong  Kong  than  at  the  badly  defended  town  of  Macao.  Hong  Kong  has  all  the 
advantages  of  anchorage,  as  vessels  of  the  largest  size  can  be  moored  in  smooth  water,  within 
seven  hundred  yards  of  the  land,  allowing  of  the  conveyance  of  articles  of  all  kinds,  in  all 
weather,  with  great  facility,  from  shore  to  ship,  and  ship  to  shore.  The  only  objection  to  be 
urged  against  Hong  Kong  was  its  iiulicaltlifulness  ;  but  tliis  did  not  apply  to  those  afloat,  who 
were  exempt  from  the  evil  effects  of  the  injurious  causes  which  prevailed  on  land.  Hong  Kong 
has  the  additional  advantage  of  being  the  market  for  all  the  various  provisions  which  may  be 
required  by  a  naval  squadron,  and  lias  conveniences  for  the  refitment  and  rejiair  of  vessels. 
Pending  the  action  of  the  naval  department,  the  Commodore  made  every  necessary  preliminary 
arrangement,  by  obtaining  depots  for  coal  and  otlier  supjdies  at  Hong  Kong,  and  then  ordered 
the  coal  vessels  and  storeshi[)S  to  discharge  tlieir  i'reiglit  at  that  ])ort. 

The  Commodore  found  Macao  an  exceedingly  agreeable  place  of  residence,  as  the  picturesque 


300 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


beauties  of  the  country  were  full  of  interest,  and  the  town,  with  its  pleasant  foreign  society, 
presented  many  attractions.  During  his  stay  there  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  many  of  the 
residents,  among  whom  were  the  tiimilies  of  several  of  the  Canton  merchants  having  summer 
establishments  at  Macao,  to  which  they  arc  accustomed  to  retire  during  the  hot  months,  and 
where  they  exercise  the  kindest  and  most  liberal  hospitality.  Monsieur  de  Bourboulon,  the 
French  minister  to  Canton,  had  a  residence  at  Macao,  and  with  his  wife,  an  American  lady, 
whom  he  married  while  secretary  of  legation  at  Washington,  contributed  much  toward 
heightening  the  charms  of  social  intercourse. 


View  from  Ruing  of  Jesuit  Convent — Macao. 


W.CKS.    >^."V 


The  French  commodore,  Monsieur  de  Montravel,  came  with  his  squadron  and  anchored  in 
the  outer  road,  and  Commodore  Perry  had  an  opportunity  of  forming  his  acquaintance  and  of 
interchanging  with  him,  as  well  as  with  Monsieur  de  Bourboulon,  and,  indeed,  with  all  the 
principal  residents  of  Macao,  those  acts  of  hospitality  and  kindness  which  are  invariably  allied 
to  a  just  appreciation  of  mutual  courtesy. 

With  Governor  Giumaraes,  an  officer  of  the  Portuguese  navy,  whom  the  Commodore  had  mot 
before  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  there  were  the  most  friendly  and  intimate  relations,  as  well  as 
with  Captain  Loreiro,  of  the  same  service;  and  it  is  due  to  both  these  officers  to  acknowledge 
their  courteous  deportment  in  tlie  course  of  all  the  official  transactions  with  them.  Tlie  utmost 
good  feeling  prevailed  in  the  intercourse  with  Sir  George  Bonham,  the  British  superintendent  of 
affairs  in  China  and  governor  of  Hong  Kong,  and  with  the  military  and  naval  commanders-in- 
chief,  as  well  as  with  the  mandarins  of  the  countrv  and  the  local  authorities. 


HUMBLED     CONDITION     OF     THE     PORTUGUESE.  301 

Two  events  occurred  in  1849  at  Macao,  during  tlic  administration  of  tlic  Portuguese  Governor 
Aniaral,  an  ofHcer  of  distinction  and  universally  esteemed,  which,  although  they  were  pnhlished 
at  the  time  of  their  occurrence  in  the  Hong  Kong  newspapers,  are  still  so  strikingly  illustrative 
of  the  fallen  fortunes  and  depressed  national  character  of  the  Portuguese,  that  it  may  not  he 
amiss  in  this  place  to  relate  them.  The  first  event  alluded  to,  grew  out  of  one  of  those  acts  of 
folly  which  are  sometimes  exhihited  hy  the  ill-regulated  enthusiasm  of  fanatics  in  foreign 
countries,  where  the  religion  happens  to  differ  from  their  own.  A  young  Englishman,  attached 
to  a  missionary  school  at  Hong  Kong,  made  a  visit  to  Macao,  and  shortly  after  landing  he 
espied  one  of  those  religious  processions  so  common  in  Eoman  Catholic  countries,  in  which  what 
is  called  the  Host  is  conducted  with  great  pomp  through  the  principal  streets,  attended  hy 
numerous  priests  and  others  in  full  costume,  with  lighted  candles,  the  swinging  of  censers,  and 
all  the  rich  display  of  Komish  eclcsiastical  ceremony. 

This  young  man  on  seeing,  for  the  first  time,  perhaps,  this  singular  exhibition  of  what 
to  him  seemed  nothing  hut  an  insult  to  true  Christianity,  and  making,  probably,  not  sufficient 
allowance  for  differences  of  opinion  and  religious  belief,  and  for  the  sincerity,  however  mistaken, 
of  those  of  another  faith  than  his  own^  conceived  the  idea  of  showing  his  contempt  for  such 
pageantry.  He  accordingly  placed  himself  conspicuously  in  the  way  of  the  procession,  and 
refused  to  take  off  his  hat  when  the  Host  passed.  This  act,  if  unwilling,  from  conscientious 
motives,  to  perform,  he  might  have  easily  avoided  by  turning  away  and  passing  down  another 
street.  Many  Protestants  in  Romish  countries  do  so.  The  young  man,  however,  did  not  act  in 
this  very  obvious  and  simple  manner,  by  which  he  might  have  readily  saved  his  conscience  and 
allowed  others  who  diftered  from  him  to  act  in  accordance  with  their  views.  When  the 
Englishman  was  observed  purposely  standing  in  the  way  of  the  procession  and  covered,  he  was 
mildly  requested  by  the  priests  to  take  off  his  hat,  or  move  away ;  but  so  far  from  complying 
with  this  request,  the  young  enthusiast  pressed  his  hat  closer  on  his  head  and  stood  his  ground 
like  a  martyr.  He  was  now  warned  by  the  armed  police  to  uncover  or  to  retire,  but  being  still 
obstinate,  notwithstanding  this  summons,  he  was  arrested  and  taken  to  the  guard-house. 

Here  was  now  a  catastrophe,  one  of  her  Majesty's  subjects  shut  up  in  a  Portuguese  guard- 
house. The  indignation  of  Captain  Keppel,  commanding  the  British  man-of-war  Dido,  then  at 
anchor  in  Macao  roads,  was  greatly  aroused,  and  a  demand  was  immediately  made  upon  Amaral, 
the  Portuguese  governor,  for  an  unconditional  surrender  of  the  Englishman.  The  governor 
asked  a  short  delay,  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  the  ecclesiastical  council.  In  the  meantime, 
a  regatta  of  boats  belonging  to  the  United  States  ship  Plymouth  and  the  vessel  commanded  by 
Captain  Keppel,  who  had  been  appointed  one  of  the  judges,  was  to  take  place.  Governor 
Amaral  and  many  of  the  garrison  officers  were  also  to  be  present  on  the  occasion.  The  day 
arrived,  and  Captain  Keppel  quietly  withdrew  himself  from  the  place,  and  with  a  party  of  marines 
and  some  volunteer  officers  left  the  outer  roads,  the  scene  of  the  regatta,  pulled  on  shore,  and 
landed  opposite  the  house  of  Mr.  Patrick  Stewart,  and  thence  passing  throiigh  an  unoccupied 
house  and  garden,  in  order  to  avoid  the  main  street,  came  suddenly  upon  the  guard  of  the 
garrison,  and  rushing  upon  the  sentinel,  rescued  by  force  the  Englishman,  whose  ill-timed 
enthusiasm  had  brought  about  this  military  outrage. 

The  second  incident,  to  which  allusicm  has  been  made,  was  one  of  equally  surjirising  character 
and  resulted  in  the  death  of  the  governor.  It  appears  that  Amaral  was  a  man  of  great  energv, 
and  ambitious  of  improving  the  town  of  Macao  by  opening  carriage  roads  through  and  about  its 


302  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

limited  space.  In  tlie  governor's  attempts  to  effect  tliese  improvements,  he  -svas  cliarged  hj  the 
Chinese  with  desecrating  their  ancient  hmial  phices.  He  had  received  several  ohscnrc  hints  to 
the  effect  that  his  life  was  in  danger,  hut  paid  little  or  no  attention  to  them.  In  accordance 
■with  his  usual  practice,  he  was  riding  in  the  afternoon  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  the  common 
resort  of  equestrians,  accompanied  by  his  aid-de-camp,  Lieutenant  Leite,  also  on  horseback, 
while  a  niunber  of  other  horsemen  were  not  far  off,  when,  as  he  came  to  a  part  of  the  road 
skirted  by  a  few  bushes,  a  Chinaman,  or  perhaps  more,  as  the  number  was  never  exactly  ascer- 
tained, rushed  upon  him  from  behind  them.  The  governor's  bridle  was  snatched  from  his  single 
hand,  (for  he  had  only  one  arm,  the  other  having  been  lost  in  battle,)  and  he  himself  was 
dragged  from  his  hor.se  behind  the  ambuscade  of  bushes,  his  head  cut  off  and  his  hand  severed, 
leaving  nothing  but  his  maimed  and  lifeless  body  for  the  startled  view  of  the  other  horsemen 
who  rode  up,  and  eagerly  but  in  vain  sought  after  the  assassin.  No  traces  were  ever  discovered 
of  the  dastardly  murderer  or  murderers,  and  the  Portuguese  council  of  Macao,  in  spite  of  the 
strictest  investigations,  could  never  get  any  clue  to  the  authors  of  the  crime.  The  Chinese 
authorities,  however,  it  was  suspected  must  have  been  acquainted  with  the  persons  of  the  villains, 
as  after  repeated  summons  of  the  Portuguese  council  of  Macao  the  severed  head  and  liand  of  the 
unfortunate  governor  were  sent  to  the  city.  This  murder  occurred  only  two  months  after  the 
act  of  Captain  Keppel,  which  had  greatly  chagrined  the  gallant  Amaral. 

The  engineers  having  reported,  towards  the  latter  end  of  October,  that  the  machinery  of  the 
steamer  Powhatan  was  in  good  working  order,  she  was  sent  to  take  the  place  of  the  Susquehanna. 
This  latter  vessel  had  previously  relieved  the  Mississippi  at  Whampoa.  Each  steamer  in  turn 
dispatched  an  officer  of  marines  with  a  competent  guard  and  one  of  the  boat  howitzers  to  remain 
at  Canton  during  her  stay  at  Whampoa.  The  guard  was  stationed  on  board  the  Supply,  then 
lying  off  the  town,  while  the  officer  was  a  guest  at  the  house  of  some  one  or  other  of  the 
American  merchants,  that  he  might  be  in  readiness  in  case  of  any  disturbance  at  night.  All 
this  time,  however,  there  was  not  the  slightest  incident  tliat  could  in  any  degree  justifj'  an 
opinion  that  a  revolt  was  seriously  contemplated  by  the  Chinese  people,  and  up  to  the  day  of  the 
departure  everything  remained  as  quiet  in  Canton  as  at  the  moment  of  first  sending  vessels  and 
a  guard  to  the  city.  Nor  had  there  been  any  outbreak,  at  either  of  the  consular  cities,  which 
had  in  the  least  affected  Americans  or  foreigners  of  whatever  nation,  during  the  presence  of  the 
squadron  on  the  Chinese  coast. 

However  the  Chinese  may  have  quarrelled  among  themselves  and  cut  each  other's  throats,  not 
a  foreigner  conducting  himself  properly  had  been  in  the  least  degree  molested.  Before  leaving 
the  Chinese  coast,  Commodore  Perry  had  succeeded  in  establishing  the  most  cordial  understand- 
ing with  the  Canton  merchants,  and,  in  consideration  of  the  necessity  of  withdrawing  the 
Supply  from  that  city  and  the  Powhatan  from  Whampoa,  had  determined,  at  the  request  of  the 
merchants,  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  hiring  and  arming  a  sniiill  steamer  for  the  protection 
of  the  American  residents  during  his  absence.  Conformably  to  this  determination,  the  Com- 
modore chartered  a  new  and  very  suitable  vessel,  the  steamboat  Queen,  for  six  months,  at  five 
hundred  dollars  a  month,  with  the  privilege  of  extending  the  term  of  engagement  at  the  same 
rate  of  hire.  To  tliis  steamer  was  assigned  a  sufficient  armament,  and  the  command  was  given 
to  Lieutenant  Alfred  Taylor,  of  the  Mississiji])!,  with  such  comi)lenicnt  of  officers,  engineers, 
sailors,  and  firemen,  as  could  be  spared  from  tlie  sqxuxdron.  The  Commodore  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  receiving  from  the  leading  American  merchants  a  communication,  in  which  it  was  stated 


SUSPICIOUS     MOVEMENTS     OF     RUSSIANS     AND     FUENCU.  303 

that  there  seemed  no  immediate  danger  of  an  attack,  and  which  contained  an  expression  of 
satisfaction  at  the  provision  made  by  the  Commodore  for  tlie  protection  of  their  interests  during 
his  absence. 

About  the  close  of  November,  the  French  commodore  in  the  frigate  Constantine,  then  lying  at 
Macao,  suddenly  put  to  sea  under  sealed  orders.  It  was  at  the  time  well  known,  that  in  a  day 
or  two  he  was  to  have  departed  for  Shanghai  with  the  French  minister,  Monsieur  de  Bourboulon, 
and  his  wife,  as  passengers,  but  on  tlic  arrival  of  the  mail  from  Europe  he  hurried  away  without 
any  one  knowing  in  what  direction.  The  Kussian  admiral,  Pontiatine,  in  the  frigate  Pallas, 
and  with  three  other  vessels,  was  at  this  time  at  Shanghai,  having  just  arrived  from  Nagasaki. 
The  Commodore,  suspecting  that  the  Kussians  contemplated  the  design  of  returning  to  Japan 
and  of  ultimately  going  to  Yedo,  wliich  might  seriously  interfere  with  his  operations,  and  sus- 
pecting also  that  the  same  place  was  the  destination  of  the  French  commodore,  became  very 
anxious  for  the  arrival  of  the  storeship  Lexington  with  some  articles  for  presents  on  board.  He 
determined,  therefore,  rather  than  allow  either  the  Kussians  or  the  French  to  gain  an  advanta»ge 
over  him,  to  encounter  all  the  inconveniences  and  exi^osure  of  a  cruise  to  Japan  in  mid-winter. 
Nor  was  he  to  be  deterred  from  his  purpose  by  the  terrible  accounts  given  by  writers  of  the 
storms,  fogs,  and  other  dangers  to  be  met  with  on  the  inhospitable  Japanese  coasts  during  the 
inclement  season. 

It  had  been  originally  the  intention  of  the  Commodore  to  wait  until  the  spring  had  set  in 
before  going  to  the  north,  but  the  suspicion  of  the  movements  of  the  French  and  Russians 
induced  him  to  alter  his  plans.  The  expected  Lexington  having  fortunately  arrived,  after  an 
unusually  long  passage,  she  was  ordered  to  Hong  Kong,  there  ito  land  such  part  of  her  cargo  as 
would  not  be  required  for  the  Japan  service,  and  to  take  on  board,  in  place  of  what  she  might 
discharge  there,  four  hundred  tons  of  coal.  This  being  accomplished,  the  Commodore  sailed 
from  Hong  Kong  in  the  Susquehanna,  on  the  14th  of  January,  1854,  for  Lew  Chew,  in  company 
with  the  Powhatan,  Mississippi,  and  the  storeships  Lexington  and  Southampton,  the  two  latter 
being  respectively  in  tow  of  the  steamers  ;  the  Macedonian  and  Supply  having  been  a  few  days 
before  dispatched  for  Lew  Chew,  there  to  join  the  Vandalia.  The  Plymouth  was  at  Shanghai, 
and  the  Saratoga  had  orders  to  meet  the  sqiiadron  at  Lew  Chew. 

On  the  very  day  and  at  the  precise  hour  of  the  Commodore's  sailing,  the  steamer  arrived  with 
the  overland  mail,  bringing  precise  instructions  from  the  Navy  Department  to  detach  one  of  the 
steamers  from  the  Japan  expedition,  and  place  her  at  the  disposal  of  tlie  Hon.  Mr.  McLane, 
recently  appointed  commissioner  to  Cliina,  and  then  soon  exi>ected  to  arrive  from  the  United 
States.  As  these  orders  caused  Commodore  Perry  great  embarrassment,  and  would,  if  executed, 
injuriously  delay  his  plans  and  interfere  with  the  success  of  his  mission,  he  determined  not  to  act 
upon  them  immediately  and  thus  weaken  his  force,  but  to  wait  until  he  had  made  a  preliminary 
demonstration  in  Yedo  bay. 

The  Commodore  was  somewhat  surprised  to  learn  from  Sir  George  Bonham,  a  few  days  prior 
to  his  leaving  Hong  Kong,  that  his  visit  to  tlic  Bonin  Islands  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
British  government.  Sir  George  had  called  on  board  the  Susquehanna  to  confer  with  the  Com- 
modore upon  the  subject,  stating  that  he  had  been  instructed  by  Lord  Clarendon,  then  minister 
of  foreign  affairs,  to  ask  of  him  some  explanations  of  his  designs.  The  Commodore,  in  answer, 
declared  his  willingness  to  communicate  to  Sir  George  Bonliam  tlie  information  lie  desired,  and 
accordingly  gave  him  verbally  to  understand  his  objects,  but  at  the  same  time  suggested  thart  he 


30i  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

■would  prefer  to  have  tlie  purport  of  tlieir  conversation  put  in  writing.  To  this  proposition  Sir 
George  immediately  assented,  and  the  following  day  he  wrote  a  letter  recapitulating  what  ho  had 
already  personally  stated,  to  which  the  Commodore  replied.* 


•  SopERiNTENDEjtcT  OF  Trade,  Honc  Kong,  December  22,  1853. 
Sir:  With  reference  to  my  interview  with  your  excellency,  respecting  your  visit  to  the  Bonin  Islands,  and  to  your  proposal 
that  I  should  address  you  oflicially  on  tliis  subject,  1  have  now  the  honor  to  enclose,  for  your  information,  copy  of  a  letter  and 
its  enclosures  from  a  Mr.  Simpson,  wherein  it  is  stated  that  you  have  purchased  ground  from  a  resident  there  for  a  coal  depot, 
for  the  use  of  the  government  of  tlic  United  States  of  America. 

After  our  conversation  yesterday  your  excellency  will,  I  am  sure,  clearly  understand  that  it  is  not  my  desire  nor  intention  to 
dispute  your  right,  or  tliat  of  any  other  person,  to  purchase  land  on  the  Bonin  Islands  ;  but  as  it  is  generally  understood  that  this 
group  was  some  time  ago  taken  possession  of  in  the  name  of  tlie  government  of  Great  Britain,  I  thinli  it  desirable  to  acquaint 
your  excellency  tlierettilh,  in  an  official  form,  that  you  may,  should  you  see  fit,  favor  mo  with  an  e.tplanatiou  of  the  circum- 
stances referred  to  by  Mr.  Simpson. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  excellency's  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

J.  G.  BONHAM. 
His  Excellency  Commodore  Perky,  UniUd  Slates  navy,  S,-c., 

United  States  Steatnship  Susquehanna. 


Beaplet,  Isverxesshire,  October  1,  IS53. 
Mr  Lord:  I  observe  it  stated  in  the  public  prints  that  the  officer  commanding  the  United   States  Japan  expedition  had 
touched  at  the  Bonin  group — that  he  had  made  purchase  from  a  resident  there  of  land  for  a  government  coal  depot. 

Pennit  me  to  call  your  lordship's  attention  to  the  fact  that  this  group  of  islands,  so  advantageously  situated  for  opening  up 
intercourse  with  Japan,  really  appertains  to  Great  Britain. 

Having  had  some  connexion  with  it  while  acting  temporarily  for  her  Majesty's  government  in  the  South  Seas,  its  importance 
was  impressed  upon  my  mind;  and  I  respectfully  bring  under  your  lordship's  notice  the  particulars  which  will  be  found 
narrated  in  the  enclosure  herewith. 

I  have,  Sec, 

ALEX.  SIMPSON. 
True  copy: 

H.  N.  LAY. 
Lord  Clarendon,  S,-c.,  ({c.,  SiC. 


Extract  from  a  pamphlet  published  by  the  writer  in  1S43. 
THE  BOXIN  ISLANDS. 

"WoAiioo,  Sandwich  Islands,  December  27,  1842. 

"  This  small  but  interesting,  and,  from  its  situation,  valuable  group  of  islands  lies  in  latitude  27°  north,  longitude  146°  east, 
within  five  hundred  miles  distance  from  tlie  city  of  Jedo,  in  Japan. 

"  It  appertains  to  Great  Britain,  having  been  discovered  by  an  English  whaling  vessel  in  1825,  and  formally  taken  possession 
of  by  Captain  Beechey,  of  her  Majesty's  ship  *  Blossom,*  in  1827.  There  were  no  aboriginal  inhabitants  found  on  the  islands, 
nor  any  trace  that  such  had  ever  existed. 

"  Their  aggregate  extent  docs  not  exceed  two  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles ;  but  their  geographical  position — so  near  Japan, 
that  mysterious  empire,  of  which  the  trade  will  one  day  be  of  immense  value — gives  them  a  peculiar  importance  and  interest. 
The  climate  is  excellent,  the  soil  rich  and  productive,  and  there  is  an  admirable  harbor,  well  fitted  for  the  port  of  a  com- 
mercial city. 

"  The  first  colonists  of  this  eastern  group  were  two  men  of  the  names  of  Millichamp  and  Mazarro,  who,  having  expressed  to 
Mr.  Charlton,  the  British  consul  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  their  wish  to  settle  on  some  uninhabited  island  in  the  Pacific  ocean, 
were  by  him  recommended  to  go  to  this  group,  of  the  discovery  and  taking  possession  of  which  he  had  been  recently  informed. 
They  sailed  accordingly,  in  1830,  took  with  them  some  Sandwich  Island  natives  as  laborers,  some  live  stock  and  seeds,  and 
landing  at  Port  Lloyd,  hoisted  an  English  flag  which  had  been  given  to  them  by  Mr.  Charlton. 

"  The  little  settlement  has  been  visited  by  several  whaling  vessels  since  that  period,  and  also  by  a  ves.sel  from  the  British 
China  squadron.  Mr.  Millichamp  returned  to  England,  and  Mr.  Mazarro,  anxious  to  get  additional  settlers  or  laborers  to  join 
the  infant  colony,  the  whole  population  of  which  only  numbers  about  twenty,  came  to  tho  Sandwich  Islands  in  the  autanni  of 
1842  in  an  English  whaling   vessel.     Ho  described  the  little  sctllumeiit  us  flourishing,  stated  that  he   hud  hogs  and  goats  in 


CORRESPONDENCE     TOUCHING     THE    BONIN     ISLANDS.  305 

The  followinp;  are  the  copies  of  the  letter  of  the  Navj-  Department  and  the  Commodore's 
answer,  which  hitter  was  necessarily  hurried,  as  it  was  written  and  dispatched  hy  the  pilot  after 
the  squadron  was  fairly  under  way  and  standing  out  of  port : 

Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  Commodore  Perry. 

Navy  Department,  October  28,  1853. 
Sir:  For  some  months  past,  the  department  indulged  the  hope  of  heing  able  to  dispatch  a 
steamer  to  China,  to  be  at  the  service  of  the  commissioner  representing  our  government,  and  to 
aiford  him  facilities  for  accomplishing  the  great  purposes  of  his  mission,  rendered  much  more 
interesting  and  important  by  tlie  startling  revolutionary  movements  in  that  country.  The 
United  States  steamer  Princeton  was  especially  set  apart  for  that  purpose.     But  the  steamers 

abundance  and  a  few  cattle  ;  that  he  grew  Indian  corn  and  many  vegetables,  and  had  all  kinds  of  tropical  fruits ;  that,  in  fact, 
he  could  supply  fresh  provisions  and  vegetables  to  forty  vessels  annually. 

"  5Ir.  Mazarro,  who,  in  virtue  of  his  first  arrival,  receives  the  appellation  of  governor,  finds  the  task  of  governing  even  this 
little  colony  no  easy  matter.  He  applied  to  me  for  assistance  in  this  task,  and  thankfully  received  the  following  document, 
which  I  drew  up  for  his  assistance  and  moral  support: 

'"I  hereby  certify  that  Mr.  Mattliew  Mazarro  was  one  of  the  origmal  leaders  of  the  e.xpedition  fitted  up  from  this  port, 
under  the  protection  of  Richard  Charlton,  esq.,  her  Majesty's  consul,  to  colonize  the  Boiiin  Islands;  and  I  would  intimate  to 
the  masters  of  all  whaling  vessels  touching  at  that  group,  that  the  said  Mazzaro  is  a  sober  and  discreet  man,  and  recommend 
them  to  support  him  by  all  means  in  their  power  against  the  troublers  of  the  peace  of  that  distant  settlement,  recommending, 
also,  to  the  settlers  to  receive  Mr.  Mazarro  as  their  head,  until  some  officer  directly  appointed  by  her  Britannic  .Majesty  is 
placed  over  them.' 

"ALE.X.  SIMPSON, 
"  H.  B.  J\I.  .deling  Consul  for  the  SandicicU  Islands. 

"  God  save  the  queen. 

"A  small  body  of  enterprising  emigrants  would  find  this  group  a  most  admirable  place  for  settlement.  Its  colonization, 
indeed,  I  consider  to  be  a  national  object." 

True  copy  :  H.  N.  LAY. 


Us'iTED  St.\tes  Steam  Frigate  Sisqcehansa, 

Hong-  Kong,  December  23,  1853. 

Sir  :  Referring  to  the  conversation  which  I  yesterday  had  the  honor  of  holding  with  your  excellency,  as  also  to  your  written 
communication,  with  accompanying  papers,  this  moment  received,  I  beg  to  remark  tliat  the  account  given  by  .Mr.  Simpson  is 
far  from  being  correct. 

That  gentleman  has  omitted  to  name  all  the  white  persons  who  embarked  in  the  enterprise  to  form  a  settlement  upon  Peel 
Island.     The  names  and  places  of  birth  of  these  men  may  be  enumerated  as  follows  : 

Mateo  Mazarro,  the  leader,  a  native  of  Genoa  ;  Nathaniel  Savory,  born  in  Massachusetts,  United  States  ;  Alden  B.  Chapin, 
also  a  native  of  Massachusetts  ;  John  Millechamp,  a  British  subject,  and  Charles  .Johnson,  a  Dane. 

These  five  men,  accompanied  by  about  twenty-five  or  thirty  natives  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  male  and  female,  landed  at  Port 
Lloyd  in  the  summer  of  IS.'jO.  Of  the  whites,  Nathaniel  Savory  is  the  onlj-  one  remaining  on  the  island.  Mazarro,  Chapin, 
and  Johnson,  are  dead,  as  I  am  informed  ;  and  Millechamp  is  now  residing  at  Guam,  one  of  the  Ladrone  group. 

It  would,  therefore,  appear,  that  so  far  as  the  nationality  of  the  settlers  could  apply  to  the  question  of  sovereignty,  the 
Americans  were  as  two  to  one,  compared  with  the  three  others,  who  were  subjects  of  ditlerent  sovereigns. 

Since  the  first  occupation  of  the  island,  the  early  settlers  have  been  occasionally  joined  by  white  persons  landing  from 
whaling  ships,  some  few  of  whom  have  remained  ;  and,  at  the  time  of  my  visit  there  were,  I  think,  about  eight  whites  in 
the  settlement. 

These  people,  after  my  departure,  met  together  and  established  a  form  of  municipal  government,  electing  Nathaniel  Savory 
their  chief  magistrate,  and  James  Maitley  and  Thomas  11.  Webb,  counciimen. 

With  respect  to  any  claim  of  sovereignty  that  may  be  founded  upon  the  right  of  previous  discovery,  there  is  abundant  evi- 
dence to  prove  that  these  islands  were  known  to  navigators  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  si.\teenlh  century,  and  were  visited  by 
the  Japanese  in  1675,  who  gave  them  the  name  of  "  Bune  Sima." — (See  enclosed  extracLs  ) 

In  1623,  three  years  before  the  visit  of  Captain  Beechey,  in  H.  M.  ship  "Blossom,"  the  group  was  visited  by  a  Captain 
Coffin,  in  the  American  whaling  ship  "Transit."* 

*1  hare  ascertained  the  name  of  this  vessel  from  a  Captain  Morris,  commanding  an  American  wlialtng  gliip  now  in  itils  port. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  the  Commodore  has  taltcn  pains  to  procure  evidence,  on  oath,  that  Coffin  was  born  In  the  United  States.  As  to  the  sliip 
he  has  do  further  testimony  than  that  stated  above. 

30  .1 


306  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

Princeton,  San  Jacinto,  and  Alleghany,  have  all  proved   miserable  failures.      This   accounts, 
therefore,  for  the   delay  of  a  previous   order  similar   to  this. 

The  President  trusts  that  it  may  not  seriously  incommode  your  operations,  in  regard  to 
Japan,  to  co-oi^crate  with  our  commissioner  in  the  interesting  undertaking  to  bring  about  free 
intercourse  with  ^e  government  of  China ;  to  form  commercial  treaties  of  vast  benefit  to  the 
American  people,  and  introduce  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  trade  and  commerce. 

The  mission  in  which  you  are  engaged  has  attracted  much  attention,  and  excited  much 
expectation.  But  the  present  seems  to  be  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  China,  and  is  considered  by 
many  as  throwing  around  China,  at  least,  as  much  interest  and  attraction  as  Japan  presents. 

To  have  your  name  associated  with  the  opening  of  commercial  intercourse  with  Japan  may 
well  excite  your  pride;  but  to  be  identified,  also,  with  the  great  events  that  we  trust  may  yet 
transpire  in  connexion  with  China,  may  be  well  esteemed  a  privilege  and  an  honor. 

Hoping  that  it  may  not  interfere  seriously  with  your  plan  of  operations,  you  will,  on  receipt 
of  this  communication,  immediately  dispatch  one  of  the  war  steamers  of  your  squadron  to 
Macao,  to  meet  the  Hon.  R.  M.  McLaue,  our  commissioner  to  China,  to  be  subject  to  his  control 
until  other  orders  reach  you.  Mr.€kIcLane  will  bear  with  him  further  instructions  to  you.  In 
the  meantime,  however,  you  will  act  as  heretofore  in  the  matter  of  your  mission — only 
dispatching  the  vessel  as  above  mentioned.  Mr.  McLane  will  probably  leave  on  the  19th 
proximo. 

Your  very  interesting  dispatches  of  25th  June  last  have  been  received,  and  the  department  is 
much  gratified  with  your  successful  operations  thus  far,  and  indulges  the  hope,  that  in  regard 
to  Japan  and    China  there  is  in  store  for  you  much  additional  honor  and  fame. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  C.  DOBBIN. 

Commodore  M.  C.  Perry, 

Commanding  United  States  Squadron,  East  India  and  China  Seas. 


Thus  it  is  plainly  shown  that  the  government  of  her  Britannic  Majesty  cannot  claim  the  sovereignty  upon  the  ground  of  dis- 
covery, and  it  only  remains  to  determine  how  far  this  right  may  be  derived  from  the  ceremony  performed  by  Captain  Beechey. 

Bui  these  are  matters  only  to  be  discussed  by  our  respective  governments,  and  I  refer  to  them  now  merely  in  explanation  of 
our  conversation  of  yesterday. 

With  respect  to  my  purchase  of  a  piece  of  ground  from  Nathaniel  Savory,  though  conceiving  myself  in  no  way  bound  to 
explain  such  arrangement,  1  do  not  hesitate,  in  all  due  courtesy,  to  say,  that  the  transaction  was  one  of  a  strictly  private 
character. 

In  acquiring  the  fee  of  the  land,  I  had  not  the  slightest  idea  of  personal  profit,  but  made  the  purchase  for  a  legitimate  object, 
and  to  withhold  the  only  suitable  position  in  the  harlwr  for  a  coal  depot  from  the  venality  of  unprincipled  speculators,  who 
might  otherwise  have  gained  possession  of  it  for  purposes  of  extortion. 

And  now  let  me  assure  your  excellency,  that  the  course  pursued  by  me  has  been  influenced  solely  by  a  settled  conviction  of 
the  necessity  of  securing  ports  of  refuge  and  supplies  in  the  north  Pacific  for  our  whaling  ships,  and  a  line  of  mail  steamers, 
which  sooner  or  later  must  be  estahlisiied  between  California  and  China. 

I  have  no  special  instructions  from  my  government  upon  the  subject,  and  am  yet  to  learn  whether  my  acts  will  be  approved. 

The  recognized  sovereignly  of  these  islands  would  only  entail  an  expense  upon  the  power  undertaking  their  occupancy  and 
protection,  and  whether  they  may  ultimately  fall  under  the  American,  the  Knglish,  or  a  local  flag,  would  be  a  question  of  little 
importance,  so  long  as  their  ports  were  open  to  the  hospitable  reception  of  all  nations  seeking  shelter  and  refreshment. 

And  I  may  venture  further  to  remark,  that  it  would  seem  to  be  the  policy,  as  well  of  England  as  of  the  United  States,  to  aid 
in  every  possible  way  in  the  accomjjiislnnent  of  an  arrangement  that  would  fill  up  the  remaining  link  of  the  great  mail  route 
of  the  world,  and  thus  furnish  the  means  of  establishing  a  semi-monthly  communication  around  the  entire  globe. 

With  great  respect,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

M.  C.  PERRY, 
Commander-in-Chief  United  States  naval  forces.  East  India,  China,  and  Japan  seas. 

His  Excellency  Sir  [.  George  Boniiam,  Birt., 

//.  D.  M.  Chi^  Superintendent  of  Trade,  Hong  Kong. 


EMBARRASSMENT  OF  THE  COMMODORE.  307 


Commodore  Pcrrij  to  (he  Secretar)/  of  the  Xavy. 

United  States  Steam  Frigate  Susquehanna, 

Hong  Kong,  Janunry  14,  1855. 
Sm:  On  the  eve  of  getting  under  way  for  Japan,  with  all  va\  arrangements  made  to  leave  in 
an  hour,  and  a  large  portion  of  my  force  actually  gone,  I  am  placed  in  possession  of  the  letter 
of  the  department  of  the  28th  of  Octoher,  (which  arrived  by  the  mail  of  last  night,)  directing 
me,  under  certain  views  of  the  government  with  respect  to  China,  to  detach  one  of  the  steamers 
of  my  command,  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Mr.  R.  M.  McLane,  recently  appointed 
Commissioner  to  China. 

Such  an  arrangement,  at  this  moment,  would  be  seriously  inconvenient  and  highly  injurious 
to  my  plans,  the  execution  of  which  has  already  commenced;  indeed,  it  could  not  be  done  at 
this  time  without  deranging  the  operations  of  the  squadron — so  intimately  are  the  steamers 
connected  with  each  other ;  and  I  feel  assured  that,  if  the  department  could  be  made  acquainted 
with  the  true  state  of  things,  and  the  importance  of  my  carrying  the  three  steamers  with  me 
to  Japan,  as  it  now  knows  of  the  events  of  my  former  visit  to  that  Empire,  it  would  at  once 
revoke  the  order;  but,  as  it  is  my  duty  to  obey,  though  it  cannot  be  done  at  this  moment 
without  serious  consequences  to  the  success  of  my  mission,  I  will  detach  one  of  the  steamers 
from  the  Bay  of  Yedo,  and  send  her  to  Macao,  where  only  she  can  be  of  use  in  contributing  to 
the  convenience  of  the  commissioner,  as  her  great  draught  of  water  will  render  it  impossible 
to  ascend,  for  any  useful  purpose,  the  rivers  in  China. 

My  various  letters  to  the  department  will,  I  think,  demonstrate  the  correctness  of  this 
assertion.  However,  I  have  no  alternative,  though  I  cannot  but  express  the  deep  dis- 
appointment and  mortification  to  which  I  am  subjected. 

Although  Mr.  McLane  may  not  find  a  steamer  waiting  for  him  at  Macao  when  he  arrives,  I 
will  order  her  to  the  coast  of  China  the  moment  I  can  do  so  consistently  with  the  public 
interests. 

I  am  sure  the  department  will  not  object  to  the  exercise  of  this  discretion — no  possible 
inconvenience  can  arise  from  the  delay.  Mr.  IMcLane  may  probably  be  detained  some  time  in 
Europe,  and  the  steamer  may  be  back  in  time  to  meet  him,  and  before  he  will  be  prepared 
to  act. 

I  must  confess  that  this  order  has  dampened  my  hopes  very  much,  but  I  will  do  the 
best  I  can. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

M.  C.  PERRY, 
Commander-in-chief  of  United  States  Naval  Forces 

in  the  East  India,  China,  and  Japan  Seas. 

Hon.  James  C.  Dobbin, 

Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Washington. 

The  English  mail  steamer,  which  had  arrived  just  before  the  departure  of  the  squadron,  had 
brought  the  cases  and  packages  expected  from  Paris,  containing  presents  for  the  Japanese, 
but  too  late  to  be  taken  on  board  any  of  the  ships.     They  were  therefore  passed  over  to  the  care 


30S 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


of  some  commercial  friends  at  Canton,  who  were  requested  to  send  them  to  Shanghai  hy  her 
Majesty's  steamer  the  Eattler,  to  sail  for  that  place  two  days  after  the  Commodore's  departure, 
and  on  hoard  of  which  they  were  to  he  received  hy  the.  polite  permission  of  Admiral  Pellew. 
They  were  to  be  shipped  then  in  the  Saratoga,  wliich  would  carry  them  to  Lew  Chew,  where 
they  were  duly  received  in  time  for  the  second  expedition  to  Japan. 

Tlie  squadron  having  set  sail  from  Hong  Kong,  the  course  was  directed  through  Lymoon 
passage.  It  was  thought  desirable  to  get  well  to  the  northward  before  striking  over  for  the 
south  end  of  Formosa.  The  northeasterly  current,  which  is  constantly  setting  with  great 
rapidity  round  the  south  end  of  this  island,  and  with  decreased  velocity  along  its  eastern  coast, 
was  especially  noticed  during  the  voyage,  and  careful  observations,  the  results  of  which 
will  be  given  in  a  future  chapter,  were  made  upon  its  force,  direction,  and  other  characteristics, 
which  resemble  remarkably  those  of  the  Gulf  stream  on  our  own  coast.  The  monsoon  fortu- 
nately not  having  been  very  strong,  a  very  favorable  passage  was  made,  with  the  two  store  ships 
in  tow,  as  far  as  the  northeastern  point  of  Formosa,  when  they  were  cast  off,  with  orders  to 
follow  the  steamers  to  Kapha,  where  the  latter  arrived  on  the  20th  of  Janiiary,  and  the  former 
on  the  twenty-fourth  of  the  same  month.  Here  were  found  the  Macedonian,  Vandalia,  and 
Supply.     The  Saratoga,  however,  had  not  yet  made  her  appearance. 


View  on  the  Pack-slian  Uiyer. 


INCREASED    CORDIALITY    OF    THE    LEW    CUE  WANS, 


309 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


IKCREASED   CORDIALITY  AVC  FRIEST3LY  ISTERCOrRSE  OS  THE    PART   OF   THE    LEW  CHEWAXS. SECOND  VISIT   OF  THE  COMMODORE  TO 

THE    PALACE    AT    SHCI. ENTERTAINMENT    BY  THE    REGENT. NO    METALLIC  COIN    OF   LEW   CHEW  TO    BE    OBTAINED. REV.    MR. 

JONEs'    SECOND    EXPLORATION    IN    SEARCH   OF   COAL. FINDS   IT  AT   SHAH  BAY. THE  MINERAL  NOT  VALCED   BY  THE  NATIVES. 

ADDITIONAL    GEOLOGICAL    OBSERVATIONS    IN    LEW    CHEW. REMARKABLE    SALUBRITY    OF     THE    ISLAND. TENURE     OF    LANDS. 

AGRICULTURE. RICE,    POTATOES,    SUGAR,    COTTON,  WHEAT,    BARLEY,    MILLET,    SAGO,  BEANS,  PEAS,  TOBACCO,  EDIBLE    ROOTS, 

FRUITS,    TREES,    FLOWERS,    ETC. SUGAR    MILLS. GRAIN    MILLS    ANT)    GRANARIES. POPULATION. ETHNOLOGY. COSTUME. 

POLITENESS     OF     MANNER. GENERAL     INTELLIGENCE. ARCHITECTURE. RUDE    ATTEMPTS     IN     PAINTING     AND    SCULPTURE. 

AMUSEMENTS. — GOVERNMENT. — RELIGION. — FUNERAL     RITES. — JAPANESE    SPIES    IN    LEW    CHEW. DEPARTURE    FOR    THE    BAY 

OF    YEDO. 


IS  MOXTHS  liad  paf?sed  since  tlie  Commodore's  last 
departure  from  Lew  Chew,  and  now,  on  his  fourth 
visit  to  that  interesting  ishind,  he  observed  a  very 
marked  change  in  the  conduct  of  the  Lew  Chewans 
towards  the  Americans.  The  axithorities  readil}'  ftir- 
nished  whatever  was  required,  and  received  a  due  price 
for  it,  seemingly  as  a  matter  of  course,  while  the  people 
bad  evidently  thrown  off  somewhat  of  their  reserve, 
[d  were  more  disposed  to  a  friendly  intercourse.  The 
lien  in  the  street  grew  quite  familiar  with  the  sight  of 
the  strangers,  and  did  not  avoid  them,  while  the 
"^^  women,  even,  no  longer  fled  from  the  market  ])laces, 
^  but  remained  in  charge  of  their  stalls,  aj^parently 
unmindful  of  the  foreign  intruders. 
The  Commodore,  soon  after  his  arrival,  gave  notice  to  the  regent  that  it  was  his  intention 
before  leaving  Xapha  to  visit  the  palace  of  Shui  for  the  second  time,  thinking  it  not  amiss,  as 
the  Lew  Chewans  seemed  to  be  gradually  yielding  to  American  intercourse,  to  weaken  by 
repetition  the  very  strong  opposition  at  first  evinced  to  opening  the  gates  of  the  royal  residence 
to  foreign  visitors.  The  regent,  however,  still  exhibited  a  very  decided  aversion  to  the 
admission  of  the  Commodore  within  the  sacred  walls  of  the  palace,  and  in  a  courteous  commu- 
nication expressed  a  willingness  to  receive  him,  but  a  very  strong  preference  for  Naplia  as  the 
place  of  reception.     The  Commodore,  however,  holding  to  his  original  intention,  declared,  in 


310  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

answer,  ttat  it  would  be  far  more  respectful  toward  the  empire  of  Lew  Chew  to  go  to  the  royal 
palace,  and  added  that  he  would  expect  that  horses,  kagos,  and  kago-bearers  should  be  in 
readiness  to  carry  him  and  his  attending  party  on  the  day  proposed  for  the  visit. 

The  regent  was  prepared  to  meet  this  demand  with  all  the  usual  variety  of  objections,  in 
accordance  with  the  crooked  Lew  Chewan  policy,  but  they  were  answered  by  the  Commodore's 
repetition  of  his  original  resolve. 

The  regent  accordingly  put  the  best  face  possible  on  the  matter,  and  made  all  the  necessary 
preparations ;  and  when  the  Commodore,  on  the  3d  of  February,  carried  his  intentions  into 
execution  he  was  received  with  all  proper  respect  and  the  usual  courtesies.  He  paid  his  first 
visit,  as  on  the  previous  occasion,  to  the  palace,  accompanied  by  a  military  guard  and  a  suite  of 
officers,  and  was  received  with  the  same  formal  ceremonies.  Immediately  after,  as  on  the  former 
visit,  the  party  proceeded  to  the  regent's  house,  where  they  found  a  handsome  feast  in  prepara- 
tion, to  which  the  Americans,  having  now  somewhat  accustomed  their  palates  to  the  Lew 
Chewan  cookery,  succeeded  in  doing  better  justice  than  on  the  previous  occasion.  In  the  course 
of  the  entertainment  the  Commodore  informed  the  regent  that  he  was  desirous  of  obtaining  for 
the  United  States  mint,  in  exchange  for  American  coinage  of  equal  value,  all  coins  in  use  on 
the  island  ;  as  it  was  well  known  that  the  imperial  money  of  Japan  was  in  circulation  in  Lew 
Chew,  although  it  had  hitherto  been  carefully  concealed.  Both  the  regent  and  the  pe-ching  or 
treasurer  declared  that  there  were  no  coins  in  the  island,  except  a  few  in  the  possession  of  the 
Japanese  residents,  who  would  not  part  with  them.  This  declaration  the  Commodore  was 
inclined  to  believe  to  be,  like  most  of  their  very  positive  assertions,  false,  and  he  therefore  urged 
upon  them  a  compliance  with  his  request,  and  left  with  them  a  certain  number  of  American 
coins,  of  about  fifty  dollars  in  value.  The  Commodore,  at  the  same  time,  stated  that  he  should 
expect  to  receive  a  number  of  Japanese  or  Lew  Chew  coins  in  exchange  before  his  departure. 
The  subject  was  then  dropped  ;  but  just  on  the  eve  of  the  squadron's  sailing,  a  formal  commu- 
nication was  received  from  the  authorities  in  the  name  of  Shang-Hyung-Hiun,  superintendent 
of  afiTairs  in  the  Middle  Hill  prefecture,  in  the  kingdom  of  Lew  Chew,  high  minister,  and 
Ma-Liang-tsai,  treasurer,  in  which  document  it  was  stated,  that  on  several  occasions  demands 
had  been  made  for  an  exchange  of  Japan  coins  for  American,  but  that  it  was  impossible  to 
comply. 

The  reasons  given  were  that  all  the  commercial  transactions  between  Lew  Chew  and  Japan 
were  carried  on  by  the  interchange  of  commodities,  and  not  by  the  use  of  coin.  That  all  the 
gold  and  silver  used  by  the  Lew  Chewans  themselves  for  their  hair  pins  were  obtained  from 
China.  That  although  every  efl'ort  had  been  made  to  obtain  Japanese  coins  by  careful  investi- 
gations among  those  in  Lew  Chew  engaged  in  trade  with  Japan,  it  had  been  in  vain,  as  the 
Japanese  strictly  forbade  by  law  the  exportation  of  their  money,  and  that  none  could  accordingly 
be  brought  into  the  island.  With  this  document  the  authorities  returned  the  American  coin 
that  had  been  deposited  with  them,  but  as  the  Commodore  refused  to  receive  it,  it  was  left  in 
their  possession. 

At  the  end  of  the  regent's  banquet  each  of  the  guests  was  presented,  on  leaving  the  hall, 
with  a  red  card,  which  was  understood  to  entitle  the  holder,  at  Naplia,  to  refreshments  and 
other  privileges.  This  was  a  curious  practice,  the  object  of  which  seemed  to  extend  the 
entertainment,  and  was  a  very  creditable  picture  of  Lew  Chewan  hospitality,  as  it  appeared  to 
give  it  an  indefinite  duration. 


GEOLOGICAL    0  B  S  E  R  V  A  T  I  O  X  S  . — TENURE    OF    LANDS.  311 

Exploring  parties  had  been  early  dispatched  to  mate  further  investigations  of  the  condition 
and  resources  of  the  island.  These  investigations  were  directed  chiefly  to  the  examination  of 
the  geological  formation,  the  nature  of  the  soil,  and  the  mineralogical  and  agricultural  resources 
of  Lew  Chew.  The  officers  selected  for  the  various  duties  were  Chaplain  Jones  and  several  of 
the  surgeons,  whose  studies  and  tastes  were  supposed  to  fit  them  especially  for  making  those 
observations,  which  had  more  or  less  a  scientific  bearing. 

The  chaplain  concentrated  his  investigations  upon  the  resources  of  the  island  in  regard  to 
coal,  and  the  result  seemed  to  prove  the  interesting  and  important  fact  of  the  existence,  at  Shah 
bay,  of  that  combustible,  a  supply  of  whicli  might  be  readily  obtained  by  proper  mining.  The 
natives  do  not  seem  conscious  of  the  presence  of  this  valuable  mineral  in  their  island ;  they 
remain,  probably,  totally  unacquainted  with  its  uses. 

In  the  geological  features  of  the  island  of  Lew  Chew,  the  first  peculiarity  that  strikes  the  eye 
are  the  great  masses  of  coral  rock  abounding  everywhere,  even  on  the  tops  of  the  highest 
mountains,  four  or  five  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  steep  promontories 
along  the  coast  are  generally  compo.sed  of  gneiss,  while  in  the  interior  some  of  the  loftier 
eminences  show  strata  of  slate.  The  base  of  the  island  is  of  the  two  combined,  upon  which  the 
coral  zoophite  has  built  its  structures,  which  by  some  internal  convulsion  have  been  upheaved  to 
their  present  height.  The  soil  on  the  surface  is  composed  of  the  detritus  of  coral  and  decomposed 
vegetable  and  animal  remains.  As  the  streams  are  free  of  lime,  it  is  conjectured  that  their 
springs  take  their  origin  from,  and  their  currents  flow  through,  those  strata  which  are  below  the 
coral  formation. 

The  soil  varies  in  accordance  with  the  face  of  the  country,  being  rich  and  fertile  in  the  valleys 
and  plains,  and  comparatively  poor  upon  the  mountain  tops  and  their  acclivities.  The  climate 
is  generally  favorable  to  culture,  though  droughts  are  said  occasionally  to  occur,  and  the  island 
must  sufi;er  from  the  typhoons,  being  in  the  direct  range  of  their  ordinary  occurrence.  The 
climate  is  undoubtedly  highly  favorable  also  to  health,  as  may  be  inferred,  not  only  from  the 
condition  of  the  inhabitants  but  the  topographical  characteristics  of  the  island.  Tiie  entire 
absence  of  marshes,  together  with  the  pure  air  constantly  wafted  over  the  laud  in  the  breezes 
from  the  surrounding  sea,  must  exempt  it  from  all  miasmatic  disease.  Although  situated  near 
the  tropics,  the  heat  is  so  tempered  by  the  sea  winds  and  the  elevation  of  the  laud,  that  it  is 
never  excessive. 

All  the  land  in  Lew  Chew  is  held  by  government  and  rented  to  large  tenants,  who,  in  their 
turn,  sub-let  it  to  smaller  ones,  who  are  the  direct  cultivators  of  the  soil.  The  system  of 
cultivation  is  rude  and  primitive,  being  performed  by  the  hands  of  men  and  women,  with 
the  occasional  aid,  however,  of  the  horse  and  bull.  A  rude  kind  of  plough,  chiefly  made  of 
wood  but  tipped  with  an  iron  point,  and  of  the  old  Koman  model,  is  used.  They  have  harrows, 
hoes,  sickles,  and  axes,  but  all  of  simple  and  awkward  construction.  They  have  but  small 
supplies  of  iron  and  evidently  employ  it  with  a  very  strict  regard  to  economy. 

As  rice  is  one  of  the  chief  products  of  Lew  Chew  and  requires  abundant  supplies  of  water,  a 
very  extensive  system  of  irrigation  is  carried  on.  The  ground  is  arranged  in  a  series  of  terraces 
which  succeed  each  other,  from  the  acclivities  of  the  hills  down  to  the  bottoms  of  the  valleys, 
and  the  water  of  the  neighboring  streams  is  directed  into  them  from  the  sides  by  means  of 
ditches  and  conduits.  There  are  no  dams,  properly  so  called,  but  the  irrigation  is  so  graduated 
by  means  of  the  terrace-like  arrangement  of  the  land  that  the  supply  of  water  is  gradual,  and 


31.2  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

never  in  such  excess  as  to  produce  any  of  the  ill  efiects  of  flooding  or  surface  washing.    The  land, 
generally,  is  divided  into  small  allotments  appropriated  to  single  individuals,  so  that  the  surface 
of  the  country  has  rather  the  appearance  of  being  divided  into  highly  cultivated  gardens  than 
overspread  with  fertile  fields.     In  preparing  the  land  for  the  cultivation  of  rice  it  is  first 
overflowed,  and  then  the  laborer,  who  goes  to  work  knee  deep  into  the  mud  and  water,  hoes  it 
into  furrows.     The  plough  is  used  subsequently  for  further  loosening  the  soil,  and  is  followed  by 
the  application  of  the  harrow.     All  this  process  is  carried  on  while  the  land  is  overflowed,  and 
although  this  is  considered  by  our  agriculturists  as  the  very  worst  kind  of  farming,  it  seems 
very  well  adapted  to  Lew  Che  wan  husbandry  with  its  inferior  implements.     The  rice  is  not 
sown  broad-cast  over  the  fields,  but  first  grown  in  plots  and  then  transplanted  by  hand.     The 
water  was  observed  always  covering  the  fields,  but  it  was  not  ascertained  whether  it  was  ever  drawn 
off,  probably,  however,  not  until  the  harvest,  which  takes  place  before  the  rice  is  "dead  ripe." 
"When  this  occurs  the  plants  are  cut,  gathered  into  bundles,  and  then  spread  out  to  dry  in  the 
air  and  sun.     The  product  gives  something  like  twenty  bu.shels  to  the  acre,  and  the  head  of  the 
grain   is   remarkably   large   and   full,  in   consequence,  probably,  of  the   mode   of  growth   by 
transplantation.     The  rice  fields  probably  yield  two  crops  annually,  with  an  alternation  of  a 
supply  of  taro  or  sweet  potatoes,  both  of  which  are  extensively  cultivated.     Sugar  cane,  wheat, 
cotton,  barley  in  small  quantities,  tobacco,  several  varieties  of  millet,  sago,  beans,  peanuts, 
turnips,  peas,  radishes  of  very  large  size,  some  being  three  feet  in  length  and  twelve  inches  in 
circumference,  egg-plants,  onions,  and  cucumbers,  are  all  found  growing  in  the  island.     Of 
fruits  there  are  the  peach,  the  water  melon,  the  banana,  the  wild  raspberry,  and  the  fig.     Grass 
is  not  cultivated,  but  some  wild  and  coarse  varieties  are  occasionally  seen.     It  might  be  supposed 
by  the  casual  observer,  from  the  beautiful  asj^ect  presented  by  the  rich  growth  of  the  island, 
that  the  variety  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  is  very  great.     Close  investigation,  however,  proves 
the  reverse,  for  there  is  a  remarkable  sameness  pervading  nearly  the  whole  country  from  north 
to  south.     The  flora  in  some  respects  presents  a  tropical  appearance,  but  not  so  much  so  as 
mio-ht  be  expected  from  the  position  of  the  island  as  compared  with  some  others  having  a 
hio-her  latitude.     The  trees  that  are  most  abundant,  are  the  pine  and  the  banyan,  (ficus  indica,) 
but  as  these  are  found  growing  in  regular  lines  along  the  highways,  forming  beautiful  avenues, 
leading  to  the  tombs  and  villages,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  have  been  planted.     The 
banyan  is  particularly  abundant  and  is  much  used  for  hedges,  being  planted  on  the  tops  of  the 
coral  walls  which  surround  the  houses,  and  pruned  and  cut  into  symmetrical  forms.     The 
vegetable  ivory  tree,  the  ebony,  the  mulberry,  several  varieties  of  the  palm,  the  orange,  the 
lemon,  and  the  banana,  are  all  found,  but  many  of  tiicni  are  evidently  not  indigenous.     Of 
flowers  there  is  the  camelia,  which  grows  wild  and  bears  a  beautiful  pink  blossom,  the  dahlia, 
the  morning  glory,  the  marsh  mallow,  the  hibiscus,  and  some  few  others. 

The  bamboo,  which  grows  abundantly,  is  of  the  greatest  use  to  the  inhabitants,  supplying 
them  with  food,  with  material  for  clothing  and  for  building,  and,  when  in  its  natural  stateli- 
ness  of  growth,  with  a  beautiful  shade  for  their  hou.ses  and  villages.  The  ferns  are  exceedingly 
fine  upon  the  i.sland,  and  some  of  them  are  of  the  large  and  spreading  tree  variety.  The  agri- 
culture of  the  island,  though  of  the  simplest  character,  as  we  have  seen,  yet  seems  to  answer  its 
purpose  admirably.  Of  the  five  hundred  thousand  acres,  embraced  by  the  whole  area  of  Great 
Lew  Chew,  one-eighth  at  least  is  under  cultivation,  producing,  it  is  supposed,  about  two  hundred 
thousand  bushels  of  rice,  fifty  thousand  bushels  of  wheat,  with  the  additional  product  of  thirty- 


S  U  G  A  li      MILLS. 


313 


five  thousand  acres  of  sweet  potatoes,  two  thousand  acres  of  sugar  cane,  and  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  acres  of  beans,  taro,  and  other  hinds  of  grain  and  vogetabk-s.  The  implements  of  labor, 
as  has  been  observed,  are  rude  in  construction,  but  are  handled  with  great  skill  and  effect.  The 
agricultural  machinery  is  simple  in  principle  but  generally  effective.  The  sugar  mills  consist 
of  three  cylinders  of  hard  wood,  supported  in  an  upright  position  by  means  of  a  wooden  frame. 
The  cylinders  are  about  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  are  arranged  in  a  row,  with  a  mortice  between 
them  to  regulate  the  approach  and  their  pressure  upon  the  cane.  The  central  one  has  a  wooden 
axle  or  shaft  extending  through  the  frame  which  supports  it,  to  which  is  attached  a  curved  lever 
of  fifteen  feet  in  length,  by  which  tlic  mill  is  readily  worked.  This  central  cylinder  has  a  row 
of  cogs  of  hard  wood  near  its  upper  end,  which  play  into  mortices  cut  into  each  of  the  two  other 
cylinders.  A  single  bull  or  horse  is  generally  used  to  work  the  mill,  and  the  animal  moves  in  a 
circuit  of  about  thirty  feet  in  diameter.  The  cane  is  placed  first  between  the  central  and  right 
cylinders,  and  before  its  escape  it  is  caught  by  the  hand  of  the  workman  and,  being  twisted  like 
a  rope,  is  thrust  in  between  the  central  and  left  cylinders,  by  which  it  is  completely  crushed  and 


Sii^'ar  Mill  in  Lew  Cliew. 

its  juice  expressed,  which  flows  through  gutters  into  a  tub  placed  in  a  hole  near  by.     Tlie  juice 
is  then  conveyed  to  neighboring  houses,  tcmjiorarily  constructed  for  the  purpose,  and  there  boiled 
in  iron  pans  containing  about  eight  or  ten  gallons.     What  use  is  made  of  all  the  sugar  it  is  difiicult 
to  understand,  as  the  common  beverage,  which  is  tea,  is  never  sweetened. 
40  J 


31-4  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

It  proljably  is  kept  as  a  delicacy  for  the  palates  of  the  higher  classes,  who  delight  in  sweet- 
meats and  other  confections  of  sugar,  or  sent  as  an  export  or  tribute  to  Japan.  In  spite  of  an 
abundant  product,  sugar  is  evidently  a  scarce  article  among  the  common  people,  for  one  of  the 
interpreters  begged  some  from  the  Americans,  as  if  he  esteemed  it  a  rare  luxury.  The  refuse 
cane,  after  being  pressed,  (baggass,  as  we  call  it,)  is  carefully  dried  and  used  as  fuel.  The  Lew 
Chewans  have  also  mills  for  tlie  grinding  of  grain.  These  are  made  of  excellent  millstones, 
and  are  worked  by  hand.  The  flour,  however,  remains  unbolted,  but  makes  a  good  and  sweet 
bread.  The  granaries  are  marked  objects  in  every  village  throughout  the  island.  They  are 
generally  constructed  of  either  woven  cane  or  wood,  and  in  a  square  form,  increasing  in  width 
from  their  base,  which  is  supported  upon  posts  placed  upon  stones,  to  their  tops,  which  is  covered 
with  a  rice  straw  thatch.  They  have  the  advantage  of  being  well  ventilated  and  protected  from 
vermin,  of  which,  especially  of  rats,  there  is  a  great  abundance.  These  granaries  often  contaiu 
as  much  as  five  hundred  bushels,  and  as  they  are  grouped  together  in  numbers,  amounting  some- 
times to  nearly  a  score,  they  are  supposed  to  be  the  property  of  the  government.* 

The  population  of  Great  Lew  Chew  must  amount  to  between  one  hundred  and  fifty  and  two 
hundi'ed  thousand,  since  there  are  two  large  cities,  those  of  Napha  and  Shui,  and  some  thirty- 
six  towns  beside,  with  an  average  of  about  six  thousand  people  each.  The  island  seems  to  be 
peopled  by  two  distinct  races,  the  Japanese  and  the  Lew  Chewan,  properly  so  called.  They  both 
have  originally  sprung,  however,  from  the  same  stock.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  the 
Lew  Chewan  people  are  chiefly  allied  to  the  Tagallas,  a  race  which  is  spread  over  the  Phillipine, 
Marian,  and  other  Pacific  islands,  and  which  originally  sprang  from  the  Malays.  There  is, 
however,  no  affinity  between  the  Lew  Chew,  Malay,  and  Tagalla  languages,  nor  are  the  relations 
of  their  physical  peculiarities  such  as  to  favor  the  opinion  of  a  common  origin.  From  the  dis- 
covery, during  the  exploration  of  the  island,  of  some  remains  of  ancient  Hindoo  worship,  it  was 
surmised  that  the  Lew  Chewans  might  possibly  have  been  originally  a  colony  from  southern 
Asia.  Whether  these  remains  are  the  relics  of  a  people  living  in  Lew  Chew  previous  to  the 
present  races,  or  only  the  vestiges  of  a  religion  once  held  by  one  of  the  present  existing  races, 
but  now  supplanted  by  the  wide-spreading  Buddhism,  it  is  not  easy  to  decide.  Dr.  Fahs,  how- 
ever, (to  whom,  together  with  his  associate.  Dr.  Green,  we  are  indebted  for  the  principal  facts 
of  this  chapter,)  inclines  to  the  belief  that  the  Hindoo  idolatry  was  introduced  directly  by  means 
of  priests  coming  from  India  as  missionaries,  or  through  the  medium  of  the  commercial  inter- 
course which  has,  in  all  ages,  existed  between  eastern  nations. 

The  Japanese  and  the  Lew  Chewans  differ  slightly  from  each  other,  the  latter  being  more 
effeminate  and  somewhat  less  intelligent,  but  this  may  be  owing  to  their  simple,  retired  life, 
upon  a  remote  island,  where  their  wants  are  few,  and  nature  is  generous.  They  have,  however, 
such  strong  resemblances  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  resist  the  conviction  of  their  sameness 
of  origin.  They  have  both  the  same  height,  and  very  similar  features.  In  both,  the  head  is 
oval,  approaching  in  form  that  of  the  European,  the  frontal  bones  rounded,  and  the  forehead 
high,  the  face  oval,  and  the  general  expression  mild  and  amiable,  the  eyes  large  and  animated, 
though  more  so  in  the  Japanese  than  in  the  Lew  Chewans,  the  irides  in  both  are  dark  brown  or 
black,  the  lashes  long,  and  the  eyebrows  rather  heavy  and  arched. 

The  long  angular  form  of  the  internal  canthus  of  the  eye  is  seldom  seen,  either  in  the  Japanese 

•  A  detailed  and  highly  interesting  report  on  Low  Chew  agriculture,  prepared  by  the  fleet  surgeon,  Dr.  Green,  will  be  found 
in  Appendix,  volume"!. 


LEW  CUEW  AND  JAPANESE  LANGUAGES. 


315 


or  Lew  Chewan.  The  nose  in  each  is  generally  handsome,  and  well  proportioned  to  the  other 
features  ;  the  root  of  it  is  not  depressed,  as  in  the  Chinese  or  Malay,  and  the  nostrils  are  not  so 
widely  dilated.  The  clieek  bones  are  not  very  prominent,  and  consequently  there  is  a  want  of 
that  squareness  of  face  which  is  so  remarkable  in  some  eastern  races.  The  mouth  is  rather 
large,  the  teeth  broad,  very  white  and  strong,  and  the  chin  neatly  cut.  One  mark  the  Japanese 
and  Lew  Chewans  have  in  common  to  distinguish  them  from  the  Malay  or  Chinaman  ;  it  is  the 
possession  of  a  strong  black  beard,  which  both  the  latter  are  destitute  of  to  any  extent.  In 
other  parts  of  the  body  the  same  conformity  of  organization  exists  in  the  Lew  Chewan  and 
Japanese. 

But  it  is  not  in  mere  physical  conformity  that  we  trace  the  same  origin  of  both  races.  The 
identity  of  the  two  races  is  proved  by  the  more  satisfactory  testimony  of  affinity  of  language. 
Dr.  Fahs,  while  preparing  his  report  upon  the  ethnology  of  Lew  Chew,  gave  as  much  attention 
as  his  opportunities  afforded  to  the  study  of  the  language,  and  prepared  the  following  vocabulary, 
in  which  some  Lew  Chewan  and  Japanese  words  are  placed  side  by  side.  It  will  be  observed 
there  is  such  a  similarity  between  the  two,  that  no  doubt  can  be  entertained  of  the  words  being 
the  same,  with  only  the  difference  which  may  be  reasonably  put  down  to  peculiarity  of  dialect. 


Lew  Clieic. 

Japanese. 

Lew  Chew. 

Japanese. 

Water, 

Mizee, 

Mi-dsoo. 

i  Rice, 

Kumee, 

Ko-me. 

Tea, 

Chaa, 

Ts-ga. 

1 

j  Sweet  potato. 

Karaemu, 

Ka-ran-da-imo. 

Sun, 

Fee, 

Fi. 

Pan, 

Nudee, 

Ko-na-be. 

Fire, 

Fiee, 

Fi. 

Wine, 

Sakee, 

Sa-kee. 

Moon, 

Sichee, 

Ts'ki. 

Tobacco, 

Tobako, 

Ta-ba-ko. 

Star, 

Huzee, 

Ho-si. 

Basket  chair, 

Kagoo^ 

Ka-go. 

Wind, 

Hadzee, 

Ka-zee. 

Silver, 

Nanzee, 

Si-ro-goone. 

Chicken, 

Nuatuee, 

Ne-wa-ts-ri. 

Iron, 

Titzee, 

Tets'. 

Egg, 

Tomague, 

To-ma-go. 

Cap, 

Hachee-machee,  Ba-oosi. 

Sea, 

Oomee, 

Oo-mi. 

Looking  glass 

Ka-ga-me, 

Ka-ga-mi. 

Eye, 

Mee, 

Me. 

Book, 

Soomuzee, 

S'yo-mots. 

Hand, 

Tee, 

Te. 

Chair, 

Tee, 

K'yokf'rokf. 

Nose, 

Hanaa, 

Ha-na. 

Stone, 

Ezaa, 

I-si. 

Mouth, 

Koochee, 

Koo-tse. 

Swine, 

Boobaa, 

Boo-ta. 

Tree, 

Kee, 

Ki. 

It  will  be  observed  that  two-thirds  of  the  words,  at  least,  in  the  comparative  vocabulary,  are, 
with  the  slight  differences  of  spelling,  almost  exactly  the  same.  The  orthography  of  a  language 
employed  by  a  foreigner  depends  more  or  less  upon  his  capricious  estimate  of  the  sounds  that 
the  strange  words  seem  to  his  ear  to  possess,  and  accordingly  different  observers  will  necessarily 
employ  a  variety  of  spelling.  In  these  words  in  the  comparative  lists  which  seem  to  differ 
there  will,  on  investigation,  be  found  considerable  affinity,  and  they  will  almost  invariably  show 
a  common  derivation  from  the  same  root.  This  lexical  comparison  is  all  we  can  here  make. 
Unfortunately,  we  have  no  Lew  Chew  grammar  to  compare  with  that  of  Japan. 

Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  full  beard,  as  a  distinctive  mark  between  the  Lew 
Chewans  or  Japanese,  and  Chinese  and  Malayan.  The  men  in  Lew  Chew  in  youtli  have  almost 
invariably  a  rich  jet  black  beard,  which  in  age  becomes  as  white  as  snow.  The  higher  classes 
allow  their  beards  to  grow  of  great  length,  and  cultivate  them  with  great  care  and  pride,  while  the 
inferior  people  are  obliged  by  law  to  cut  theirs.    The  moustache  is  also  generally  worn,  but  seldom 


316  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

grows  very  luxuriantly.  The  Lair  is  ordinarily  of  a  deep  black,  and  is  allowed  to  grow  in  long 
locks  behind  and  at  the  sides  of  the  head,  while  the  middle  of  the  pate  is  shaved  clean.  The 
hair  being  well  oiled  and  gathered  up  from  the  sides  and  back,  is  formed  into  a  large  knot  and 
affixed  to  the  bald  place  in  the  head  with  pins  either  of  gold,  silver,  or  brass,  according  to  the 

rank  of  the  wearer. 

The  Lew  Chewan  male  has  generally  a  well  proportioned  figure,  with  broad  and  largely 
developed  chest,  narrow  hips,  and  a  slim  waist  and  neck.  A  deformed  person  is  a  very  rare 
sight  in  Lew  Chew.  The  costume  is  neat,  graceful,  and  suitable  to  the  climate,  and  its  flowing 
outline  is  particularly  becoming  lo  the  aged,  who,  with  their  long  white  beards,  have  quite  a 
patriarchal  look.  The  dress  is  a  loose  robe,  with  very  wide  sleeves,  which  falls  nearly  to  the 
ankles,  and  is  gathered  in  at  the  waist  with  a  girdle  of  silk  or  grass  cloth,  to  which  is  attached 
the  invariable  pouch  containing  the  pipe  and  a  supply  of  tobacco.  The  cap  worn  by  the  higher 
classes  and  called  in  the  Lew  Chew  tongue  a  hachee-machee,  is  of  cylindrical  form,  and  seems  to 
be  made  of  two  bands  crossing  each  other  in  a  figure  of  eight  form.  The  laboring  people  go 
invariably  barefooted,  but  the  better  classes  wear  a  white  stocking,  to  which,  when  they  go  out, 
a  straw  sandal  is  added.  A  band  from  the  front  passes  between  the  great  and  next  toe,  as  is 
seen  in  the  ancient  statues.  The  peasants  in  the  country  go  bareheaded  as  well  as  barefooted, 
and  are  scantily  clothed  in  a  coarse  cotton  shirt,  or  with  a  mere  cloth  about  the  loins. 

The  women  are  kept  so  secluded,  particularly  those  of  the  higher  rank,  that  it  is  difficult  for 
a  stranger  to  obtain  a  sufficient  opportunity  to  investigate  their  peculiarities  very  thoroughly. 
They  are  generally  short  of  stature,  and  by  no  means  handsome,  having  a  great  squareness  of 
face,  and  more  depressed  noses  than  the  men.  Some  of  the  ladies  of  distinction,  the  exclusive 
few,  are  described  as  being  tolerably  good  looking,  and  of  fair  complexion.  The  women  wear 
a  robe  very  much  like  that  worn  by  the  men,  though  without  the  girdle,  while  their  hair,  none 
of  which  is  shaved,  is  dressed  in  the  same  style,  except  that  the  top  knot  is  rather  more  in 
front,  and  somewhat  to  the  side  of  the  head.  "Woman  is  by  no  means  as  high  in  the  social 
scale  in  Lew  Chew  as  she  should  be,  being  regarded  as  a  mere  slave  or  chattel,  and  always 
slighted  by  the  men,  who  seem  hardly  to  notice  her,  either  in  the  houses  or  in  the  streets, 
although  the  females  in  their  deportment  toward  strangers  show  apparently  much  modesty 
and  amiability. 

The  Lew  Chewans  are  a  remarkably  courteous  people  in  their  ordinary  intercourse  with  each 
other,  and  in  their  occasional  relations  with  foreigners.  Their  usual  form  of  obeisance  is  pre- 
posterously polite,  they  clasp  their  hands  with  a  spasmodic  earnestness  of  courtesy,  and  pressing 
them  to  their  forehead,  bow  so  low  that  it  is  a  marvel  how  they  preserve  their  centre  of  gravity. 
The  ordinary  bending  of  the  body,  which  seems  to  be  to  the  utmost  extent  of  suppleness  of 
back,  is  still  further  extended  on  coming  into  the  presence  of  those  of  very  high  rank,  when 
the  polite  but  inferior  Lew  Chewan  bows  so  low  as  literally  to  touch  if  not  to  fall  upon  the 
ground. 

The  people  of  Lew  Chew  are  naturally  among  the  most  intelligent  of  the  eastern  nations, 
but  they  are  kept  in  general  ignorance  by  their  rulers.  The  higher  classes  are  well  instructed 
in  the  learning  of  China,  whither  the  literati  and  professional  men,  and  esj^ecially  the  physicians, 
are  sent  to  finish  their  education.  The  literature,  whatever  they  may  possess,  is  derived  from 
the  Chinese  and  Japanese. 

The  occupation  of  the  Lew  Chewans  is  chiefly  agricultural,  although  they  have  some  little 


MANUFACTURES. —  PAINTING,    SCULPTURE,    ARCHITECTURE.         317 

commerce  witli  China  and  Japan,  to  which  they  send  annually  a  few  junks,  which  carry  such 
articles  of  clothing  and  provisions  as  can  be  spared,  and  bring  back  in  exchange  the  productions 
of  those  countries.  They  have  apparently  no  currency  of  their  own,  but  in  sjjite  of  their  pro- 
testations to  the  contrary,  they  are  evidently  familiar  with  money,  particularly  with  the  Chinese 
copper  coin  termed  cash.  Their  manufactures  are  few,  and  consist  of  sugar  of  a  coarse  kind, 
salt  of  inferior  quality,  large  vats  for  making  which  are  found  extending  along  the  bay  of 
Napha,  SaJcce,  a  spirit  distilled  from  rice,  cotton  and  grass  cloth  of  rude  texture,  an  inferior 
style  of  lacquered  ware,  pottery,  hair  pins,  junks,  agricultural  tools,  and  a  limited  variety  of 
other  articles  needed  for  their  own  simple  life. 


Salt  Flats— Napha. 

In  the  higher  arts,  the  Lew  Chewans  have  not  made  much  progress,  although  there  are  speci- 
mens among  them  of  rude  paintings  and  sculpture,  particularly  of  the  latter,  in  the  coarse 
figures  of  their  idols,  with  which  they  adorn  their  tombs  and  temples.  In  their  architecture 
there  is  more  evidence  of  advance  than  in  the  other  brandies  of  the  fine  arts.  The  ruins  of  the 
castles  in  the  northern  and  southern  parts  of  the  island,  and  flie  structure  of  the  jialace  of  Shui, 
with  the  various  bridges,  viaducts  and  roads  throughout  the  country,  show  considerable  archi- 
tectural .skill.  In  the  arches  and  massive  masonry  of  the  fortresses,  and  walls  of  stone,  there 
are  marks,  not  only  of  artistic  design,  but  of  skilful  workmanship.     Their  town  liouiies  arc  all 


318  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

constructed  of  wood,  roofed  with  earthen  tiles,  surrounded  with  verandahs  of  bamboo,  and 
enclosed  within  high  walls  of  coral.  The  cottages  in  the  country  are  generally  thatched  with 
rice  straw,  and  surrounded  by  either  stone  walls  or  bamboo  picket  fences,  within  which  there  is 
not  only  the  house,  but  the  usual  farmer's  concomitants  of  stable,  pig  pen,  and  poultry 
hutch.  The  furniture  is  of  the  simplest  kind,  consisting  of  thick  mats  spread  upon  the  plank 
floor,  upon  which  the  natives  sit  cross  legged,  a  few  stools,  a  table,  and  a  teapot  with  a  supply 
of  cups.  The  food  of  the  ])eople  is  simple,  being  mostly  rice  and  sweet  potatoes.  Animal 
food  is  hut  rarely  used  by  the  lowest  classes,  and  consists,  when  enjoyed,  chiefly  of  pork.  The 
higher  ranks  have  a  more  elaborate  cookery,  and  succeed  in  spreading  occasional  banquets, 
which  were  found  quite  appetising.  A  great  variety  of  soups,  with  various  sweetened  confec- 
tions, and  vegetable  concoctions  of  diflerent  kinds,  are  the  chief  elements  of  the  recherche  Lew 
Chewan  cuisine  of  the  best  tables. 

The  Lew  Chewans  are  a  hard  working  people,  and  enjoy  but  little  relaxation  from  labor. 
They  have  certain  festivals,  but  of  not  frequent  recurrence,  for  the  celebration  of  religious  and 
national  holidays.  Of  their  amusements  little  could  be  observed,  although  it  was  inferred  from 
the  existence  of  large  level  spaces,  handsomely  bordered  with  spreading  pines,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  towns  and  villages,  apparently  adapted  for  racing,  wrestling  and  other  athletic 
sports,  that  the  Lew  Chewans  occasionally  indulged  in  such  exercises  and  amusements.  In  the 
markets  there  are  frequently  found  for  sale  certain  large  balls,  adorned  with  bright  colored 
threads,  supposed  to  be  used  in  a  game  like  that  of  our  football. 

Cajitain  Basil  Hall,  in  his  interesting  but  not  very  authentic  account  of  the  Lew  Chewans, 
states  that  they  were  unacquainted  with  war;  and  in  relating,  during  an  interview  with 
Napoleon,  at  St.  Helena,  his  experiences  of  travel,  startled  that  great  soldier  with  this  unique 
characteristic  of  the  Lew  Chewans,  which  drew  from  him,  as  he  shrugged  his  shoulders,  the 
remark,  "No  wars  ;  it  is  impossible  !"  Hall's  statement  would  seem  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
apparent  absence  of  all  arms  or  ammunition,  or  even  of  the  rudest  weapons  of  attack  and 
defence,  such  as  bows  and  arrows.  The  ruins  of  fortresses  and  the  walled  defences  of  Shui, 
however,  seem  to  indicate  that  the  island  has  not  always  enjoyed  this  blessed  condition  of  peace, 
and  the  Japanese  histories  record  the  fact  of  ancient  intestine  and  foreign  wars.* 

The  government  of  Lew  Chew  seems  to  be  an  absolute  despotism,  with  a  system  of  adminis- 
tration like  that  of  Jajian,  to  which  the  island  is  tributary.  The  present  king  is  said  to  be  a 
youth  of  some  eleven  years  of  age,  imder  the  immediate  personal  guardianship  of  a  queen 
mother,  while  his  government,  during  the  minority,  is  delegated  to  a  regency,  composed  of  a 
regent  and  three  chief  officers,  entitled  pe-chings  or  treasurers.  As  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment is  to  keep  all  foreigners  in  an  absolute  ignorance  of  its  character,  and  as  every  kind  of 
deception  is  resorted  to  for  the  purpose,  it  is  difficult  to  acquire  a  full  knowledge  of  its  nature. 
The  very  existence  of  a  young  king  is  doubted,  since  from  the  time  of  the  visit  of  Basil  Hall, 
nearly  forty  years  ago,  to  that  of  Commodore  Perry,  the  same  story  has  been  told  about  the 


I  •  Our  well  known  and  deservedly  distinguished  countryman,  Doctor  John  W.  Francis,  of  New  York,  knew  Captain  Basil 
Hall  personally,  while  ho  was  in  the  United  States,  and  lias  furnished  the  compiler  with  the  following  memorandum  :  "  On  the 
occasion  of  an  assenihlage  of  literary  men,  at  some  entertainment  given  to  Captain  Hall,  inquiries  were  put  by  several  of  the 
gentlemen  as  to  the  literui  accuracy  of  various  circumstances  related  by  the  Captain  in  his  book  on  Lew  Chew.  They  wished 
to  know  whether  they  were  to  understand  his  statements  literally.  In  my  hearing,  he  made  this  general  remark,  by  way  of 
answer  to  all  these  interrogatories  :    '  If  I  were  to  rewrite  the  book,  I  should  make  of  it  a  different  story. '  ' ' 


GOVERNMENT.  —  RELIGION. —  FUNERAL     RITES.  319 

minority  of  the  ruling  prince,  and  unless  ho  is  endowed  with  perpetual  childhood,  or  there  has 
heen  a  succession  of  juvenile  kings,  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the  experiences  of  the  various 
travellers  who  have  visited  Lew  Chew  in  the  long  intervals  of  scores  of  years.  The  literati,  as 
in  China  and  Japan,  compose  the  higher  and  ruling  classes,  and,  as  in  these  countries,  are  pre- 
pared for  official  position  hy  a  diligent  study  of  the  doctrines  of  Confucius  and  Mencius.  In 
fact,  the  young  men  belonging  to  families  of  rank  are  ordinarily  sent  to  China  to  complete  their 
education,  and  fit  them  for  their  positions  as  officers  of  the  government.  The  exclusive  policy 
of  Japan  is  that  also  of  Lew  Chew,  and  was  rigidly  adhered  to  until  dissolved  by  the  intercourse 
of  the  Americans  under  Commodore  Perry.  The  system  of  espionage  pervades  the  whole 
government  from  the  administration  of  the  highest  to  the  lowest  official.  Most  of  the  higher 
classes  seem  to  have  little  else  to  do  than  to  watch  every  word  and  movement  of  the  people,  and 
form  a  large  body  of  indolent  non-producers,  who  live  idly  upon  the  hard  tasked  laborers  of  the 
lower  classes,  who  are  treated  with  all  the  rigor  of  social  servitude.  The  country  is  supposed 
to  have  been  conquered,  centuries  ago,  by  a  Japanese  prince  of  Satsuma,  to  the  successor  of 
whom  it  is  believed  to  be  tributary,  although  there  are  some  relations  not  well  understood  with 
China. 

The  religion  of  Lew  Chew  is,  as  we  have  before  stated,  the  generally  prevalent  Buddhism  of 
the  east,  with  a  mixture  of  various  idolatries  peculiar  to  the  island;  there  are,  however,  not 
many  temples  in  Lew  Chew,  and  those  which  exist  do  not  attract  a  very  large  or  a  very 
devoted  class  of  worshippers.  As  in  China  and  Japan,  a  general  skepticism  or  religious 
indifference  seems  to  exist,  particularly  among  the  literati,  or  higher  classes.  The  Bonzes,  or 
priests,  however,  are  treated  with  greater  reverence  in  Lew  Chew  than  in  most  oriental 
countries,  though  they  have  the  same  forlorn  look,  and  go  about,  with  their  shaven  crowns  and 
fusty  garments,  like  similar  miserable  mendicants  in  China. 

Great  reverence  is  paid  to  the  dead  in  Lew  Chew,  where  they  are  put  in  coffins  in  a  sitting 
posture,  and,  being  followed  by  the  friends  and  relations  and  a  procession  of  women  in  long 
wh  ite  veils  which  cover  their  heads  and  faces,  are  interred  in  well  built  stone  vaults,  or  tombs 
constructed  in  the  sides  of  the  hills.  After  the  body  has  been  interred  for  a  period  of  seven 
years  and  all  the  flesh  is  decayed,  the  bones  are  removed  and  deposited  in  stone  vases,  which 
are  placed  upon  shelves  within  the  vaults.  The  poor  people  place  the  remains  of  their  dead  in 
earthen  jars,  and  deposit  them  in  the  crevices  of  the  rocks,  where  they  are  often  to  be  seen 
broken  and  disarranged.  Periodical  visits  are  paid  by  the  surviving  friends  and  relations  to 
the  burial  places,  where  they  deposit  ofl"erings  upon  the  tombs.  On  the  first  interment  of  the 
rich  dead,  roast  pigs  and  other  articles  of  food  are  offered,  and  after  being  allowed  to  remain  for 
a  short  time,  are  distributed  among  the  poor. 

During  the  explorations  of  the  island  of  Lew  Chew,  which  were  so  effectively  prosecuted  by 
the  Piev.  Mr.  Jones,  Mr.  Taylor,  Drs.  Fahs,  Greene,  and  others,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Commodore,  and  which  resulted  in  the  obtaining  of  so  mucli  new  information  in  regard  to  a 
singular  people,  of  whom  little  has  been  previously  known  to  the  world,  tlierc  were  many 
specimens  obtained  of  their  various  fabrics  and  of  their  natural  productions,  and  particularly 
of  their  botany,  which  have  been  brought  to  the  United  States  for  the  investigation  of  tlie 
scientific  and  the  interest  of  the  curious. 

The  purposes  of  the  Commodore  in  regard  to  the  island  had  been  so  far  effectively  carried  out. 
The  building  for  the  storing  of  coal  had  been  completed,  the  temple  appropriated  for  the 


320 


EXPEDITION      TO    JAPAN. 


accommodation  of  the  sick  and  others  of  the  squadron,  whose  duties  made  it  necessary  for 
them  to  reside  on  shore,  liad  heen  secured,  and  those  supplies  obtained  which  were  necessary  for 
the  squadron.  With  an  occasional  faint  demur  on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  they  continued 
to  accept  payment  for  the  various  articles  needed,  and  with  their  growing  willingness  to  sell 
came  an  increased  demand  for  higher  prices.  The  friendly  intercourse  of  the  Americans  with 
the  inhabitants  of  the  island  had  undoubtedly  greatly  contributed  to  their  advantage.  The 
most  scrupulous  regard  had  been  observed  toward  the  rights  of  the  authorities  and  other  classes, 
and  they  all  were  becoming  less  reserved.  It  was  not  an  unreasonable  inference,  from  the 
favorable  disposition  of  the  Lew  Chewan  people  toward  relations  with  a  higher  civilization,  and 
from  a  seeming  sense  on  their  part  of  the  oppressive  tyranny  of  their  absolute  rulers,  that  they 
would  rejoice  in  being  placed  in  a  political  position  that  might  render  them  independent  of 
Jajiauese  despotism. 

A  more  demonstrative  indication  of  the  friendly  feeling  of  the  Lew  Chewans  for  their  foreign 
visitors  would  have  been  shown  probably  had  it  not  been  for  the  numerous  Japanese  agents  and 
spies  who  were  ever  on  the  watch  to  notice  and  report  to  the  imperial  government  every  event 
that  transpired,  and  to  make  those  who  manifested  any  friendship  toward  the  Americans 
accountable  at  some  future  time. 

The  Commodore,  being  detained  at  Najiha  in  negotiations  with  the  authorities,  thought  it 
advisable  to  dispatch  some  of  the  sailing  vessels  of  the  squadron  to  Yedo  bay,  with  the  intention 
of  following  soon  after  with  his  steamers.  He  expected  to  arrive,  with  the  advantages  of  steam 
in  his  favor,  in  Japan  at  about  the  same  time  with  those  who  had  preceded  him  in  their  departure. 

Accordingly,  Captain  Abbot  sailed  on  the  first  of  February  in  the  Macedonian,  in  company 
with  the  Vandalia,  Lexington,  and  Southampton.  The  Commodore  followed  on  the  seventh  of 
February,  with  the  steamers  Susquehanna,  Powhatan^  and  Mississippi.  The  storeship  Supply 
had  been  got  ready,  and  was  ordered  to  sail  on  the  next  day  after  the  Commodore's  departure 
for  Shanghai,  there  to  take  on  board  a  cargo  of  coal  and  some  live  stock,  and  proceed  to  join  the 
squadi'on  in  Yedo  bay. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  Dr.  Bettleheim,  who  had  been  superseded  by  another  English 
missionary,  a  Mr.  Moreton,  should  have  a  passage  for  himself  and  family  in  the  Supjdy  to 
Shanghai. 


ir.HOBSfifS.Sf- 


American  Grave-yurtl  at  Tu-mai,  Lew  Chew. 


DEATH   OF   THE  JAPANESE  EMPEROR. 


321 


CHATTEU   XVIII 


LETTER    FROM    DUTCH      GOTERXOR    GENERAL    OF      INDIA    ANKOUNCING    THE     DEATH    OF      THE    JAPANESE     EMPEROR. COMMODORe's 

REPLY. — EXIMERATIOX    OF    THE    SEVERAL    OBJECTS    I.S    VIEW. — PROSPECTS    OF     THEIR     ATTAINMENT    BY    THE    MISSION. OFFI- 
CERS   AND    MEN    LEFT    IN    LEW    CHEW. ARRIVAL    OF    THE   SARATOGA. RUN    TO    YEDO    BAY. OHO-SIMA. CLEOPATRA    ISLES. 

MIJAKO-SIMA. ALL    BELONG    TO    LEW    CHEW    GROUP. ENTRANCE    OF    GULF    OR    OUTER    BAY    OF    YEDO. JAP.ANESE    CHARTS    OF 

LITTLE    VALUE,    MADE    FOR      MERE    COASTING. WI.NTRT    ASPECT    OF      JAPAN. MACEDONIAN    AGROUND. HAULED    OFF      BY    THE 

MISSISSIPPI. FRIENDLY    OFFERS    OF      THE    JAPANESE    TO    ASSIST    THE    MACEDONIAN. SQUADRON    PROCEEDS     UP    THE    BAY    AND 

ANCHORS    AT    THE    "  AMERICAN    ANCHORAGE." JAPANESE    OFFICIALS      COME      ALONGSIDE. RECEIVED    BY    CAPTAIN    ADAMS    ON 

THE    POWHATAN,    PURSUANT    TO    THE    CO.MMODORe's    ORDERS. — THEY    ATTEMPT    TO    PREVAIL    ON    THE  CO.MMODORE  TO    RETURN 
TO      URAGA,    STATING    THAT    THE    HIGH    JAPANESE      FUNCTIO.VARIES    WERE    THERE      AWAITING    HIS    ARRIVAL,    BY     APPOINTMENT 

OF    THE    EMPEROR. —  COMMODORE    DECLINES     ON    ACCOUNT    OF     SAFETY    OF    THE    SHIPS. VISIT    OS    THE    NEXT    DAT    FROM    THE 

OFFICIALS,  WHO   REITERATE    THEIR    REQUEST,    WITH    AN    ASSURANCE    THAT    THE    COMMISSIONERS    WERE    ORDERED    TO    RECEIVE 

THE    COM.MOD0RE    AT      URAGA    WITH      DISTINGUISHED    CONSIDERATION. COMMODORE     AGAIN     DECLINES. ^JAPANESE    ASK    THAT 

AN    OFFICER    MAT    BE    SENT    TO    URAGA    TO    CONFER    WITH    THE    COMMISSIONERS     AS    TO    A    PLACE      OF    MEETING. COMMODORE 

CONSENTS    THAT    CAPTAIN    ADAMS    MAY    HOLD      SUCH    A    CONFERENCE,    BUT    THAT    THE    COMMISSIONERS    MUST    COME    THERE    TO 

HOLD    IT. JAPANESE    BECOME     ALARMED    AS    TO    THE    FRIENDLY    FEELINGS    OF      THE     AMERICANS. THEIR    FEARS    ALLAYED. 

SURVEY    OF    THE     BAY      RESUMED    WITHOUT    INTERRUPTION    BY    THE    JAPANESE. OUR    BOATS    FORBIDDEN    BY    THE    COMMODORE 

TO    LAND  JAPANE-SE    PERSIST      FOR    SEVERAL    DAYS     IN      DESIRING     THE      COMMODORE     TO    GO    TO    URAGA    WITH    THE    SHIPS. 

COMMODORE  INVARIABLY   REFUSES. AT   LENGTH  THE  JAPANESE  ARE  INFORMED    THAT    THE    COMMODORE   WILL  ALLOW    CAPTAIN 

ADAMS    TO    MEET    A    COMMISSIONER    ON    SHORE    NEAR    THE   SHIPS,    OR    THAT    HE     WILL    PROCEED    UP    THE    BAY    TO    YEDO. — NOTE 

FROM    THE    COMMISSIONERS    TO      THE    COMMODORE.  —  HIS    REPLY. CAPTAIN    ADAMS      SENT    DOWN    TO    URAGA    TO    COMMUNICATE 

TO    THE      COMMISSIO.NERS    THE      COMMODORES    REASONS    FOR      DECLINING      TO      TAKE    THE      SHIPS    TO    URAGA. SOME     OF      THE 

JAPANESE    ACCOMPANY    HIM    I-N    THE      VANDALIA. INTERVIEW    OF      CAPTAIN    ADAMS    WITH    THE      COMMISSIONERS    AT    URAGA. 

VISIT    TO    CAPTAIN    ADAMS    FROM    YEZAIMAN    ON    BOARD    THE    VANDALIA. ASSURES    CAPTAIN    ADA-MS    OF    THE    FRIENDLY  DISPO- 
SITION   OF    THE    EMPEROR. VANDALIA      RETURNS,    AND    PERCEIVES    AHEAD    THE      SQUADRON    STANDING    UP      THE    BAY    TOWARD 

YEDO. THE    JAPANESE    NO    LONGER    URGE    GOING    TO    URAGA,  BUT    SUDDENLY    PROPOSE    YOKU-HAMA,    WHERE    THE    SHIPS    THEN 

WERE,    ABOUT    EIGHT    MILES    FROM    YEDO.— COMMODORE    IMMEDIATELY  ASSENTS. BUILDINGS  CONSTRUCTED  AT    YOKU-HAMA. 

A    JAPANESE    SEAMAN    IN    THE    SQUADRON    SENDS    A    LETTER    TO    HIS     FAMILY    ASHORE,    BY    YEZAIMAN. YEZAIMAN    DESIRES    AK 

INTERVIEW    WITH    HIM. THE    INTERVIEW. CEREMONIALS    SETTLED    AS    TO    THE  CONFERENCES    ON  SHORE    FOR    NEGOTIATION. 

RF^^ous  to  leaving  Kajjlia,  Commodore  Perry  had  re- 
ceived a  coinmunication  from  tlie  governor  general  of 
Diitcli  India,  conveying  information  of  tlie  death  of  the 
Emperor  of  Japan,  soon  after  the  reception  of  the  Pre- 
sident's letter.  The  Japanese  government  (so  said  the 
communication)  had  requested  the  Dutch  superintendent 
to  communicate  the  fact  to  the  American  government, 
as  this  event,  according  to  the  laws  and  customs  of 
Japan,  made  certain  ceremonies  of  mourning  and  ar- 
ransrements  for  succession  to  the  throne  necessarv,  and 
''.wssirx'/xj'  |]^p  consequent  postponement  of  all  consideration  of  the 

Pre.sident's  letter  for  the  present.     The  Japanese  authorities  accordingly  had,  as  was  stated  by 
the  governor  general,  repeatedly  requested  the  superintendent  of  the  Dutch  factory  at  Nagasaki 
41  J 


322  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

to  express  the  wish  of  the  government  of  Japan  that  the  American  squadron  would  not  return 
to  the  Bay  of  Yedo  at  the  time  fixed  by  Commodore  Perry,  lest  his  presence  miglit  create  con- 
fusion. The  Commodore  answered  the  communication  of  the  governor  general  of  Dutch  India 
witli  the  usual  formal  expression  of  regret  at  the  event  of  the  Emperor's  death,  and  added  that 
he  hoped  the  present  rulers  of  Japan  were  so  well  satisfied  of  the  intentions  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  as  stated  in  liis  letter,  that  they  would  not  be  disjjosed  to  throw  any  serious 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  accomplishing  friendly  relations  between  the  American  nation  and  the 
Japanese.* 

The  Commodore  had  previously  heard,  through  the  officers  of  the  Russian  squadron,  of  the 
reported  death  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  and  that  similar  reasons  to  those  set  forth  in  the  com- 
munication of  the  Dutch  governor  general  had  been  assigned  to  the  Russian  admiral  for  not 

*  [Translation.] 

BcETENZORG,  December  23,  1853. 

Mr.  Commodore  :  The  Dutch  sliip  "  Hendrika,"  master  Admiral,  whicli  sailed  for  Japan  in  July  last,  has  returned  to  Batavia 
on  the  loth  instant. 

She  brings  intelligence  from  the  superintendent  of  our  factory  there,  np  to  November  15,  1853,  and  information  of  the  death 
of  the  limperor  of  Japan,  soon  after  receiving  the  letter  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Japanese  government  has  requested  the  Dutch  superintendent  to  communicate  to  the  American  government :  That  this 
event,  according  to  Japanese  laws  and  customs,  makes  necessary  the  performance  of  many  and  continuing  ceremonies  of 
mourning,  and  extensive  arrangements  with  respect  to  the  succession  to  the  throne  ;  that  during  the  period  of  mourning  no 
business  of  any  importance  can  be  transacted  ;  that  the  letter  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  can  only  be  taken  into 
deliberation  when  tlie  time  of  mourning  is  over  ;  that  previous  thereto,  the  opinions  upon  the  subject  have  to  be  obtained  from 
all  the  governors  (lords)  in  Japan  ;  that  for  that  purpose  the  governors  have  to  repair  to  Yedo  in  succession,  (one  after  the 
other  ;)  that  all  that  will  take  much  time. 

The  Japanese  authorities  have  repeatedly  requested  the  superintendent  of  our  factory  that  he  would  inform  the  American 
government  of  the  wish  of  the  Japanese  government  not  to  let  the  .American  squadron  return  to  Japan  at  the  time  fixed  upon 
by  your  excellenc}^  for  fear  that  under  the  circumstances  created  by  the  decease  of  tlie  Emperor,  and  trom  the  several  and 
unavoidable  conferences  with  the  Japanese  authorities,  and  of  those  authorities  among  themselves,  the  American  squadron 
might  create  6roi7,  (confusion,)  as  the  Japanese  authorities  express  themselves. 

I  believe  it  not  necessary  to  go  beyond  informing  your  excellency  of  this  wish  of  the  Japanese  government,  to  be  filed  with 
my  letter  of  September  22,  1852,  (No.  134.) 

With  great  respect,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  excellency's  obedient  servant, 

DUYMAER  VAN  TWIST, 
Gove7^or  General  ofj^^etherlandsj  Jndia, 

By  order  of  his  excellency  the  governor  general  : 

A.  PRINS,  C/itf/Secrf(ari/ 

His  E.\cellency  Commodore  Perrt, 

Commandant  of  tlie  United  Stales  squadron,  destined  for  Japan. 


U.viTED  States  Ste.am  Frio.ite  Scsqceilinka, 

.}t~npha,  Lew  Chctc,  January  23,  1854. 
Sir  ;  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  letter  of  your  excellency  of  the  23d  ultimo,  informing  me  of  a  com- 
munication you  had  received  from  the  superintendent  of  the  factory  at  Dezima,  announcing  the  death  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan, 
and  detailing  the  consequences  that  would  result  from   this  event  in  retarding  the  progress  of  the  mission  with  which  I  have 
been  charged. 

Allow  me  to  thank  your  excellency  for  the  trouble  you  have  taken  in  conveying  to  me  this  sad  intelligence.  I  trust,  however, 
that  the  present  rulers  of  Japan  have  become  so  well  satisfied  of  the  intentions  of  the  President  in  suggesting  the  propositions 
which  I  have  had  the  honor  of  presenting,  that  they  will  not  be  disposed  to  throw  any  serious  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a  friendly 
understanding  between  the  two  nations. 

With  great  respect,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

M.  C.  PERRY, 
Commander-in-clii^  United  Statet  naval  forces,  East  Indies,  China,  and  Japan  Staa. 
His  Excellency  Ddtmaer  Van'  Twist, 

Governor  General  of  the  .Netherlands,  India, 


■ENTMERATIOX     OF    THE    SEVERAL    OBJECTS    IN     VIEW.  323 

replying  to  the  letter  from  his  sovereign,  which  had  heen  sent  to  Yedo  from  Nagasaki.  The 
Commodore  was  disposed  to  suspect,  at  first,  as  nothing  had  been  said  of  the  illne.ss  of  the 
Emperor  of  Japan  during  the  first  visit  to  the  Bay  of  Yedo,  and  as  so  short  an  interval  had 
elapsed  since  then,  that  the  statement  of  the  death  of  the  Emperor  was  a  mere  ruse  to  obstruct 
the  American  negotiations. 

And  even  granting  that  the  Emperor  was  dead,  (which  was  proved  subsequently  to  be  the 
fact.)  there  seemed  to  be  no  reason  for  the  delay  in  public  business.  The  laws  of  China  require 
the  eldest  son  of  the  highest  classes  to  abstain  from  pleasure,  company,  or  business,  for  seven 
weeks  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  an  Emperor,  but  the  successor  to  the  imperial  throne  assumes 
the  government  immediately,  and  public  business  is  never  interrupted.  A  similar  custom  was 
inferred  to  prevail  in  Japan,  as  none  of  the  books  describing  the  manners  and  customs  of  that 
Empire  allude  to  any  different  practice  on  such  an  occasion. 

The  Commodore  was  not,  however,  to  be  deterred  from  the  prosecution  of  his  plans  by  any 
unfavorable  intelligence  which  those  wlio  might  be  disposed  to  obstruct  them  so  carefully 
acquainted  him  with. 

It  is  well  to  enumerate  here,  while  the  Commodore  is  on  his  way  to  Ja]ian,  the  leading  objects 
of  his  mission.  He  was  to  demand  explanations  of  the  Japanese  government  respecting  its 
treatment  of  American  citizens  who  had  been  accidentally  thrown  upon  its  shoves,  and  to  make 
declaration  that  the  United  States  government  will  no  longer  tolerate  such  acts  ;H0^endeavor  to 
obtain,  at  least,  the  opening  of  one  or  more  Japanese  ports  to  American  vessels ;  and  to  negotiate, 
if  possible,  a  treaty  with  the  Empire  upon  a  basis  just  and  equitable,  and  if  a  general  treaty  could 
not  be  made,  to  make  the  best  that  was  attainable  for  trade.  Of  course,  there  was  much  uncer- 
tainty in  regard  to  the  successful  issue  of  the  mission  in  this  respect,  and  the  Commodore  was 
resolved  to  do  all  in  his  power  by  firmly  insisting  upon  what  was  due  to  the  United  States,  and 
discreetly  urging  the  establishment  of  those  relations  which  seemed  desirable  for  the  interests  of 
his  country.  There  would  be  little  difficulty,  he  thought,  in  bringing  about  suitable  explana- 
tions and  apologies,  with  assurances  of  kind  treatment  to  all  strangers  who  should  thereafter 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Japanese,  as  also  a  friendly  reception  and  necessary  supplies  to  whaling 
ships  anchoring  in  the  ports  of  the  empire.  These  results  alone,  it  was  believed,  would  repay 
the  United  States  government  for  all  the  expenses  of  the  expedition.  With  respect  to  the 
accomplishment  of  the  other  objects  there  was  some  doubt,  unless  force  should  be  resorted  to. 
This,  however,  was  an  alternative  tliat  could  only  be  justified  by  some  overt  act  of  wrong  or 
insult  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  government,  and,  of  course,  was  not  contemplated.  The 
Commodore,  though  he  felt  confident  that  the  purpose  of  his  mission  as  regards  the  demanding 
of  redress  for  ill-treatment  of  American  citizens  would  be  easily  accomplished,  nevertheless  had 
made  provision  against  any  failure.  He  had  arranged,  provided  the  Japanese  government 
refused  to  negotiate,  or  to  assign  a  port  of  resort  for  our  merchant  or  whaling  ships,  to  take 
under  surveillance  of  the  American  flag  the  island  of  Great  Lew  Chew,  a  dependency  of  the 
Empire  of  Japan.  This,  if  necessary,  was  to  be  done  on  the  ground  of  reclamation  for  insults 
and  injuries  well  known  to  have  been  committed  upon  American  citizens.  Previously  to  leaving 
Napha,  Commodore  Perry  accordingly  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  effect  that  as  a  question  was 
pending  between  the  United  States  and  Japan  touching  certain  demands  upon  tlie  Japanese 
government,  and  as  it  was  deemed  essential  to  the  security  of  the  just  claims  of  the  United 
States  to  assume,  during  the  pending  negotiations,  limited  authority  on  the  island  of  Great  Lew 


324  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

Chew,  lie  had,  therefore,  detached  from  the  squadron  two  master's  mates  and  about  fifteen  men 
to  look  after  the  United  States  government  property  and  other  interests  during  his  absence. 

These  were  merely  measures  of  precaution,  wliich  seemed  justified  by  the  wily  policy  of  the 
Japanese,  wliich  fori:>adc  any  confident  reliance  upon  its  justice,  and  by  the  probability  of  the 
Russians,  French,  or  English,  in  their  eagerness  to  anticipate  the  Americans,  stepping  in  before 
them  and  seizing  a  dependency  like  Lew  Chew,  which  might  so  greatly  further  their  purposes 
in  regard  to  Japan.  It  was  not  proposed  by  the  Commodore  to  take  Lew  Chew,  or  claim  it  as  a 
territory  conquered  by,  and  belonging  to,  the  United  States,  nor  to  molest  or  interfei'e  in  any  way 
with  the  authorities  or  people  of  the  island,  or  to  use  any  force,  except  in  self  defence.  In  fact, 
there  was  not  likely  to  be  any  occasion  for  violence,  as  the  Americans  already  possessed  all 
necessary  influence  in  Lew  Chew,  which  had  been  acquired  by  kindness  and  non-interference 
with  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  island. 

The  arrival  of  the  Saratoga  from  Shanghai  had  been  expected  for  some  days  previous  to  the 
Commodore's  departure  from  Napha,  and,  as  she  had  not  arrived  before  his  setting  out,  it  was 
thought  probable  that  the  squadron  would  fall  in  with  her  outside  the  harbor.  Accordingly,  the 
steamers'  course  was  directed  to  the  westward  of  Lew  Chew,  in  view  of  intercepting  the  track  of 
the  Saratoga,  and  it  so  haiqiened  that  the  steamers  had  scarcely  cleared  the  harbor  when  a  sail  was 
discovered  standing  toward  the  island,  which,  on  approaching  nearer,  was  ascertained,  by  signal, 
to  be  the  long  looked-for  ship.  Captain  Walker,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Saratoga,  soon 
came  on  board  the  Susquehanna,  and  received  orders  to  proceed  direct  to  the  American  anchorage 
in  Yeddo  bay.  Upon  his  return  to  his  ship,  after  sending  some  live  stock  brought  from 
Shanghai  for  the  squadron,  ami  three  packages  containing  presents  for  the  Japanese  authorities, 
he  bore  away  with  the  intention  of  taking  the  passage  east  of  Lew  Chew. 

The  passage  of  the  steamers,  until  the  islands  lying  at  the  entrance  of  the  great  Bay  of  Yedo 
were  made,  was  ideasant  and  by  no  means  protracted.  The  northern  group  of  the  Lew  Chew 
chain,  composed  of  the  islands  of  Oho-sima,  or  as  the  Chinese  call  it  Ta-tao,  Tok-sima,  Ratona- 
sima,  and  Kikai-sima,  were  passed  in  full  view.  There  was  an  opportunity,  wliich  was  im- 
proved, of  establishing  with  some  accuracy  the  iJositions  of  several  of  the  headlands  on  the 
western  side  of  Olio-sima  and  the  islets  named  by  Captain  Guerin,  of  the  French  corvette  Sabine, 
Cleopatra  islands.  In  passing  these  islands.  Commodore  Perry  was  reminded  of  an  order  he 
had  received  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  investigate,  and  report  upon,  a  question  touching 
the  original  discovery  of  Oho-sima,  by  Commander  Glynn,  in  February,  1846,  being  at  the  time 
in  command  of  the  United  States  sloop-of-war  Preble.  A  diligent  investigation  was  accordingly 
made,  and  tlie  results  embodied  in  a  communication  to  the  Navy  Department.  The  island  repre- 
sented to  have  been  seen  in  June,  1849,  and  described  in  Commander  Glynn's  letter  to  Commodore 
Jones,  dated  February  21,  1850,  as  bearing  in  a  southeasterly  direction  from  the  Preble,  and  as 
a  new  discovery,  is  called  in  the  Japanese  charts,  Oho-sima,  and  by  the  Chinese,  Ta-tao.  The 
islets  stated  to  have  been  discovered  at  the  same  time,  and  described  as  bearing  north-northwest, 
were  examined,  in  1846,  by  Captain  Guerin,  of  tlie  Sabine,  and  named  by  him  "Cleopatra 
Isles."  The  latter,  as  well  as  others  lying  contiguous  to  Oho-sima,  were  distinctly  seen  from 
the  decks  of  the  several  ships  of  the  squadron,  during  the  present  voyage,  on  February  8,  1854. 
Sketches  of  the  islands  were  taken,  and  their  positions  established  by  cross  bearings  taken  from 
the  steamer  Susquehanna,  at  noon,  after  good  observations.     The  results  were  as  follows : 

South  end  of  Cleopatra  Isles,  latitude  28°  48'  N.,  longitude  128°  59'  30"  E. 

North  end  of  Oho-sima,  latitude  28°  29'  N.,  longitude  129°  30'  E. 


O  11  0-S  I  XI  A  . — Jl  IJ  A  K  0-S  I  M  A  . — C  L  K  O  V  A  T  R  A      ISLES.  325 

Oho-sima  is  the  principal  of  what  may  be  called  the  northern  group  of  the  Lew  Chew  chain 
which,  in  connexion  with  the  Mijako-sinia,  and  other  islands  commencing  with  the  Cleopatra, 
extend  from  near  the  north  end  of  Formosa  to  Kiusiu,  the  soutlnvesteru  extremity  of  Japan 
proper.  The  three  groups  of  ilijako-sima,  Great  Lew  Chew,  or  Okinawa-sima,  and  Oho-sima » 
should  he  denominated  the  sduthern,  middle,  and  northern  Lew  Chew  islands,  the  central 
government  being  established  at  the  city  of  Shui,  in  the  island  of  Great  Lew  Chew.  Of  the 
people  and  government  of  these  islands  little  is  known,  but  it  is  presumed  that  they  are  all 
subject  to  an  intermediate  sovereignty  between  Lew  Chew  and  the  Empire  of  Japan,  or  possibly 
the  Japanese  prince  of  Satsuma.  This  potentate  is  stated  by  Von  Siebold  to  receive  about 
2,240,000  guilders,  or  nearly  $900,000,  annually,  from  the  Lew  Chew  islands.  Oho-sima  is  in 
circumference  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  English  miles,  and  bears  in  its  external  aspect, 
with  its  mountains  and  richly  verdant  valleys,  a  considerable  resemblance  to  Great  Lew  Chew. 
It  is  represented  by  various  writers  to  be  thickly  populated,  having  all  the  advantages  of  cities, 
towns,  villages,  and  commodious  ports.  It  is  surprising  that  it  has  never  hitherto  been  visited 
by  any  Chi'istian  voyager. 

The  ilijako-sima  islands  have  been  more  than  once  visited  by  foreign  vessels,  and  during  the 
progress  of  the  Japan  expedition,  by  the  Saratoga,  whose  officers  described  the  inhabitants  as 
being  in  language,  manners,  customs,  and  appearance,  almost  identical  with  tlie  people  of  Lew 
Chew.  And  it  is  reasonable  to  infer  that  this,  in  common  with  the  other  inhabited  islands  o 
the  chain,  has  been  peopled  for  many  hundreds  of  years.  The  Mijako-sima  group  was  ascer- 
tained to  be  governed  by  officers  appointed  by  the  king  and  council  of  Great  Lew  Chew,  who 
are  frequently  changed,  in  conformity  with  the  policy  practised  throughout  Japan  and  its 
dependencies. 

The  Cleopatra  islands  are  only  two  in  number,  lying  in  close  proximity  to  each  other,  and 
are  small  and  uninhabited.  They  are  cone-shaped,  and  evidently  of  volcanic  origin,  the  craters 
leing  clearly  visible,  the  larger  one  of  which  has  been  estimated  at  1,650  feet  in  height.  The 
geographical  position  of  all  this  chain  of  islands,  extending  from  Formosa  to  Japan  proper, 
would  seem  to  he  so  arranged  as  to  suit  the  convenience  of  the  commerce  of  the  unskilful 
Japanese  navigators,  who  sail  in  their  frail  open-sterned  vessels  from  island  to  island,  always 
being  careful  to  have  a  port  under  their  lee,  into  which  to  escape  on  the  least  apjjroach  of  foul 
weather. 

On  entering,  upon  the  11th  of  February,  the  outer  Bay  of  Yedo,  or  as  it  may  be  more 
suitably  termed,  the  Gulf  of  Yedo,  including  the  space  embraced  between  Cape  Nagatsuro  on 
the  Avest,  Cape  Serafama  or  Cajje  King  on  the  east,  and  Wodawara,  Kamakura,  and  Cape 
Sagami  on  the  north,  the  steamers  encountered  a  .severe  blow  from  the  nortliward  and  eastward. 
They  were  kept,  however,  during  the  night,  under  the  lee  of  Oho-sima,  {i.  e.  Great  Island,) 
and  thus  avoided  the  greatest  violence  of  the  gale.  On  the  previous  afternoon  a  cluster  of  three 
dangerous  rocks,  showing  above  the  surface  of  the  sea  from  ten  to  twenty  feet,  were  passed  quite 
near.  These  were  supposed  to  be  what  are  called  on  the  charts  tiie  Brougliton  Rocks;  and  if 
they  were,  their  position  is  evidently  very  erroneously  laid  down,  and  if  they  were  not,  they 
have  escaped  the  observation  of  previous  European  and  American  navigators.  That  these  rocks 
should  have  been  hitherto  unnoticed  wt>uld  not  be  at  all  remarkable,  for  few  ships  have  ever 
visited  the  southern  and  eastern  coasts  of  Japan,  and  it  is  not  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  very 
imperfect  charts  which  have  been  compiled  from  the  meagre  information  furnished  by  Broughton, 


326  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

Gore,  King,  Krusenstern,  and  the  three  or  four  American  and  English  vessels  which  have  visited 
the  coast  within  a  few  years  back,  should  be  in  any  manner  correct. 

It  is  true  that  the  Japanese  have  constructed  charts,  but  they  are  on  a  plan  peculiar  to 
themselves,  and  of  little  benefit  to  the  bold  navigators,  with  their  large  vessels,  of  Europe  and 
America.  The  Japanese  charts,  without  meridian  or  scale,  and  totally  destitute  of  any  record 
of  soundings,  are  hardly  of  any  use,  except  in  their  own  timid  navigation.  The  Japanese  never 
venture,  if  they  can  possibly  avoid  it,  beyond  sight  of  land,  and  always  seize  upon  favorable 
seasons,  weather,  and  winds,  for  making  their  longest  runs.  Their  junks  skirt  the  coasts  by 
touching  the  land  here  and  there,  and  going  from  island  to  island,  and  seldom  make  a  run  of  a 
longer  duration  than  twenty-four  hours.  The  largest  Japanese  junks  seen  did  not  draw  more 
than  eight  feet  of  water,  and,  as  has  just  been  remarked,  they  run  from  port  to  port,  invariably 
seeking  shelter  on  occasions  of  adverse  winds  or  appearances  of  bad  weather.  The  pilots, 
familiar  with  every  rock  upon  the  coast,  need  no  charts,  and  conduct  their  vessels,  in  accordance 
with  their  cautious  navigation,  with  general  safety.  Every  harbor,  however  small,  is  furnished 
with  conveniences  for  securing  the  Japanese  craft,  holes  being  artificially  made  through  the 
angles  of  the  rocks  for  passing  the  cables,  and  where  this  is  not  practicable,  upright  pillars  or 
posts  are  hewn  or  morticed  in  the  stone,  and  all  chafings  of  the  moorings  provided  against  by  a 
careful  rounding  and  smoothing  of  the  neighboring  projections  or  detached  parts. 

On  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  February  the  weather  became  more  settled,  and  the  steamers  stood 
up  the  bay.  The  outlines  of  the  land  were  recognized  from  the  familiarity  of  the  previous  visit, 
but  a  change  had  come  over  the  face  of  the  landscape,  in  consequence  of  the  difference  of  season. 
The  lofty  summit  of  Fusi-Yama  was  distinctly  visible  as  before,  but  was  now  completely  clothed 
in  its  winter  o-arb  of  snow.  The  rich  verdure  of  the  surrounding  land  had  lost  its  cheerful  sum- 
mer aspect,  and  looked  withered,  bleak  and  sombre.  The  rising  uplands  were  no  longer  repo- 
sing in  their  beds  of  green,  shaded  from  a  summer's  sun  beneath  spreading  groves,  but  were 
bare  and  desolate,  while  the  distant  mountains  stood  cliill  in  tlieir  snowy  drapery  and  frowned 
upon  the  landscape.  Tlie  weather  was  cold  and  blustering.  As  the  steamers  approached  the  land, 
two  vessels  were  observed  close  in  and  apparently  at  anchor.  On  approaching  them  it  was 
discovered  that  they  were  the  Macedonian  and  Vandalia.  The  latter  had  a  signal  displayed 
announcing  that  the  Macedonian  was  aground.  It  was  soon  ascertained  that  Captain  Abbott, 
on  the  day  previous,  had  mistaken  the  indentation  in  the  coast  within  which  his  ship  was 
aground  for  the  entrance  to  the  passage  to  Uraga  and  Yedo.  He  had,  accordingly,  on  venturing 
too  near  the  shore,  grounded  his  vessel  on  a  ledge  of  rocks  not,  of  course,  laid  down  upon  the 
imperial  chart  which  he  had ;  said  chart  being  nothing  more  than  a  copy  of  one  of  Von  Siebold's 
maps,  which  had  been  copied  from  the  Japanese  authorities,  with  a  few  notes  upon  it,  made 
during  the  first  visit  of  the  squadron  to  the  Bay  of  Yedo.  Captain  Abbott,  finding  his  ship  in 
this  dilemma,  adopted  the  usual  means  of  getting  her  afloat  by  starting  the  water,  making  her 
o-uns  ready  for  tlirowing  overboard,  and  actually  throwing  over  the  side  many  miscellaneous 
articles.  Commander  Pope  of  the  Vandalia,  at  that  time  in  company,  immediately  anchored 
and  sent  his  boats  to  the  assistance  of  his  consort  the  Macedonian. 

The  fortunate  arrival  of  Commodore  Perry  with  his  three  steamers  at  once  gave  assurance  of 
effectual  aid.  Commander  Lee  of  the  Mississippi  was  accordingly  ordered  to  approach  with  his 
steamer  as  near  as  he  could  safely  venture  to  the  ship  on  shore,  and  run  a  couple  of  hawsers  to 
her  with  the  view  of  hauling  her  off  by  the  power  of  steam.     This  duty  he  executed  with  his 


MACEDONIAN      AGROUND.  327 

usual  promptitude  and  judgment,  and  before  night  the  JIaccdonian  was  towed  into  a  safe 
anchorage.  Meanwhile  the  other  vessels  were  brought  to  anchor  for  the  night,  having  been 
joined  on  the  same  afternoon  by  the  Lexington,  which,  it  will  be  recollected,  sailed  from  Napha 
iu  company  with  the  Macedonian  and  Yandalia.  In  the  course  of  the  night  a  boat  came  along- 
side the  Commodore's  flag-ship,  having  been  dispatched  by  Lieutenant  Commanding  Boyle  of 
the  Southampton,  which  vessel,  another  of  Captain  Abbott's  division,  had  arrived  the  day  before 
at  the  American  anchorage  in  the  Bay  of  Yedo. 

Lieutenant  Boyle  had  received  information  from  the  Japanese  authorities  that  two  shi})s  liad 
arrived  off  Kama-kura,  and  that  one  of  them  was  ashore,  and  very  promptly  and  properly 
dispatched  the  launch  of  the  Soutliampton,  with  two  ofiiccrs  and  a  suitable  crew,  to  render  all 
practicable  assistance. 

The  friendly  disposition  of  the  Japanese  toward  the  Americans  was  handsomely  illustrated 
by  their  ofiers  of  .assistance  as  soon  as  the  Macedonian  was  observed  ashore.  Such,  too,  was 
their  courteous  and  scrupulous  regai'd  for  the  interests  and  property  of  their  visitors,  that  they 
actually  took  the  trouble  of  sending  to  the  squadron,  then  at  a  distance  of  twenty  miles,  a  hogs- 
head of  bituminous  coal,  which  had  been  thrown  overboard  on  lightening  the  ship,  and  subse- 
quently washed  ashore. 

Next  morning  (February  13)  after  the  Macedonian  had  been  relieved  from  her  hazardous 
position,  in  the  bight  of  Kawatsu,  near  Kama-kura,  the  whole  squadron  moved  up  the  Bay  of 
Yedo,  sailing  in  a  line  ahead,  the  Lexington,  Yandalia,  and  Macedonian  being  in  tow  respect- 
ively of  the  Susquehanna,  Powhatan,  and  Mississippi.  With  the  experience  of  navigation 
acquired  during  the  previous  visit,  there  was  no  occasion  for  the  ships  to  feel  their  way,  but  they 
passed  along  the  magnificent  bay  with  confidence,  bringing  into  view  at  each  turn  various 
points  of  the  land  on  either  side,  which  had  now  the  aspect  of  familiar  ground. 

The  precipitous  coasts  of  Sagami  rose  bleakly  in  the  winter  atmosphere  on  the  left,  while  far 
inland  could  be  seen  the  lofty  ranges  of  the  mountains  covered  with  snow,  and  the  high  peak  of 
Fusi-Yama,  about  the  lofty  summit  of  which  the  clouds  were  scudding  in  reckless  succession. 
There  was  the  distant  coast  of  Awa,  some  twelve  miles  away  on  the  oi>posite  side,  and  along  the 
shores  everywhere  were  the  numberless  villages  and  towns,  though  snugly  reposing  under  the 
cover  of  the  high  land  which  ro.se  behind  them,  yet  looking  desolate  and  exposed,  in  comparison 
with  their  former  aspect  of  rural  comfort  when  nestling  in  the  full-leaved  groves  of  summer. 
Abreast  was  the  town  of  Goriliama,  the  scene  of  the  delivery  of  the  President's  letter,  and  in 
front  extended  out  from  the  land  the  promontory  of  Uraga,  with  its  harmless  forts,  and  as  the 
ships  doubled  it  and  came  abreast  the  city,  numerous  government  boats,  with  their  athletic 
oarsmen  sculling  vigorously,  and  their  little  striped  flags  fluttering  in  the  wind,  puslied  olf  to 
intercept  the  squadron,  as  on  the  previous  visit.  The  Japanese  officials,  however,  who  had 
risen  from  their  places  midships,  and  seemed  to  be  directing  their  boats  towards  the  sfjuadron, 
were  warned  off,  and  the  strangers  moved  majestically  on,  with  their  train  of  formidable  men- 
of-war,  without  altering  their  course  a  line,  or  lingering  a  moment  in  their  speed  until  they 
reached  the  anchorage,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  (February  13.)  The  government  boats 
were  left  in  the  distance,  but  were  seen  sculling  rapidly  along  ind  following  in  the  wake  of  the 
squadron. 

The  position  in  which  the  three  steamers  and  the  four  ships,  including  the  Southampton, 
which  had  preceded  the  squadron,  had  anchored  was  named,  in  the  previous  visit,  the  "  American 


328  EXPEDITIONTOJAPAN. 

andiora^e."  It  is  within  tlie  bight  emhracod  within  two  hohl  hcadhands,  about  twelve  miles 
distant  from  eacli  other,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Bay  of  Yedo.  The  anchorage  was  about 
twelve  miles  beyond  the  town  of  Uraga,  and  about  twenty  miles  from  the  capital  city  of  Yedo. 
The  island  which  had  been  called  Perry's,  and  which  presented  such  a  picturesque  aspect  during 
the  summer  with  its  pleasant  groves,  was  seen  as  the  squadron  passed  up,  and  the  fort  which 
covered  its  summit  could  be  more  distinctly  traced  through  the  trees,  which  had  been  stripped  of 
their  foliage  by  the  frost  and  winds  of  winter. 

The  villages  of  Otsu  and  Torigasati,  no  longer  embowered  in  green  growth,  stood  out  from 
the  land  a  mile  or  so  distant,  in  all  the  sharpness  of  outline  and  staring  surface  of  their  peak- 
roofed  and  boarded  houses.  The  anchorage,  though  protected  by  the  bounding  headlands  and 
the  curved  shore,  had  loss  of  that  sheltered  look  which  it  had  previously  presented. 

The  squadron  had  hardly  come  to  anchor  when  two  of  the  government  boats,  which  had  fol- 
lowed rapidly  in  tlie  wake  of  the  ships,  came  alongside  the  Susquehanna.  The  Japanese  officials 
requested  to  be  admitted  on  board,  but  as  the  Commodore  had  caused  the  extra  or  captain's  cabin 
to  be  removed  from  the  steamer  Susquehanna  to  the  Powhatan,  in  view  of  changing  his  flag  to 
that  ship  preparatory  to  the  return  of  the  former  to  China,  and  as  in  accordance  with  the  system 
of  exclusiveness  which  it  was  thought  politic  still  to  continue,  the  Commodore  coidd  not  admit 
them,  as  they  were  of  subordinate  authority,  into  his  own  cabin,  he  directed  Captain  Adams  to 
receive  the  officials  on  board  the  Powhatan. 

Captain  Adams,  having  been  charged  by  the  Commodore  with  precise  and  special  instructions 
to  hear  all  the  Japanese  had  to  say,  but  to  give  them  no  unnecessary  information,  nor  to  promise 
anything,  proceeded  to  the  steamer  Powhatan,  accompanied  by  the  interpreters,  Messrs.  Williams 
and  Portman,  and  the  Commodore's  secretary,  Mr.  Perry. 

The  government  boats  followed  and  the  Japanese  deputation  came  on  board  the  Powhatan. 
It  consisted  of  a  high  dignitary,  who  was  announced  as  Kura-kawa-kahie,  the  two  interpreters 
who  had  formerly  officiated,  three  grey-robed  individuals,  who  seemed  to  be  making  excellent 
use  of  their  eyes,  and  turned  out  to  be  metshe  dwantinger,  literally  cross-eyed  persons,  or  those 
who  look  in  all  directions,  in  other  words  spies  or  reporters.  They  were  all  received  with  one 
ceremony  and  ushered  into  the  cabin,  where  the  object  of  their  visit  was  set  forth  at  length 
Some  preliminary  conversation  took  place,  in  the  course  of  which  inquiries  having  been  made 
about  Yezaiman,  the  governor  of  Uraga,  who  had  taken  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  negotiations 
on  the  previous  visit,  the  Japanese  stated  that  that  dignitary  was  unwell,  but  would  probably 
soon  pay  his  respects  to  the  Commodore.  Questions  were  also  asked  and  answered  in  regard  to 
the  ships,  their  number,  names,  and  those  that  were  to  come.  The  usual  compliments,  of  which 
the  Japanese  officials  seemed  never  weary  or  forgetful,  having  passed,  they  stated  that  their 
business  was  to  endeavor  to  induce  the  Commodore  to  return  to  Uraga,  where,  they  said,  there 
were  two  high  Japanese  officials,  in  waiting,  and  that  more  were  expected,  who  had  been 
appointed  by  the  Emperor  to  meet  and  treat  with  the  Americans.  Captain  Adams  replied  that 
the  Commodore  would  not  consent  to  go  to  Uraga.  And  upon  the  Japanese  rejoining  that  the 
Emperor  had  appointed  that  town  for  the  place  of  negotiation,  and  that  it  could,  in  consequence, 
be  nowhere  else,  he  was  told  by  Captain  Adams  that  the  Commodore  was  willing  to  meet  the 
commissioners  on  shore,  opposite  the  jiresent  anchorage  of  the  squadron ;  but  if  the  Japanese 
government  would  not  consent  to  that,  the  Commodore  would  move  his  ships  higher  up  the  bay, 
even,  if  it  should  be  deemed  necessary,  to  Yedo  itself.     The  interview  was  conducted  in  the  most 


CAPTAIN     ADAMS     AND     JAPANESE     OFFICIALS.  329 

courteous  and  friendly  manner,  and  after  the  business  was  over,  the  Japanese  partook  of  some 
refreshments  and  entered  cheerfully  into  a  general  conversation. 

The  Japanese  now  took  their  ledve,  and  althougli  they  had  been  impressed  with  the  resolute 
bearing  of  the  Americans,  departed  with  their  usual  good  humor  and  polite  expressions  of 
friendly  feeling. 

The  next  day  the  Japanese  officials  came  off  again  to  the  Powhatan,  and  were  received  as 
before  by  Caj)tain  Adams,  under  instructions  from  the  Commodore. 

The  Japanese  reiterated  their  assurances  of  the  friendly  disposition  of  the  Emperor,  who  had 
given  orders,  as  they  said,  that  the  Americans  should  be  treated  with  the  greatest  consideration. 
The  commissioners,  they  declared,  would  be  ready  to  receive  the  Commodore  in  a  few  days,  and 
upon  being  asked  in  what  place,  they  answered  at  Kama-kura.  As  Uraga  had  been  specified 
on  the  previous  day,  Captain  Adams,  with  some  surprise,  demanded  how  it  was  that  the  place 
had  become  so  suddenly  changed.  The  Japanese,  Avith  their  usual  imperturbable  manner, 
which  is  schooled  to  cunning  and  deceit,  promptly  answered,  without  the  least  mark  of  emotion 
or  evidence  of  discomposure,  that  the  Emperor  had  named  both  places,  so  that  if  the  Commodore 
should  not  be  satisfied  with  the  one,  he  might  perchance  with  the  other. 

Kama-kura  is  a  town  situated  in  the  outer  Bay  of  Yedo,  about  twenty  miles  below  Uraga,  at 
the  place  where  the  Macedonian  had  grounded.  As  the  Commodore  had  had  an  opportunity 
when  anchored  off  Kama-kura,  while  engaged  in  the  extrication  of  the  Macedonian  from  her 
perilous  position,  of  seeing  enough  of  that  place  to  satisfy  him  that  it  would  be  absurd  to  take 
the  ships  there,  and  as  he  suspected  some  artfnl  design  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese,  when 
informed  that  Kama-kura  had  been  specified,  he  directed  Captain  Adams  to  say  that  it  was 
altogether  unsuitable.  Captain  Adams  then  conveyed  this  information  to  the  Japanese,  with 
the  statement  that  neither  Uraga  nor  Kama-kura  were  proper  places,  as  they  were  so  distant 
and  so  insecure  as  harbors,  and  that  some  other  locality  must  be  selected.  The  Japanese  then 
proposed  that  Captain  Adams  should  go  down  to  Uraga  and  confer  with  the  high  officer  there 
about  the  place  of  meeting,  when  they  were  told  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  receive  the 
instructions  of  the  Commodore  before  a  reply  could  be  given  on  that  point. 

The  Commodore's  secretary,  who  was  present  at  the  interview,  was  then  dispatched  to  the 
Sus(iuehanua.  The  secretary  soon  returned  with  the  answer  that  the  Commodore  would  neither 
go  to  Uraga,  nor  allow  any  of  his  officers  to  do  so,  but  that  Captain  Adams  would  be  permitted 
to  meet  any  of  the  high  Japanese  dignitaries  on  the  shore,  near  the  anchorage  of  the  squadron, 
to  confer  upon  the  subject  of  a  proper  place  of  meeting,  but  that  it  was  an  essential  condition 
of  the  Commodore's  consent  that  the  place  should  not  be  remote  from  his  present  position. 

The  Japanese  officials,  notwithstanding  the  very  explicit  answer,  which  was  duly  conveyed  in 
Dutch  by  Mr.  Portman  to  Tatsnoske,  (who,  as  on  the  first  visit,  was  one  of  the  attendant  inter- 
preters.) and  by  him  interpreted  to  his  superiors,  still  pertinaciously  clung  to  their  ongmal 
proposition,  and  urged  the  necessity  of  making  Uraga  the  place  of  meeting.  As  they  still  per- 
sisted in  their  wearisome  efforts  to  carry  their  point,  Captaiu  Adams  cut  the  matter  short  by 
telling  them  to  put  in  writing  their  objections  to  holding  the  interview  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  American  anchorage,  to  which  the  Japanese  assented,  on  the  condition  that  Captam  Adams 
would  answer  a  written  question  which  they  were  about  to  ask.  This  being  granted,  Toksuro, 
the  second  interpreter,  having  conferred  for  a  moment  with  his  superiors,  wrote  down  in  Dutch 
the  proposed  question,  which  was  translated  by  the  American  interpreter,  Mr.  Portman:  "As 
42  J 


330  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

the  President's  letter  was  received  at  Goraliama,  near  Uraga,  why  are  you  not  willing  to  receive 
the  answer  there?"  Captain  Adams  answered  tliat  he  did  not  know  precisely  all  the  Commo- 
dore's reasons,  hut  the  principal  one  was  that  the  anchorage  was  very  unsafe. 

The  Japanese  now  seemed  somewhat  trouhled,  us  if  tliey  feared  that  the  Americans  were 
disposed  to  assume  a  hostile  attitude,  and  asked,  with  some  anxiety,  whether  the  Commodore  was 
actuated  hy  the  same  friendly  feelings  as  the  Japanese  government.  Captain  Adams  did  all  in 
his  power  to  reassure  tliem,  and  declared  that  the  Americans  were  actuated  hy  no  other  motives 
than  those  of  friendship,  and  that  their  greatest  desire  was  to  he  in  relations  of  peace  and  amity 
with  Japan,  and  that  their  chief  ohject  in  refusing  their  assent  to  the  Japanese  ])ropositions  was 
the  fear  of  endangering  the  lives  of  the  officers  and  crews  and  the  safety  of  the  ships  hy  resorting 
to  an  insecure  place.  The  Japanese  reiterated,  several  times,  that  a  high  officer  would  come  to 
arrange  all  business  with  the  Commodore,  hut  that  he  could  not  arrive  for  several  days.  Upon 
its  being  proposed  that  he  should  come  on  hoard  the  ships,  the  Japanese  declared  that  that  was 
quite  impossible ;  and  then  Captain  A.  suggested  that,  as  it  was  the  custom  to  transact  all 
public  business  at  the  metropolis,  the  Commodore  should  go  to  Yedo.  The  last  suggestion  was 
opposed  by  the  very  emphatic  remark  :   "  You  cannot  be  received  at  Yedo." 

The  Japanese  now  requested  that  the  boats  of  the  squadron  should  be  prohibited  from  landing 
or  surveying  the  harbor,  and  were  told  that  could  not  be  promised,  but  that  the  Commodore 
should  be  informed  of  the  request.  After  the  usual  refreshments — tea,  wine,  cakes,  and  segars — 
of  which  the  Japanese  always  freely  partook,  and  the  ordinary  interchange  of  compliments,  they 
prepared  to  take  their  departure,  saying,  as  they  left,  that  it  would  take  some  six  or  seven  days 
before  they  could  bring  any  decision  from  the  high  officer  in  regard  to  the  place  of  meeting,  but 
promising  the  earliest  dispatch. 

A  surveying  party  had  been  organized  on  the  second  day  of  the  arrival  of  the  squadron,  under 
the  command  of  Lieutenant  Maury,  and  ordered  to  commence  operations,  which  were  effectively 
carried  out.  There  were  no  positive  interruptions  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  authorities,  but 
they  evidently  looked  upon  the  proceeding  with  jealous  anxiety  ;  and  that  the  subject  was 
uppermost  in  their  mind  is  clear,  from  the  constant  allusion  to  it  in  their  various  couferences  with 
the  American  officers.  The  Commodore,  however,  fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  thoroughly 
surveying  the  bay,  not  only  for  the  convenience  of  the  immediate  purposes  of  the  expedition  but 
for  the  future  interests  of  the  United  States,  and,  we  may  add,  those  of  the  whole  civilized  world, 
was  resolved  to  omit  no  opportunity  of  obtaining  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  navigation  of  the 
bay,  and  thus  complete  the  hydrographloal  reports  and  charts,  which  are  now  among  the  by  no 
means  least  valuable  results  of  the  expedition.  The  surveying  boats  were  accordingly  kept 
busy  day  after  day,  and  the  protestations  of  the  Japanese  authorities,  though  courteously 
listened  to,  were  always  met  with  the  assertion  of  the  resolute  determination  of  the  Commodore 
to  prosecute  what  he  believed  so  essential  to  the  full  development  of  the  objects  of  his  mission. 
It  was  now  the  fourteenth  of  February,  a  day  which  was  recorded  in  the  logs  as  cold  and 
blustering,  but  with  an  atmosphere  perfectly  clear.  The  land  just  off  the  ships,  tlie  promon- 
tories to  the  north  and  south,  and  the  opposite  shore,  showed  a  clear  and  distinct  wintry  aspect, 
and  the  view  could  be  readily  extended  for  a  circuit  of  many  miles,  far  back  to  the  snowy 
summits  of  the  mountains,  which  traced  their  irregular  outlines  ujion  the  cold  grey  sky. 

Notwithstanding  that  tlie  Japanese  officials  luul  declared  that  it  would  require  several  days 
before  they  could  bring  any  answer  to  the  Commodore's  protest  against  moving  his  squadron 


CONTINUED      VISITS     OF     JAPANESE     AUTHORITIES.  331 

to  TJraga,  they  came  on  board  the  Powhatan  early  the  next  morning,  (February  15.)  Commo- 
dore Perry  had  suffered  since  his  arrival  from  a  severe  indisjiosition,  of  which  the  Japanese 
had  heard,  and  they  now  made  their  visit  to  inquire,  as  tliey  said,  after  the  *Admirars 
health.  They  also  stated  that  they  had  been  instructed  to  lay  off  the  squadron  with  their 
boats,  in  case  the  Americans  had  auy^iing  to  communicate,  or  desired  any  sufiplies.  They 
made  an  offer  to  bring  off  wood,  water,  or  anything  else  the  sliips  might  require  ;  when 
they  -were  told  that  nothing  was  wanted  at  jjresent,  but  perhaps  some  fish,  eggs,  and  vegetables 
might  be  acceptable  in  a  few  days,  and  that  they  would  be  received  provided  payment  should 
be  taken  for  them.  The  Japanese  then  replied  that  their  proposed  supplies  were  intended 
as  presents,  and  that  they  had  no  authority  to  receive  money  for  them.  They  seemed  to  be 
very  fearful  lest  some  of  the  boats  should  land,  but  they  were  assured  that  they  would  not 
be  allowed  to  do  so.  Captain  Adams,  in  the  course  of  the  conversation,  alluded  to  the  report 
of  the  death  of  the  Emperor,  biit  was  not  very  explicit  in  his  question,  as  there  seemed  to 
be  some  doubt  of  its  truth.  He  merely  stated  that  when  the  squadron  liad  sailed  for  Japan 
he  had  heard  that  a  high  dignitary  had  died,  and  asked  whether  it  was  true.  To  which 
the  Japanese  answered,  "Yes,  a  very  high  man  died  lately."  Captain  A. — "What  was  his 
rank?"  Japanese  official. — "  He  was  a  prince."  It  was  thus  a  matter  of  the  greatest  difficulty 
to  get  at  the  truth,  the  Japanese  being  as  indirect  and  evasive  as  possible  in  regard  to  the 
simplest  matter  of  fact. 

The  Japanese  dignitaries  repeated  their  official  visits  day  after  day,  sailing  up  in  their  boats 
from  the  long  distance  of  Uraga,  and  consumed  the  time  with  offering  the  most  puerile  pretexts 
for  coming,  and  the  length  of  their  negotiations.  Now  they  would  express  the  greatest 
solicitude  about  the  Commodore's  health,  and  showed  their  courtesy  by  bringing  him  presents 
of  bon-bons  and  confectionary ;  again  they  would  offer  provisions  and  other  supplies ;  at  another 
time  they  would  enter  into  explanations  about  the  Americans  going  ashore,  and  on  one  occasion 
they  brought  with  them  a  dozen  or  more  naval  buttons  which  had  been  thrown  into  their  boats, 
and  which  they  returned  with  the  most  formal  ceremony.  They  always  recurred,  however, 
to  the  question  of  the  vessels  going  to  Uraga,  and  never  ceased  persisting  in  their  pertinacious 
solicitations  that  the  Commodore  would  remove  hi.s  squadron  tliere,  notwithstanding  the  direct 
and  resolute  refusal  with  which  they  were  invariably  opposed.  On  their  visit  on  the  18th  of 
February  they  announced  that  the  high  officer  had  arrived  at  Uraga,  and  tliat  they  had  been 
sent  to  request  the  Commodore  to  meet  him  there.  Upon  being  told  tliat  it  was  imjjossible  for 
the  Commodore  to  go  to  Uraga,  Captain  Adams  then  handed  them  the  following  document  from 
the  Commodore : 

"  United  States  Steam-frigate  Powhatan, 
"American  Anchorage,  Tedo  Bay,  February  18,  1854. 

"  The  Commodore  expects  to  be  received  at  Yedo,  agreeably  to  the  customs  of  all  countries. 

"In  consideration  of  the  size  of  our  ships,  and  tlicir  great  value,  he  cannot  return  to  the 
anchorage  at  Uraga,  nor  even  remain  at  this  place  much  longer,  but  will  have  to  go  higher  up 
the  bay  towards  Yedo,  where  the  vessels  can  be  more  secure. 

"  If  the  great  man  (chief  commissioner)  will  appoint  an  officer  of  proper  rank  to  meet  Captain 
Adams  on  shore,  near  where  the  ships  are  now  lying,  to  determine  when  and  where  the 
interview  with  the  Commodore  shall  take  place,  he  must  let  us  know  by  noon  of  Tuesday  next. 

•  The  Japanese  officials  alwayi  ipoke  of  the  Commodore  as  tlie  Admiral,  not  beinj;  acquainted  witli  the  former  title. 


332  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

"  The  Commodore  will  be  happy  to  place  a  ship  at  the  disposal  of  the  great  man,  to  bring 
him  up  to  the  place  of  interview,  and  take  him  back  again  to  Uraga,  if  he  wishes  it. 

"  When  the  officer  comes  to  meet  Captain  Adams,  lie  had  better  bring  a  letter  to  show  tliat 
he  has  proper  authority,  and  a  person  must  be  sent  to  conduct  Captain  Adams  to  the  phice  of 
meeting." 

The  Japanese  received  the  dispatch  from  the  Commodore  without  any  attempt  to  discuss  it, 
and  bore  it  away  with  them,  with  the  intention  of  consulting,  doubtless,  with  others  higher  in 
authority.  As  they  rose  to  depart,  they  asked  if  the  Commodore  had  received  a  letter,  through 
the  Dutch  at  Nagasaki,  which  had  been  sent  to  him  the  previous  year  by  the  government  of 
Japan.  Captain  Adams,  as  he  had  not  been  authorized  to  make  any  revelations  on  the  subject, 
answered  he  had  no  authority  to  speak  on  the  subject.     They  then  took  their  departure. 

It  was  on  this  day  (February  18th)  that  the  Commodore  transferred  his  broad  pennant  to  the 
Powhatan.  The  surveying  boats,  as  usual,  were  busily  occupied  on  duty,  but  had  changed 
their  scone  of  operations  further  toward  Tedo.  The  Southampton  followed  in  their  wake^  in 
order  to  facilitate  the  work  of  the  surveyors,  who  had  hitherto  lost  much  time  by  being  obliged 
to  return,  after  a  day's  labor,  a  great  distance  to  the  squadron.  The  surveying  party  was  now, 
by  being  immediately  followed  by  a  ship,  enabled  to  go  on  board  of  her  at  night,  without  losing 
time,  which  it  was  necessary  to  economise,  in  order  fully  to  complete  the  extensive  observations 
they  had  in  view. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday,  (February  19th,)  but  the  Japanese  officials,  notwithstanding,  came 
on  board  the  Powhatan  as  usual.  They  were  told  that  it  was  a  day  set  apart  by  the  Americans 
as  their  Sabbath,  but  that  if  they  had  anything  to  say,  they  would  be  listened  to,  in  consideration 
of  the  long  distance  and  inclement  weather  through  which  they  had  come.  They  brought  with 
them  a  large  quantity  of  vegetables,  oranges,  fowls,  eggs,  and  various  sweetened  confections, 
which  they  courteously  offered  as  a  present  to  the  Commodore,  with  a  kind  inquiry  after  his 
health.  These  were  received  upon  their  expressing  a  willingness  to  receive  something  in  return, 
and  they  accordingly  were  presented  with  some  ship's  bread  and  a  box  of  tea  ;  the  Japanese 
remarked,  as  they  received  them,  they  had  given  eatables  only,  and  that  it  was  a  Japanese 
custom  to  receive  eatables  only  in  return.  Upon  being  asked  whether  the  Commodore's  pro])o- 
sitions  had  been  laid  before  the  high  officer,  the  officials  replied  that  they  had,  and  that  he 
desired  to  confer  about  the  President's  letter  at  Uraga.  The  Commodore's  objections  against 
going  to  Uraga  were  again  resolutely  pressed,  but  the  Japanese  merely  answered,  that  that 
place  had  been  selected  by  the  order  of  the  Emperor.  Captain  Adams  distinctly  declared,  that 
if  the  Commodore  did  not  receive  a  favorable  answer  to  his  request  for  an  interview  with  the 
high  officer  near  his  present  anchorage,  by  the  subsequent  Tuesday,  (February  21st,)  "he 
would  then  know  what  to  do."  The  Japanese  official  still  reiterated  that  it  was  the  Emperor's 
order  that  the  interview  should  be  held  at  Uraga.  The  next  day  there  was  another  visit,  with 
the  usual  ceremonies,  and  a  present  of  oysters  for  the  Commodore. 

The  Japanese  brought  with  them  a  short  dispatch  from  the  high  commissioners,  addressed 
to  the  Commodore,  written  in  Japanese  and  Dutch,  stating  their  instructions  from  the  govern- 
ment.    The  translation  is  as  follows  : 

"  We  are  compelled  by  the  order  of  the  Emperor  to  meet  the  ambassador  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States  of  America  either  at  Kama-kura  or  Uraga. 


CAPTAIN     ADAMS     SENT     DOWN     TO     URAGA.  333 

"In  the  interim  we  shall  talk  ahont  the  negotiations  of  commerce  and  the  influence  it  miist 
exercise  upon  the  well-being  of  the  Japanese  and  American  nations.  It  is  out  of  the  question 
now.     This  is  all  according  to  truth." 

This  document  having  been  laid  before  the  Commodore,  he  submitted  the  following  answer: 

"The  Commodore,  for  the  reasons  before  given,  cannot  return  to  Uraga.  His  instructions 
are  to  receive  the  answer  of  the  Emperor  to  the  President's  letter  at  Yedo." 

The  Japanese  having  received  and  perused  the  answer  attentively,  conferred  with  each  other, 
and  then  promised  that  it  should  be  submitted  to  the  high  officer.  Captain  Adams  now  informed 
them  that  it  was  his  intention,  under  orders,  to  go  down  to  Uraga  the  next  day  to  declare  in 
person  to  the  high  officer  what  had  just  been  delivered  in  writing  from  the  Commodore.  The 
Japanese  seemed  very  anxious  to  know  if  he  would  be  accompanied  by  a  very  large  party,  and 
seemed  quite  tranquilized  when  told  that  there  would  be  a  few  officers  only.  They,  promised 
that  a  boat  should  be  in  readiness,  and  all  other  preparations  made  for  tlie  reception.  In  the 
course  of  a  general  conversation  they  were  told  that  the  following  Wednesday  would  be  the 
anniversary  of  Washington's  birthday,  and  that  a  salute  would,  in  consequence,  be  fired.  They 
seemed  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  name  of  the  great  father  of  our  country,  and  expressed  a 
desire  to  participate  in  celebrating  the  occasion,  asking  to  be  permitted  to  come  off  to  see  the 
giins  fired.  They  were,  of  course,  politely  invited,  and  requested  to  bring  their  ladies  with  them ; 
the  latter  part  of  the  invitation  they,  however,  jeered  at  as  a  very  amusing  but  quite  an 
impracticable  joke. 

On  Tuesday,  the  21st  day  of  February,  the  Japanese  boat  came  alongside  the  Powhatan,  and 
the  officials,  on  being  received  aboard,  stated  that  they  had  come  to  show  Captain  Adams  the 
landing  at  Uraga.  They  were  then  invited  to  accompany  him  on  board  the  Vandalia,  which 
ship  immediately  set  sail,  and  moved  down  the  bay.  Captain  Adams  was  the  bearer  of  the 
following  note  from  the  Commodore  to  the  Japanese  authorities  : 

"United  States  Flag-ship  Powhatan, 
"American  Anchorage,  Yedo  Bay,  Fehruary  20,  1854. 

"The  undersigned  is  highly  gratified  to  learn,  through  the  officers  of  his  Blajesty  who  have 
visited  the  flag-ship,  that  the  imperial  court  has  come  to  the  conclusion  to  respond,  in  the  most 
cordial  manner,  to  the  propositions  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  which  the  undersigned 
had  the  honor  to  present  in  July  last. 

"Inasmuch  as  the  anchorage  at  Uraga  is  unsafe  and  inconvenient,  and  considering  the  great 
size  and  value  of  the  steamers  composing  a  part  of  the  command  of  the  undersigned,  he  does 
not  consider  himself  justified  in  removing  to  tliat  place ;  on  the  contrary,  he  deems  it  necessary 
to  seek  a  more  commodious  harbor  higher  up  the  bay ;  and  as  his  instructions  direct  him  to 
present  himself  at  Yedo,  it  is  desirable  that  he  should  ajiproach  as  near  as  possible  to  that  city, 
as  well  for  the  better  convenience  of  communication  as  with  reference,  also,  to  the  arrangement 
and  exhibition  of  the  various  presents  sent  by  the  President  to  his  Imperial  Majesty. 

"As  the  mission  of  the  undersigned  is  of  a  most  friendly  character,  he  is  not  prepared  to 
anticipate  any  objection  to  his  reception  at  the  seat  of  government,  conformably  to  the  usages 
of  all  the  nations  of  Europe  and  America,  and  he  hopes  that  wlien  the  steamers  shall  have 
reached  the  vicinity  of  the  city,  and  secured  more  suitable  moorings,  he  may  have  the  honor  of 


334 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


receiving  on  board  his  sliip  such  distinguished  members  of  the  imperial  court  as  may  be  desirous 
of  viewing  the  steamers  and  witnessing  the  working  of  their  machinery. 

"  This  communication  will  be  presented  by  Commander  H.  A.  Adams,  captain  of  the  fleet, 
who  is  empowered  to  receive  any  written  proposition  addressed  to  tlie  undersigned,  and  place  at 
the  disposal  of  the  commissioners  of  his  Imperial  Majesty  one  of  the  vessels  of  the  squadron. 
' '  With  the  highest  respect, 

"M.  C.  PEEKY, 
•'  Commander4n-chief  U.  S.  Naval  Forces  East  Inciia,  China,  and  Japan  seas." 

It  was  calm  in  the  morning,  but  before  the  Vandalia  had  reached  Uraga  a  strong  gale  from 
the  southwest,  and  directly  ahead,  prevented  her  from  reaching  the  port,  and  made  it  necessary 
for  her  to  anchor  under  Point  Kubicon.*  Captain  Adams,  accordingly,  was  not  enabled  to  land, 
until  the  succeeding  day.  It  being  the  twenty-second  of  February,  Washington's  birthday,  tlie 
Vandalia  commenced  at  noon  firing  a  sulute  in  honor  of  the  occasion,  and  amidst  the  salvo  of 


Landing  at  Uraga. 

artillery  Captain  Adams  left  the  ship,  accompanied  by  a  score  ol  officers  and  attendants,  and 
landed  at  Uraga,  where  they  were  met  by  a  large  party  of  Japanese  officials,  who  conducted 
them  to  a  wooden  pavilion,  whicli  evidently  had  been  but  lately  constructed. 

Captain  Adams  and  his  suite  were  ushered  into  a  large  hall,  some  fifty  feet  long  and  forty 


•Point  Rubicon  was  a  headland,  in  the  bay  which  had  received  that  name  from  the  Commodore,  because  it  was  just  abreast 
of  it  where  the  surveying  boats,  on  tlie  first  visit  to  Yedo  Bay,  had,  in  spite  of  some  show  of  opposition  on  the  part  of  tlio 
Japanese,  persisted  in  carryinjr  on  tlie  operations  with  success,  and  thus  passed,  as  it  were,  the  Rubicon. 


INTERVIEW     OF     CAPTAIN     ADAMS     WITH     COMMISSIONERS.         335 

wide.  The  floor  was  spread  with  soft  mats  of  very  fine  texture,  and  at  a  distance  of  several 
feet  from  the  walls,  on  either  side,  were  arranged  long  settees  covered  with  what  appeared  to  he 
a  red  felt  ;  in  front  of  them  were  tahles  spread  with  a  silken  crape. 

The  Americans  were  invited,  on  entering,  to  take  tlieir  seats  on  the  left  hand,  Avhich  is 
esteemed  by  the  Japanese  the  place  of  honor  ;  this  they  had  no  sooner  done  than  the  Japanese 
prince,  accompanied  hy  two  other  high  dignitaries,  entered  the  hall,  tliroiigh  a  curtained 
ojiening  which  led  into  another  compartment.  As  soon  as  these  dignitaries  presented  them- 
selves, the  governor  of  Uraga,  the  interpreters,  and  various  Japanese  subordinates,  who  had 
accompanied  the  Americans,  dropped  at  once  upon  their  knees — a  position  they  retained 
throughout  the  interview — and  bowed  their  heads  to  tlie  ground.  The  prince  and  his  two 
associates  took  their  seats  on  the  riglit,  opposite  to  the  American  officers,  and  a  file  of  Japanese 
soldiers,  amounting  to  half  a  hundred,  marched  in  and  ranged  themselves,  on  their  knees^ 
behind  the  three  dignitaries,  in  the  space  between  their  backs  and  the  wall. 

The  prince,  with  his  robes  of  richly  embroidered  silk,  his  fine  presence,  his  benevolent  and 
intelligent  face,  and  his  courtly  manners,  made  quite  an  imposing  appearance. 

He  first  addressed  Captain  Adams,  rising  as  he  spoke,  and  expressed  his  pleasure  at  seeing 
him.  His  interpreters  translated  his  Japanese  into  Dutch,  which  was  then  repeated  in  English 
by  the  American  interpreter,  Mr.  Portman.  The  audience  then  commenced  in  form,  and  was 
conducted  throughout  with  the  most  friendly  expression  of  feeling  on  both  sides. 

CajJtain  Adams  commenced  by  stating,  that  it  was  quite  evident  that  Uraga  was  not  a  proper 
place  for  the  ships,  since  the  anchorage  was  so  much  exposed.  The  Japanese  replied,  that  it 
had  been  ordered  by  the  Emperor  to  receive  the  Admiral  there,  and  to  deliver  the  answer  to 
the  President's  letter  there.  Captain  Adams,  without  at  the  moment  pushing  this  subject 
further,  handed  his  card  to  the  prince,  and  requested  his  in  return.  He  was  told  that  he  should 
have  it  in  a  few  minutes,  when  the  Japanese  prince,  requesting  to  be  excused  for  a  few  moments, 
retired  through  the  curtained  door  into  an  adjacent  apartment.  In  the  meantime  the  attendants 
handed  round  tea,  in  small  China  cups  handsomely  adorned,  and  borne  upon  wooden  trays 
beautifully  lacquered.  The  Japanese  interpreters  apologised  for  the  meagreness  of  the  repast, 
and  entered  into  an  informal  conversation,  in  the  course  of  which  they  asked  for  the  names  of 
the  American  officers  who  were  present,  and  inquired  whether  they  were  satisfied  with  Uraga 
as  a  proper  place  for  the  reception  of  the  President's  letter. 

This  subject  was  uppermost  in  their  minds,  and  they  seemed  resolved  to  press  it  on  all 
occasions,  as  they  were  very  desirous  of  jircventing  any  nearer  approach  of  the  s(|uadron  to 
Yedo  ;  being  instructed,  no  doubt,  to  attempt  to  acconii)lish  this  purpose  at  all  hazards.  They 
were  told  that  Captain  Adams  had  a  letter  upon  the  subject  from  the  Commodore,  and  were 
reminded  of  the  severe  weather  to  which  the  Vandal ia  had  been  exposed,  and  how  impossible 
it  was  to  place  the  squadron  in  a  position  so  little  protected  against  the  stormy  season  then 
prevailing. 

The  prince  now  entered  and  his  card  was  handed  to  Captain  Adams,  upon  which  was 
recorded  his  full  name  and  title,  thus:  Hayashi-Daigaku-no-kami,  i.  e.,  Hayashi,  prince  of 
Daigaku. 

Captain  Adams  now  handed  the  Commodore's  letter,  which  has  already  been  given  in  full,  to 
the  prince,  accompanying  it  with  a  statement  in  regard  to  the  insecure  anchorage  at  Uraga,  and 
the  necessity  of  having  shelter,  space,  and  smooth  water,  for  mooring  the  squadron,  and  repair- 


336  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

ing  one  of  tte  sliijis  wliich  had  become  leaky.  He  also  emphatically  declared  that  it  was  quite 
impossible  for  the  Commodore  to  come  to  Uraga,  but  that  he  would  be  very  hapjjy  to  send  one 
of  his  steamers  to  convey  the  prince  up  the  bay  to  a  place  of  meeting,  near  the  anchorage  of 
the  American  ships. 

The  prince  and  his  two  coadjutors  now  retired  to  consider  the  Commodore's  letter.  In  the 
meantime  refreshments  were  presented,  consisting  of  tea,  of  a  cake  resembling  our  sponge  cake, 
candy,  various  fruits,  and  their  saki. 

A  general  conversation  ensued  in  regard  to  the  building  which  the  Japanese  said  had  been 
especially  constructed  for  the  meeting  with  the  Commodore,  the  depth  of  the  harbor,  and  other 
points  of  no  material  interest. 

The  Japanese  interpreters,  in  answer  to  the  objections  urged  against  the  security  of  the  port 
of  Uraga,  insisted  that  it  was  perfectly  safe_,  and  requested  Captain  Adams  to  make  a  survey  of 
it,  in  order  to  convince  himself;  and  again  and  again  earnestly  urged  ujion  him  to  entreat  the 
Commodore  to  bring  his  ships  there,  and  meet  the  Japanese  high  officei's,  who  had  been  appointed 
to  treat  with  him  ;  saying  that  if  he  would  come  the  whole  treaty  might  be  arranged  before  night. 
Captain  Adams,  in  answer,  said  that  he  would  inform  the  Commodore,  when  the  conversation 
was  interrupted  by  the  reappearance  of  the  three  Japanese  high  dignitaries.  Upon  entering 
they  annoimced  that  they  had  carefully  perused  the  Commodore's  letter  three  or  four  times,  but 
were  not  prepared  to  give  an  answer,  as  they  would  be  obliged  to  consult  the  other  high  officers 
appointed  by  the  Emperor,  and  who  were  now  in  waiting  at  Uraga.  On  being  asked  when  the 
answer  would  be  ready,  they  appointed  the  third  day  after  the  interview.  Captain  Adams 
strove  to  impress  upon  them  the  necessity  of  dispatch,  in  consequence  of  the  insecurity  of  the 
ship  in  the  prevailing  stormy  weather  at  Uraga,  and  of  explicitness  in  their  answer,  as  the 
Commodore  was  anxious  to  bring  matters  to  a  conclusion,  and  to  send  to  America  one  of  his 
ships  to  report  progress  in  the  negotiations,  and  prevent  others  from  coming  out.  The  confer- 
ence now  being  at  an  end,  the  prince  and  his  coadjutors  bowed  politely  and  retired. 

The  weather  being  stormy  and  the  water  in  the  bay  very  rough,  the  American  officers  delayed 
their  return  to  the  Vandalia,  and  occupied  the  interval  in  strolling  about  and  viewing  the  neigh- 
borhood. Hardly  anything  could  be  seen,  however,  of  the  town  and  the  people,  as  the  Japanese 
authorities  had,  in  accordance  with  their  usual  custom,  hemmed  in  the  shore,  on  both  sides  of 
the  audience  hall,  with  cotton  screens  of  some  eight  feet  in  height,  which  excluded  the  houses 
from  the  sight  of  the  strangers.  Crowds  of  men,  women,  and  children  could  be  observed,  how- 
ever, in  the  distance,  thronging  upon  the  surrounding  hills,  and  gazing  eagerly  at  the  Americans. 
When  the  storm  had  somewhat  abated.  Captain  Adams  and  his  party,  having  been  presented, 
in  accordance  with  Japanese  practice,  with  paper  parcels  containing  the  remains  of  the  refresh- 
ments which  had  been  left  upon  their  jjlates  or  salvers,  returned  to  their  ship  lying  oif  the 
harbor.  Some  went  back  in  the  Vandalia's  boats,  while  others  accepted  the  oilers  of  the 
Japanese  officials,  and  put  off  in  their  craft.  The  superior  excellence  of  the  Japanese  boats,  in 
a  sea,  was  admirably  proved,  by  the  fact  tliat  those  on  board  of  them  reached  the  ship 
with  dry  jackets  while  the  others  were  wet  through  and  through  by  the  dashing  spray.  The 
use  of  the  scull  instead  of  the  oar,  may  partially  account  for  this  advantage  of  the  Japanese 
boats,  although  their  construction  has  something  to  do  with  it.  The  sculls  never  leave  the 
water,  while  the  oars  are  constantly  in  and  out,  dipping  up  considerable  spray,  which  at  every 
stroke  is  blown,  in  case  of  a  high  wind,  all  over  the  persons  in  a  boat  of  our  usual  construction. 


VISIT     OF     YEZAIMAN.  337 

On  the  next  morning  (February  23)  tlie  Vandalia  was  still  lying  oflf  Uraga,  when  our  old 
acquaintance,  Yezaiman,  the  governor  of  Uraga,  presented  himself.  This,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, was  the  dignitary  who  had  figured  so  conspicuously  during  the  first  visit  of  the  squadron 
to  the  Bay  of  Yedo.  His  absence  hitherto  had  created  great  surprise,  and  it  was  naturally  feared 
that  his  conduct  on  the  previous  occasion  had  not  been  approved  of  by  his  government,  and  that 
he  had  fallen  into  disgrace,  or  possibly  had  been  reduced  to  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  disem- 
bowelling himself.  He  however  explained  his  long  absence  on  the  score  of  illness,  and  the  im- 
mense pressure  of  public  business.  He  expressed  great  pleasure  in  seeing  his  old  acquaintances, 
and  proved  himself  the  same  afi"able,  courteous  gentleman,  as  on  all  previous  occasions.  Yezaiman 
explained  the  object  of  his  visit  by  presenting  a  letter  from  himself,  in  which  he  informally,  as 
he  stated,  though  undoubtedly  with  the  connivance  of  the  government,  repeated  the  assurances 
of  the  friendly  disposition  of  the  Emperor,  and  earnestly  solicited  Captain  Adams  to  use  his 
influence  with  the  ''Admiral'  to  prevail  upon  him  to  concede  the  point  in  regard  to  Uraga. 
Everything,  of  course,  was  referred  to  Commodore  Perry,  although  the  belief  was  expressed  that 
he  would  resolutely  adhere  to  his  original  determination.  Yezaiman,  having  promised  that  the 
answer  of  the  high  officers  to  the  Commodore's  letter  should  be  brought  on  board  the  next  day, 
took  his  departure. 

Accordingly  early  the  next  morning  (February  24)  the  Japanese,  having  brought  the  dispatch 
in  answer  to  the  Commodore's  letter,  and  having  taken  the  occasion  of  urging  their  views  about 
Uraga,  for  their  first  and  last  word  was  perpetually  Uraga!  Uraga!  the  Vandalia  got  under 
way  to  join  the  squadron  at  the  American  anchorage.  The  ship,  however,  had  not  proceeded 
far,  when  the  steamers  and  sailing  vessels  were  observed  in  the  distance  ahead,  standing  up 
the  bay. 

The  Commodore,  having  little  hope  of  any  favorable  result  from  the  visit  of  Captain  Adams  to 
Uraga,  had  determined  to  put  his  threat  into  execution,  and  had  actually  removed  the  squadron, 
during  the  absence  of  the  Vandalia,  to  a  spot  whence  Yedo  might  be  seen  from  the  masthead. 
So  near,  indeed,  did  he  approach  to  that  capital,  that  the  striking  of  the  city  bells  during  the 
night  could  be  distinctly  heard.  As  a  measure  of  precaution,  the  surveying  boats  always 
sounded  in  advance  of  the  ships,  and  when  the  Vandalia  was  seen  to  approach  with  Captain 
Adams  on  board,  bearing  the  dispatch  of  the  high  officers  at  Uraga,  the  surveying  party  was 
absent  engaged  in  further  explorations  toward  Yedo.  Next  morning  (February  25)  while  the 
squadron  was  anchored  off  the  town  of  Kanagawa,  one  of  the  Vandalia's  boats  arrived,  and  came 
alongside  the  flagship,  bringing  Captain  Adams,  who  handed  the  Commodore  the  following 
letter  from  the  high  officer  : 

"  To  Admiral  M.  C.  Perry  : 

"  The  undersigned,  ambassadors  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  have  perused  and  understood  the 
letter  of  the  Lord  Admiral,  and  in  reply  may  remark : 

"  The  Lord  Admiral  is  right  in  going  up  to  Yedo,  to  be  received  there  according  to  the  custom 
in  Europe  and  America.  According  to  the  Japanese  custom  ambassadors  are  commissioned, 
and  a  building  erected,  for  the  reception  of  ambassadors  from  foreign  countries  in  a  friendly 
manner  and  with  high  consideration. 

"  The  Emperor  has  sent  us  to  Uraga  to  receive  the  Admiral  with  the  highest  honor,  and  to 

extend  the  Japanese  hospitality  towards  him,  and  have  the  interview  at  that  place  in  compliance 

with  the  order  of  the  Emperor,  regardless  of  the  customs  of  foreign  countries. 
43  J 


338  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

"  We  wish  this  to  be  well  understood  :  we  desire  the  Admiral  to  come  to  Uraga,  there  to  have 
the  interview  with  us  in  the  huilding  aforesaid,  and  would  gratefully  acknowledge  the  friendly 
meeting  of  the  Lord  Admiral  in  complying  with  this  order  of  the  Emperor  and  our  own  wishes. 

"  Our  best  wishes  for  the  health  of  the  Admiral. 

"  HAYASHI-DAIGAKU-NO-KAMI. 

"  The  21th  Siogoots,  1854. 

The  arrival  of  Captain  Adams  was  soon  followed  by  that  of  Keyama  Yezaiman,  the  governor 
of  Uraga,  who  made  his  appearance  with  the  alleged  object  of  receiving  a  reply  to  the  high 
officer's  letter,  but,  as  it  will  appear,  for  another  purpose.  Yezaiman  commenced  by  inquiring 
whether  the  Commodore  was  still  determined  not  to  return  to  Uraga,  and  being  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  he  again  offered  supplies,  and  was  again  told  that  wood  and  water  would 
be  received.  Yezaiman  replied  that  these  articles  would  be  cheerfully  furnished,  but  that  they 
could  only  be  obtained  at  Uraga.  He  was  then  informed  that  it  was  a  matter  of  indifference 
whence  they  came,  but  that  the  Commodore  would  not  go  to  Uraga,  and  if  the  Japanese  did  not 
brinf  water  to  the  ships,  the  Commodore  would  send  on  shore  and  procure  it  by  some  means. 

Finding  that  the  Commodore  was  immovable  in  purpose,  and  evidently  inclined  to  approach 
nearer  to  Yedo,  Yezaiman  suddenly  abandoned  the  previously  pretended  ultimatum  of  the 
Japanese  commissioners,  as  to  the  place  of  meeting,  and  suggested  a  spot  in  the  immediate 
nei"-hborhood  of  the  village  of  Yoku-hama,  directly  opposite  to  where  the  ships  then  were 
anchored. 

Thus,  after  having  interposed  for  the  last  ten  days  all  possible  objections  to  the  squadron's 
movino-  further  wp  the  bay,  and  having  used  every  inducement  to  prevail  upon  the  Commodore 
to  return  to  Uraga,  they  suddenly  abandoned  the  position  from  which  they  had  so  frequently 
declared  they  could  not  possibly  be  moved.  They  had  discovered  that  the  Commodore  was  not 
to  be  shaken  from  his  resolution,  and  finding  that  the  ships  had  already  approached  within 
eio-ht  miles  of  their  capital,  they  thought  it  politic  to  stop  them  there,  while  it  was  practicable, 
by  a  conciliatory  concession. 

The  motive  of  the  Commodore  for  thus  persisting,  with  what  may  seem  obstinacy,  in  his 
determination  not  to  go  to  Uraga,  is  best  explained  by  himself.  In  his  communication  to  the 
honorable  Secretary,  on  this  subject,  he  thus  writes  : 

"  I  was  convinced  that  if  I  receded  in  the  least  from  the  position  first  assumed  by  me,  it  would 
be  considered  by  the  Japanese  an  advantage  gained  ;  and,  finding  that  I  could  be  induced  to 
change  a  predetermined  intention  in  one  instance,  they  might  rely  on  prevailing  on  me,  by  dint 
of  perseverance,  to  waver  in  most  other  cases  pending  the  negotiations  ;  therefore,  it  seemed  to 
bo  the  true  policy  to  hold  out  at  all  hazards,  and  rather  to  establish  for  myself  a  character  for 
unreasonable  obstinacy,  than  that  of  a  yielding  disposition.  I  knew  that  upon  the  impression 
thus  formed  by  them  would  in  a  measure  hinge  the  tenor  of  our  future  negotiations  ;  and  the 
sequel  will  show  that  I  was  right  in  my  conclusions.  Indeed,  in  conducting  all  my  business 
with  these  very  sagacious  and  deceitful  people,  I  have  found  it  profitable  to  bring  to  my  aid 
the  experience  gained  in  former  and  by  no  means  limited  intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of 
strange  lands,  civilized  and  barbarian  ;  and  this  experience  has  admonished  me  that,  with 
people  of  forms,  it  is  necessary  either  to  set  all  ceremony  aside,  or  to  out- Herod  Herod  in  assumed 
personal  consequence  and  ostentation. 


COMMODORE     ASSENTS     TO     YOKU-HAMA.  339 

"I  have  adopted  the  two  extremes — hy  an  exhibition  of  great  pomp,  when  it  could  properly 
he  displayed,  and  hy  avoiding  it,  when  such  pomp  would  he  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  our 
institutions  ;  and  by  resolving  never  to  recognise,  on  any  occasion,  the  slightest  personal 
superiority,  always  meeting  the  Japanese  officials,  however  exalted  their  rank,  with  perfect 
equality,  whilst  those  of  comparative  distincti(m,  of  their  own  nation,  were  cringing  and 
kneeling  to  them  ;  and  from  motives  of  policy,  and  to  give  greater  importance  to  my  own 
position,  I  have  hitherto  studiously  kept  myself  aloof  from  intercourse  with  any  of  the  subordi- 
nates of  the  court,  making  it  known  that  I  would  communicate  with  none  but  the  princes 
of  the  Empire.  Up  to  this  time,  I  have  succeeded  far  beyond  my  expectations  in  maintaining 
this  extreme  point  of  diplomacy,  and,  as  I  believe,  to  very  great  advantage. 

"  It  is  probable  that  arrogance  may  be  charged  against  me  for  persisting  as  I  did,  and  against 
the  judgment  of  all  about  me,  in  changing  the  place  of  conference,  and  thus  compelling  four 
princes  of  the  Empire  to  follow  the  squadron,  and  subjecting  the  government  to  the  trouble  and 
expense  of  erecting  another  building  ;  but  I  was  simply  adhering  to  a  course  of  policy  deter- 
mined on  after  mature  reflection,  and  which  had  hitherto  worked  so  well." 

The  Commodore  expressed  a  willingness  to  accede  to  the  last  proposition  of  the  Japanese, 
provided  his  officers,  on  examining  the  place  selected,  should  find  it  suitable.  Captains 
Buchanan  and  Adams  accordingly,  having  visited  the  spot  in  company  with  Yezaimau,  returned 
with  a  favorable  report.  The  situation  was  suitable  in  all  respects,  being  near  to  Yedo,  with 
safe  and  commodious  anchorage  at  a  mile  distant  from  the  shore,  and  affording  abundant  space 
for  landing  and  exhibiting  the  presents  intended  for  the  Emperor.  The  Commodore  accord- 
ingly determined  to  concur  in  the  choice  of  the  place  now  selected,  and  notified  his  resolution  in 
the  following  communication : 

''  UyiTED  State.?  Flag-ship  Powhatan, 
"  j4f  anchor  off  the  toion  of  Yoku-hama,  Yedo  Bay,  March  1,  1854. 
"  Tour  Excellency  :  The  letter  of  your  excellency  from  Uraga  was  duly  delivered  by  Captain 
Adams  ;  and  shortly  after,  when  it  was  ascertained  that  I  could  not  agree  to  return  to  Uraga, 
Kej^ama  Yezaiman  suggested  that  the  negotiations  might  be  conducted  at  a  village  opposite  the 
present  anchorage  of  the  squadron. 

"Being  exceedingly  desirous  of  meeting  the  wishes  of  your  excellency,  in  every  way  con- 
sistent with  the  honor  and  interest  of  my  country,  and  learning  that  the  place  pointed  out  was 
in  all  respects  convenient  for  the  purpose,  I  at  once  consented  to  defer  my  visit  to  Yedo  until 
after  the  completion  of  the  negotiation.s. 

"I  the  more  readily  entered  into  this  arrangement,  as,  on  examination  of  the  port  by  the 
surveying  boats,  it  has  been  found  that  the  ships  can  approach  near  to  the  city,  where  I  propose 
at  some  future  time  to  anchor  them,  as  well  to  do  honor  to  his  Imperial  Majesty  hy  salutes,  &c., 
as  to  be  in  full  view  of  the  palace,  and  convenient  to  be  visited  by  such  of  the  court  as  may 
desire  to  examine  the  steamers  and  their  machinery,  and  I  hardly  need  say  that  they  will  be 
kindly  and  politely  received. 

"  With  the  most  profound  respect, 

"M.  C.  PERRY, 
"Commander-in-chief  United  States  Naval  Forces  East  India,  China,  and 

Japan  Seas,  and  Special  Ambassador  to  Japan, 
"His  Highness  H.\yashi-Daigaku-no-kami,  &c.,  &c.,  dec." 


340  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

The  surveying  boats  liatl  been  kept  busy  during  the  progress  of  all  this  negotiation,  and 
immediately  after  the  Commodore  had  signified  his  intention  of  accepting  the  proposition  of  the 
Japanese  offering  Yoku-hama  as  the  place  of  meeting,  the  party  of  surveyors  returned  to  the 
Powhatan,  and  reported  that  they  had  found  six  fathoms  of  water  within  four  or  five  miles  of 
Yedo.  This  near  approach  to  their  capital  was  supposed  to  be  the  clue  to  the  sudden  change  in 
the  policy  of  the  Japanese,  as  they  doubtless  feared  that  the  Commodore  would  proceed  at  once 
to  execute  his  threat  of  moving  his  squadron  to  Yedo,  if  the  authorities  still  persisted  in  their 
demands  for  him  to  return  to  Uraga. 

The  Japanese  now  commenced  constructing  at  once  a  wooden  building  for  the  proposed 
conference,  and  great  numbers  of  workmen  were  seen  busily  engaged  in  bringing  materials  and 
putting  them  together  in  the  form  of  a  large  and  irregular  structure.  The  ship's  boats  were 
sent  out  to  examine  the  anchorage  opposite  the  place,  and  the  Commodore,  after  receiving  a 
favorable  report,  directed  (February  27)  the  squadron  to  be  moored  in  a  line  abreast,  and  within 
a  mile  of  Yoku-hama,  covering  with  their  guns  an  extent  of  shore  of  five  miles.  Captains 
Buchanan  and  Adams  went  ashore,  soon  after  the  anchoring  of  the  ships,  to  see  the  buildings 
in  progress  of  erection,  and  to  instruct  the  Japanese  workmen  how  to  make  the  wharf  for  the 
landing  of  the  Commodore  and  his  party.  Accordingly,  when  Yezaiman  came  on  board  the 
Powhatan,  on  March  3d,  he  alluded  with  some  expression  of  anxiety  to  the  fact  of  some  of 
the  Americans  having  landed,  fearing,  he  said,  lest  some  trouble  might  ensue,  if  this  should  be 
continued,  between  our  people  and  the  natives.  As  soon,  however,  as  he  was  told  the  purpose 
of  the  visit,  and  of  the  Commodore's  order  that  no  one  of  his  men  should  be  allowed  to  land, 
he  seemed  satisfied. 

Captain  Adams  now  gave  the  governor  of  Uraga  a  letter  which  had  been  written  to  his 
friends  by  a  Japanese  who  belonged  to  the  squadron,  and  was  generally  known  among  the 
sailors  by  the  soubriquet  of  Sam  Patch.  Sam  was  one  of  the  crew,  consisting  of  sixteen  men, 
of  a  Japanese  junk  which  had  been  driven  off  in  a  storm  from  the  coast  of  Japan.  An  American 
merchant  vessel,  having  fallen  in  with  the  junk,  took  the  Japanese  on  board  and  conveyed 
them  to  San  Francisco,  where  they  were  removed  to  a  revenue  cutter.  They  remained  on  board 
the  cutter  twelve  months,  when  they  were  taken  by  the  United  States  sloop-of-war  St.  Mary's  to 
China,  and  there  transferred  to  the  Susquehanna.  When  this  steamer  joined  Commodore 
Perry's  squadron,  bound  to  Japan,  the  Japanese  all  preferred  to  remain  in  China,  lest  if  they 
returned  home  they  should  lose  their  lives,  with  the  exception  of  Sam  Patch,  who  remained 
on  board,  and  being  regularly  shipped  as  one  of  the  crew,  was  with  the  squadron  on  the  first, 
as  he  was  now  on  the  second,  visit  to  Japan.  Upon  his  letter  being  presented  to  Yezaiman 
he  was  requested  to  deliver  it  in  accordance  with  the  direction,  which  he  promised  to  do,  but 
the  Japanese  seemed  very  much  surprised  at  the  fact  of  one  of  their  countrymen  being  among 
the  crew,  and  expressed  an  earnest  desire  to  see  him.  Yezaiman  was  accordingly  promised 
that  his  request  should  be  complied  with  in  the  course  of  a  few  days. 

Yezaiman  and  his  interpreters,  to  whom  there  was  now  added  a  new  one,  of  the  name  of 
Moryama  Yenoske,  who  spoke  a  little  English,  which  he  was  said  to  have  acquired  from  an 
American  sailor  who  had  been  a  captive  in  Japan,  and  was  one  of  those  taken  away  by  the 
Preble,  came  off  daily  to  the  ships.  As  the  building  on  shore  was  in  progress,  the  details  of  its 
erection,  and  the  prospective  interview  ashore,  were  naturally  daily  topics  of  conversation.  The 
coming  ceremonies  were  spoken  of,  and  the  rank  and  number  of  those  who  were  to  participate 


SUPPLIES    OF    COAL,     ETC.  341 

in  them  discussed.  Yezaiman,  in  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  Commodore,  submitted  the 
names  and  credentials  of  the  high  commissioners  who  were  to  represent  the  government  of  Japan 
at  the  approaching  conference.  The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  letter  of  credence  of  the 
imperial  officers: 

Hatashi  Daigaku-no-kami,  Ido-Tsus-sima-no-kami,  Izawa  Mema-saki-no-kami,  Udono  Mimbusco  : 

You  are  hereby  empowered  to  hold  interviews  with  his  excellency  the  American  ambassador 
on  his  arrival,  and  to  negotiate  concerning  the  business  which  has  been  communicated  to  you. 
SiOGOOTS.  KA-EI-SILSI-NEU.  [seal  of  the  emperor.] 

Yezaiman  having  said,  that  now  as  his  government  knew  the  Americans  better,  and  had  entire 
confidence  in  them,  there  would  be  no  Japanese  soldiers  brought  out  at  the  coming  interview  at 
Yoku-hama,  as  before  at  Gora-hama,  he  was  assured  that  the  guard  that  would  accompany  the 
Commodore  was  only  intended  to  do  honor  to  the  occasion.  A  conversation  then  ensued  which, 
as  it  refers  to  the  important  subject  of  the  resources  of  Japan,  in  regard  to  coal  and  other  sup- 
plies, is  thought  of  sufficient  importance  to  give  verbatim,  as  reported  by  the  Commodore's 
secretary.  Captain  Adams,  it  will  be  observed,  was  still  acting  in  behalf  of  Commodore  Perry, 
as  the  latter  continued  his  policy  of  seclusion. 

Yezaiman  (having  first  alluded  to  the  fact  of  the  President's  letter  stating  that  coal  would  be 
probably  wanted  by  American  steamers  touching  on  the  coast  of  Japan)  asked,  "How  much 
shall  you  need  annually?" 

Captain  Adams.  "It  is  quite  impossible  now  to  say  what  amount  will  be  needed;  ships  will 
call  and  get  what  they  want.  The  Commodore,  however,  will  speak  on  this  point  with  the 
commissioners." 

Yezaiman.  "We  have  plenty  of  coal,  but  a  port  is  asked  for  to  get  it  from — that  is,  a  port 
where  a  ship  can  take  it  in  conveniently." 

Captain  Adams.  "Yes:  a  port  lying  along  the  southern  shores  of  Nippon  would  be  most 
convenient,  but  the  Commodore  will  arrange  that.     Where  is  the  best  coal  found?" 

Yezaiman.  "The  most  abundant  supply  and  the  best  coal  come  from  Kiusiu.  I  do  not  know 
how  much  there  is  in  Nippon,  but  there  is  none  in  Sikok."  Yezaiman  then  changed  the  subject 
by  asking,  "What  sort  of  provisions  do  you  want?  We  have  the  greatest  abundance  of  wheat 
and  vegetables  at  Nagasaki." 

Captain  Adams.  "Our  ships  will  only  take  such  supplies  as  you  can  furnish." 

Yezaiinan.  "  Our  principal  supplies  are  pork,  beef,  sheep,  poultry,  and  vegetables  of  many 
kinds,  but  no  Irish  potatoes."* 

Captain  Adams.   "Did  you  give  the  Eussians  any  coal?" 

Yezaiman.  "Yes;  a  little  from  time  to  time,  and  they  said  it  was  very  good."  Yezaiman 
then  promised  to  bring  a  specimen  of  their  coal,  which  he  said  was  a  fuel  seldom  used  by  the 
Japanese. 

The  arrival  of  the  Saratoga,  on  the  fourth  of  March,  was  quite  an  event  to  all  the  officers  and 
men  in  the  squadron,  who,  confined  to  the  narrow  limits  of  an  anchored  ship,  month  after 
month,  with  no  variety  in  the  daily  routine  of  duty,  and  no  change  of  scene  from  the  mono- 
tonous view  of  the  same  look-out  from  deck,  gladly  welcomed  anytiiing  that  could  break  up  for 

*  Yeziiman  means  at  Nagasaki,  where  limited  supplies  of  these  articles  are  kept  for  strangers.  The  Japanese,  in  general,  do 
nut  use  the  meats  here  named. 


342 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


a  moment  the  tedium  of  their  life.  The  Saratoga  had  experienced  very  severe  vreatlier,  which 
those  in  the  squadron,  although  sheltered  in  a  safe  anchorage,  could  readily  understand,  for  the 
season,  even  in  the  hay,  had  given  evidence  enough  of  its  rude  inclemency.  Frequently  the 
wind  was  so  high  and  the  waters  of  the  bay  so  disturbed,  that  the  surveying  boats  were  obliged 
to  intermit  their  labors.  The  frequent  recurrence  of  rain,  alternating  with  an  occasional  snow- 
storm, and  a  cold  temperature  more  penetrating  to  the  sensations,  from  its  moisture,  gave  all  a 
verv  disao-reeable  experience  of  a  Japan  winter.  The  hard-working  Japanese  boatmen  seemed 
alone  insensible  to  the  weather,  and,  as  they  worked  vigorously  at  their  long  sculls,  sung 
cheerily,  as  if  their  half-naked  bodies  were  as  much  proof  against  cold  wind  and  boisterous 
weather,  as  their  tight  built  craft. 

According  to  agreement,  Sam  Patch  was  brought  forward  and  presented  to  the  Japanese 
officials  and  no  sooner  did  he  behold  these  dignitaries  than  he  prostrated  himself  at  once, 
apparently  completely  awe-stricken.  Sam  had  been  frequently  laughed  at  during  the  voyage 
by  his  messmates,  and  teazed  by  statements  of  the  danger  to  which  his  head  would  be  exposed 
on  his  arrival  in  his  own  country,  and  the  poor  fellow  possibly  thought  his  last  hour  had  come. 
Captain  Adams  ordered  him  to  rise  from  his  knees,  upon  which  he  was  crouching  with  the 
most  abject  fear  and  trembling  in  every  limb.  He  was  reminded  that  he  was  on  board  an 
American  man-of-war,  perfectly  safe  as  one  of  her  crew,  and  had  nothing  to  fear  ;  but  it  being 
found  impossible  to  reassure  him  while  in  the  presence  of  his  countrymen,  he  was  soon 
dismissed.     But  more  of  Sam  hereafter. 

The  eio-hth  of  March  had  been  appointed  by  the  Commodore  as  the  day  for  the  conference 
ashore  ;  and,  as  crowds  of  Japanese  laborers  kept  busily  at  work  upon  the  building,  there  seemed 
every  prospect  of  its  being  ready  in  time.  When  the  building  was  finished,  the  usual  Japanese 
deputation,  headed  by  Yezaiman,  came  off  to  the  Powhatan,  and,  announcing  the  fact,  asked  if 
the  Admiral  would  be  ready  to  land  on  the  next  day,  (March  8.)  They  were  told  that,  provided 
the  weather  should  be  suitable,  the  Commodore  and  his  party  would  leave  the  squadron  at  twelve 
o'clock  on  the  morrow.  Yezaiman  entered  into  some  jireliminary  explanations  in  regard  to  the 
ceremonies  on  the  occasion.  He  asked  the  number  and  names  of  all  the  officers  in  the  squadron, 
with  the  purpose,  as  he  said,  of  providing  presents  for  each.  Upon  being  asked  whether  the 
chief  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  negotiate  with  the  Commodore  was  next  in  rank  to  the 
Emperor,  Yezaiman  answered  that  he  was,  and  at  the  same  time  corrected  a  previous  statement 
saying  that,  instead  of  four  dignitaries  in  addition  to  the  high  commissioner,  there  would  be 
five.  With  the  iisual  courtly  assurances  of  kindly  feeling,  Yezaiman  and  his  suite  took 
leave,  saying,  as  he  departed,  that  he  would  send  a  person  on  board  next  day  to  conduct  the 
Commodore  and  his  party  to  the  land. 


Toku-hama,  Bay  ol  Vedo. 


SHIPS      ANCHORED     IN      Y  OKU -HA  MA     BAY.  34.3 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

•  HIPS     AVCHORED     IM    TOKU-HAMA    BAT     SO    AS    TO     COMMAND    THE    SHORE. KAVAGAWA    "TREATY      HOUSE." IMPERIAL    BARGE. 

LAS'DiyC    OF  THE  CO>1MODORE. DESCRIPTION*  OF  THE  JAP.W'ESE  COMMISSION'ERS. IVTERPRETERS. SERVILITY  TO    SUPERIORS. 

SEGOTIATIOKS     COMMENCED. COMMODORE     SUBMITS    A    COPY    OF    THE    TRF.ATY    OF    THE     UNITED     STATES    WITH     CHIVA     FOR 

COVSIDERATIOV. DEATH     OF     OKE     OF     OUR     MEN'. COMMODORE     PROPOSES     TO     BUY    A    BURIAL     GROUND     FOR    AMERICAN'S. — 

COMMISSIONERS      PROPOSE    TO     SEND    THE    BODY    OF    THE     DECEASED    TO     XAGASAEI     FOR     INTERMENT  COM.MODORE     REFUSES 

AND     PROPOSES      TO     BURY    THE     DEAD      ON    WEBSTEr's     ISLAND. COMMISSIONERS     CONSENT    TO     THE     INTERMENT     AT     TOKD- 

RAMA. THE    BURIAL    BY    CHAPLAIN    JONES. INTEREST    OF    THE    JAPANESE    IN    THE    CEREMONY. THET  AFTERWARD    PERFORM 

THEIR     OWN     BITES     OVER     THE     COVERED     GRAVE. THE    JAPANESE     BUILD     AN     ENCLOSURE    AROU.VD     THE      SPOT. JAPANESE 

ARTISTS 'attempt    THE     PORTRAITS     OF    OUR     OFFICERS. ANSWER    TO     THE     PRESIDENT'S     LETTER. INFORMAL    CONFERENCE 

BETWEEN     CAPTAIN    ADAMS  AND    YENOSKE  LANDING    AND     DELIVERY    OF    THE     PRESENTS. JAPANESE    WORKMEN    ASSIST    THE 

AMERICANS    IN    PREPARING    FOR    THEIR    EXHIBITION. NEGOTIATIONS    CONTINUED. SURPRISE    AND    DELIGHT    OF  THE    JAPANESE 

AT    THE    TELEGRAPH    AND    RAILROAD. CURIOSITY    OF    THE    JAPANESE    IN     EXAMINING    MECHANISM. PASSION    FOR    BUTTONS. 

NOTE-TAKING    OF   EVERYTHING    STRANGE  TO    THEM. LOVE    OF   PICTURES. DRAWINGS. COMMON    PEOPLE    DISPOSED  TO    SOCIAL 

INTERCOURSE    WITH     THE     AMERICANS. EXCITEMENT     ON     CHAPLAIN     BITTINGER*S     ATTEMPT     TO     REACH     TEDO     BY     LAND. 

WRITTEN     REPLY    OF   COMMISSIONERS,  DECLINING    TO     MAKE    A    TREATY    LIKE    THAT    OF    THE     UNITED     STATES    WITH     CHI.NA. 

FURTHER      NEGOTIATIONS. ACCURACY      OF      THE     JAPANESE      IN      NOTING     ALL     THE      DISCUSSION'S. FORTS      OF      SIMODA     AND 

BAKODADI    AGREED    TO,    BUT    WITH    GREAT    DIFFICULTY    ON'    THE    PART    OF    THE    JAPANESE. 

fe^^^^  g .  ^k=.  LOXG  the  western  side  of  the  Bay  of  Yedo,  from  its 

'""  -===^-^--- =^  ^^g  mouth,  where  it  opens  into  the  Gulf  of  Yedo,  to  the 

^^^^^■^^^^^^^BH^^H|^fc    uninterrupted  scene  of  populousness  arc  the  projecting 
^P^  I  "m^^^^  ^^SBbb^^^^^    spurs  of  the  highlands,  which,  presenting  less  advantage 

^gnBi^BB^^^^^S^^^!^S¥i^i  ^^^S  houses.     These  promontories,  however,  are  covered 

M|^HBL^HP'r^=4BHHH^^^&"  ^^t^^  batteries,  which  are  more  formidable  in  aspect 

f^B^S^f^^^^^^^^'^^^^X^']  ^^^^  in  reality,  for  their  guns  are  but  of  small  calibre, 

^^^^^^^^^g^~r~^~-~  ~''^~:-VT  °"^  '^^  these  numerous  and  populous  villages,  and  is 
■^S^'  '^^^^^H^Sfc^^^^. — . —  situated  at  the  head  of  a  bay  called  on  the  American 
-"^^^^'S=^^fe^^fes=-  charts  "Yoku-hama  Bay,"  which  is  formed  by  Point 
Hope,  on  the  southeast,  and  the  neck  of  land  extending  northeast  from  Kanagawa  to  the  suburb 
of  the  city  of  Yedo,  termed  Sinagawa,  and  near  to  which  tlic  junks  resorting  to  the  capital 
usually  anchor.  At  the  position  in  front  uf  Yoku-hama  there  was  just  sufficient  room  to  anchor 
in  a  line  of  battle  the  whole  squadron ;    the  guns  of  the  several  ships  commanding  an  extent 


344  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN, 

of  shore  equal  to  their  entire  range.  It  was  in  this  position  that  the  Commodore  had  placed 
his  nine  ships — the  steam  frigates,  the  Powhatan,  which  was  the  tlag-ship,  the  Susquehanna, 
and  the  Mississippi,  and  the  sailing  ships,  the  Macedonian,  the  Vandalia,  the  Saratoga,  the 
Southampton,  the  Lexington,  and  the  Supply,  the  latter  having  suhsequently  joined  the 
squadron.* 

Kanagawa  is  quite  a  large  town,  and  was  the  residence  of  the  Japanese  commissioners 
pending  the  negotiations  of  the  treaty,  and  it  would  have  been  selected  by  Commodore  Perry 
for  the  place  of  conference,  had  it  not  been  for  the  impossibility  of  the  ships  approaching 
within  gunshot  of  its  front  towards  the  bay.  He  therefore  preferred  to  select  Yoku-hama,  to 
confirm  the  choice  of  Captains  Buchanan  and  Adams,  who  had  been  sent  to  examine  and  rej^ort 
upon  the  most  eligible  anchorage  for  the  squadron. 

The  building  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Japanese  commissioners  and  the  Commo- 
dore, and  the  numerous  persons  in  attendance,  and  which  was  called  by  the  Americans  the 
"  treaty  house,"  was  placed  upon  a  level  plain  near  to  the  shore,  and  contiguous  to  the  village 
of  Yoku-hama,  being  distant  from  Kanagawa  three,  from  the  southern  suburb  of  the  capital 
five,  and  from  Yedo  itself  probably  nine  miles.  The  treaty  house  had  been  hastily  erected  of 
unpainted  pine  wood,  with  peaked  roofs,  and  covered  a  large  extent  of  ground,  having  a 
,  reception  hall  of  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  in  area,  and  several  adjoining  apartments  and  offices. 
From  each  side  extended  yellow  canvas  screens  divided  into  panel-like  squares  by  black  painted 
stripes.  On  the  exterior  walls  of  the  building  was  spread  a  dark  cloth,  upon  which  was 
represented  in  bright  colors  some  device  which  was  said  to  be  the  arms  of  the  third  commis- 
sioner, Izawa,  prince  of  Mimasaki. 

At  an  early  hour  on  the  8th  of  March,  the  day  appointed  for  the  conference  with  the 
Japanese  commissioners,  there  was  an  unusual  stir  ashore  preparatory  to  the  ceremonies  of  the 
occasion.  The  Japanese  workmen  were  busily  engaged  in  adorning  the  treaty  hoiise  with 
streamers  and  other  gay  paraphernalia.  Two  poles  were  erected,  one  on  either  side  of  the 
entrance,  to  which  were  hung  long  oblong  banners  of  white  cotton  cloth  with  a  bright  red 
stripe  across  the  centre.  On  the  peaked  roof  of  the  building  was  placed  a  tall  staff,  surmounted 
with  a  circular  ornament  in  shape  like  the  upper  part  of  a  chandelier,  from  which  was  suspended 
a  heavy  silken  tassel.  In  the  preparation  of  the  place  it  had  been  surrounded  by  the  usual 
enclosure  of  cloth,  which  completely  excluded  it  from  the  view  of  those  without,  and,  in  fact, 
seemed  to  enclose  it  within  a  sort  of  prison  yard.  The  Commodore,  who  saw  this  arrangement 
from  his  ship  before  he  landed,  immediately  sent  an  officer  on  shore  to  demand  what  it  meant, 
and,  in  answer  to  some  frivolous  pretext  about  preventing  intrusion  and  doing  honor  to  the 
occasion,  informed  the  Japanese  that  he  would  forego  the  honor,  and  that,  until  it  was 
completely  removed,  he  could  not  think  of  landing.  It  was  immediately  taken  down  by  the 
Japanese. 

Bands  of  flag-bearers,  musicians  and  pikemen  manoeuvred  in  order  here  and  there,  glistening 
with  their  lacquered  caps,  bright  colored  costumes,  crimson  streamers,  showy  emblazonry,  and 
burnished  spears.  There  was  no  great  military  display  as  on  the  first  visit  at  Gora-hama,  and 
the  few  who  had  the  look  of  soldiers  were  merely  a  small  body  guard,  composed  of  the  retainers 
of  the  various  high  dignitaries  who  were  to  officiate  on  the  occasion.     Crowds  of  people  had 

•  The  Supply  arrived  with  coal  and  store*  for  the  squadron  on  the  19lh  of  March. 


IMPERIAL      BARGE      AT      Y  0  K  U - K  A  M  A  . 


345 


gathered  from  the  neighboring  towns  and  villages,  and  were  thronging  in  curious  eagerness  on 
eitlier  side  of  a  large  open  snace  on  the  shore,  which  was  kept  free  from  intrusion  by  barriers, 
within  which  none  of  the  siiectators  were  allowed  to  enter.  Two  or  three  officials  were  seen 
busily  moving  about,  now  directing  the  workmen,  and  again  checking  the  disorder  among  the 
Japanese  multitude. 

Soon  a  large  barge  came  floating  down  the  bay,  from  the  neighboring  town  of  Kanagawa. 
This  was  a  gaily  painted  vessel,  which,  with  its  decks  and  open  pavilion  rising  high  above  the  hull, 
had  very  much  the  appearance  of  one  of  our  western  river  steamboats,  while  streamers  floated 


Imperial  Barge  at  Toku-hama. 

from  its  three  masts,  and  bright  colored  flags  and  variegated  drapery  adorned  the  open  deck 
above.  This  barge  bore  the  Japanese  commissioners,  and  when  it  had  reached  to  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  shore,  these  dignitaries  and  their  suites  disembarked  in  several  boats  and  hurried 
to  the  land.  An  immense  number  of  Japanese  craft  of  all  kinds,  each  with  a  tassel  at  its  prow 
and  a  square  striped  flag  at  its  stern,  gathered  about  the  bay.  The  day  was  fresh  and  clear, 
and  everything  had  a  cheerful  aspect,  in  spite  of  the  lingering  wintry  look  of  the  landscape. 

The  Commodore  had  made  every  preparation  to  distinguish  the  occasion  of  his  second  landing 
in  Japan  by  all  necessary  parade,  knowing,  as  he  did,  the  importance  and  moral  influence  of 
such  show  upon  so  ceremonious  and  artificial  a  people  as  the  Jai)anese.  He  had,  accordingly, 
issued  orders  to  the  eflFect  that  all  the  marines  who  could  be  spared  from  duty  should  appear  on 
the  occasion  in  full  accoutrement,  that  the  bands  of  music  from  the  three  steamers  should  be 
present,  and  all  the  officers  and  sailors  that  could  possibly  leave.  The  officers  were  to  be  in 
undress  uniform,  frock  coats,  cap  and  epaulets,  and  equippod  with  swords  and  pigtola.  Th« 
44  J 


346  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

sailors  were  to  be  armed  witli  muskets,  cutlasses  and  pistols,  and  dressed  in  blue  jackets  and 
trowscrs  and  white  frocks.  The  musicians  Avcro  each  to  be  supplied  with  cutlass  and  pistol,  and 
every  man  of  the  escort  provided  with  either  musket  or  pistol  cartridge  boxes. 

At  half-past  eleven  o'clock  the  escort,  consisting  of  about  five  hundred  officers^  seamen  and 
marines,  fully  armed,  embarked  in  twenty-seven  boats,  under  the  command  of  Commander 
Buchanan,  and  i'orming  a  line  al)reiist,  pulled  in  good  order  to  the  shore.  When  the  escort 
had  landed,  the  marines  were  drawn  up  in  a  hollow  square,  leaving  a  wide  open  space  between 
them,  while  the  naval  oiRcers  remained  in  a  group  at  the  wharf.  The  ship's  boats  were  arranged 
in  two  separate  divisions  of  equal  numbers  on  either  side  of  the  landing,  with  their  bows  point- 
"ine  in  regular  order  from  the  shore.  The  Commodore  now  embarked  from  the  Powhatan  in  his 
barge,  under  a  salute  from  the  Macedonian  of  seventeen  guns.  The  Commodore,  on  landing, 
was  received  by  the  group  of  officers,  who,  falling  into  a  line,  followed  him.  The  bands  now 
struck  u})  a  lively  tune,  and  the  marines,  whose  orderly  ranks  in  complete  military  appointment, 
with  their  blue  and  white  uniforms,  and  glistening  bayonets,  made  quite  a  martial  and  effective 
show,  presented  arms  as  the  Commodore,  followed  in  procession  by  his  immediate  staff,  his  guard 
of  fine  looking  sailors  and  a  number  of  his  subordinate  officers,  proceeded  up  the  shore.  A  group 
of  richly  costumed  Japanese  guards,  or  retainers,  with  banners,  flags  and  streamers,  were  gath- 
ered on  each  side  of  the  entrance  of  the  treaty  house.  As  the  Commodore  and  his  party  passed 
up  between  these  they  were  met  by  a  large  number  of  Japanese  officials  who  came  out,  and 
imcovering,  conducted  them  into  the  interior  of  the  building.  As  they  entered,  by  a  precon- 
certed arrangement,  liowitzers  which  had  been  mounted  on  the  bows  of  the  larger  ship's  boats, 
that  were  floating  just  by  the  shore,  commenced  firing  in  admirable  order  a  salute  of  twenty- 
one  guns  in  honor  of  the  Emi)eror,  which  were  succeeded  by  a  salute  of  seventeen  for  Hayashi 
Daigaku-no-kami,  the  high  commissioner,  and  the  hoisting  of  the  Japanese  striped  flag  from 
the  masthead  of  the  steamer  Powhatan  in  the  bay. 

The  apartment  into  which  the  Commodore  and  his  officers  first  entered  was  a  large  hall, 
arranged  in  a  similar  manner  to  that  at  Gori-hama.  Thick  rice-straw  mats  carpeted  the  floor, 
long  and  wide  settees,  covered  with  a  red  cloth,  extended  along  the  sides,  with  tables  spread 
with  the  same  material  arranged  in  front  of  them.  The  windows  were  composed  of  panes  of 
oiled  ])aper,  through  which  a  subdued  and  mellow  light  illuminated  the  hall,  while  a  com- 
fortable temperature  was  kept  up — for,  although  the  sjjring,  which  is  early  in  Japan,  had 
already  opened,  the  weather  was  chilly — by  copper  braziers  of  burning  charcoal,  which, 
supported  upon  lacquered  wooden  stands,  were  freely  distributed  about.  Hangings  fell  from 
the  walls  around,  with  paintings  of  trees,  and  representations  of  various  animals  and  birds, 
particularly  of  the  crane,  with  its  long  neck  in  every  variety  of  strange  involution. 

The  Commodore  and  his  officers  and  interpreters  had  hardly  taken  their  seats  on  the  left,  the 
place  of  honor,  and  the  various  Japanese  officials,  of  wliom  there  was  a  goodly  number,  theirs 
on  the  right,  when  the  five  commissioners  entered  from  an  apartment  which  opened  through 
an  entrance  at  the  upper  end  of  the  hall.  As  soon  as  they  presented  themselves  the  subordinate 
Japanese  officials  prostrated  themselves  on  their  knees,  and  remained  in  that  attitude  during 
their  presence. 

The  commissioners  were  certainly  august  looking  personages,  and  their  grave  but  courteous 
manners,  and  their  rich  flowing  robes  of  silk,  set  them  off  to  the  highest  advantage.  Tlieir 
costume  consisted  of  an  under  garment  somewhat  similar  to  the  anti(][ue  doublet,  and  a  pair  of 
very  wide  and  short  trowsers  of  figured  silkj  while  below  the  legs  were  encased  in  white  cotton 


DESCRIPTION      OF      THE      JAPANESE     COMMISSIONERS.  347 

or  woollen  socks,  laced  to  some  distance  above  the  ankles.  The  socks  were  so  contrived  that  the 
great  toe  was  separated  from  the  other  four  for  the  j)assage  of  the  baud  which  attached  to  the 
sandal,  and  joined  another  from  tlie  heel  at  the  ankle,  where  the  two  were  tied  together.  Over 
the  doublet  and  trowsers  a  loose  gown  of  embroidered  silk,  something  in  the  shape  of  the  clerical 
robe,  with  loose  sleeves,  was  worn.  This  was  secured  to  the  waist  by  a  sash,  in  wliich  are 
usually  thrust  the  two  swords  which  mark  the  dignitaries  of  higher  rank.  Tiie  three  princes 
alone,  of  all  the  commissioners,  were  observed  to  wear  a  white  inner  shirt,  or  vest,  wliicli  was 
exposed  at  the  breast.  This  was  a  mark  of  the  very  highest  ranlc,  and  belongs  exclusively  to 
princes  and  the  loftiest  dignitaries  of  the  Empire. 

Hayashi  Daigaku-no-kami,  prince  councillor,  was  evidently  the  chief  member  of  the  com- 
mission, for  all  matters  of  imjiortance  were  referred  to  him.  He  was  a  man  of  about  fifty- 
five  years  of  age,  was  liandsomely  formed,  and  had  a  grave  and  rather  saturnine  expression  of 
face,  though  he  had  a  benevolent  look  and  exceedingly  courtly  manners.  Ido,  Prince  of 
Tsusima,  was  probably  fifty,  or  thereabout,  and  was  corpulent  and  tall  in  person.  He  had  a 
rather  more  vivacious  expression  than  the  elder  Hayashi.  The  third  and  youngest  of  tlie 
princes  was  the  Prince  of  Minia-saki,  who  could  hardly  be  much  beyond  forty  years  of  age,  and 
was  far  the  best  looking  of  the  three.  He  was  quite  gay,  fond  of  fun  and  frolic,  and  had  the 
reputation  of  being  a  Lothario.  According  to  the  interpreters,  Mima-saki  entertained  more 
liberal  vieAvs  with  respect  to  foreign  intercourse  than  any  of  his  coadjutors,  and  seemed  to  be  a 
great  favorite  with  the  Japanese,  as  he  certainly  Avas  with  all  the  Americans.  His  gaiety  of 
heart  manifested  itself  very  apparently  in  his  fondness  for  the  music  of  the  bands  of  the 
squadron,  and  he  could  not  keep  liis  hands  and  feet  quiet  whenever  they  struck  up  a  lively  air. 

Udono,  who,  though  not  a  prince,  was  a  man  of  high  station,  and  was  known  by  the  title  of 
Mimbu-shiyoyu,  or  member  of  the  board  of  revenue,  was  a  tall,  passable  looking  man,  but  his 
features  were  prominent  and  had  much  of  the  Mongolian  caste.  The  fifth  and  last  one  of  the  five 
commissioners  was  Matsusaki  Michitaro,  whose  rank  and  title  were  not  discovered.  Indeed,  he 
had  not  been  originally  named  to  the  Americans  as  one  of  the  commissioners.  In  re^ily  to  the 
inqmries  made,  they  at  first  said  there  were  four  ;  and  afterward,  at  a  subsequent  interview,  the 
interpreter  remarked,  as  if  casually,  that  a  fifth  commissioner  had  been  added.  Possibly  he 
was  the  oflicial  public  spy  appointed  to  remind  the  others,  by  his  presence,  of  their  duty,  and 
we  may  add,  danger.  Wliatever  may  have  been  his  official  position,  his  precise  business  in  the 
commission  it  Avas  difficult  to  fathom  ;  he  was  always  present  at  the  conference,  but  took  his 
seat  constantly  at  rather  a  remote  distance  from  the  other  dignitaries,  on  the  further  end  of 
the  sedan.  By  him  there  was  continually  crouched,  upon  his  knees,  a  scribe,  Avho  was  con- 
stantly employed  in  taking  notes  of  what  was  passing,  and  occasionally  under  the  promptings 
of  his  superior.  Matsusaki  was  rather  an  equivocal  character,  difficult  to  understand.  As 
far  as  could  be  observed,  he  did  not  seem  to  be  called  into  consultation,  at  least  publicly,  and 
from  the  circumstance  of  not  sitting  with  the  other  commissioners,  liis  rank  and  powers  seemed 
to  be  inferior  to  theirs.  This,  however,  is  but  conjectural.  Our  officers,  of  course,  asked  no 
questions,  though  all  agreed  in  the  decidedly  unfavorable  impression  made  upon  them  by 
Matsusaki.  For  aught  they  knew,  he  might  have  been  the  Emperor  himself,  though  it  is  most 
unlikely  ;  and  if  he  were,  all  that  can  be  said  is  that  he  Avas  much  loss  polished  and  agreeable 
than  his  prince  commissioners.  Ho  was,  as  we  have  intimated,  probably  tlie  court  spy.  He 
Avas  a  man  of  sixty  years  of  age  at  least,  had  a  long,  drawn-out  meagre  body,  a  very  yellow 
bilious  face,  an  uncomfortable  dyspeptic  expression,  whidi  liis  excessive  sliort-sightedncss  did 


348 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


not  improve,  for  it  caused  him,  in  his  efforts  at  seeing,  to   give  a  very  wry  distortion  to  a 
countenance  naturally  not  very  handsome.* 

Moryama  Yenoske  was  the  principal  interpreter  who  officiated  on  the  occasion  ;  the  same  man 
who  figured  so  conspicuously  during  the  visit  of  Captain  Glynn  in  the  Prehle.  As  soon  as  the 
commissioners  had  taken  their  seats,  Yenoske  took  his  position  on  his  knees,  at  the  feet  of 
Hayashi,  the  chief,  and  humbly  awaited  his  orders.  The  Japanese  are  never  forgetful  of  the 
respect  which  they  think  due  to  rank,  and  graduate  their  obeisance  according  to  its  degrees. 
From  the  Emperor  to  the  lowest  subject  in  the  realm  there  is  a  constant  siiccession  of 
prostrations.  The  former,  in  want  of  a  human  being  superior  to  himself  in  rank,  bows  humbly 
to  some  Pagan  idol,  and  every  one  of  his  subjects,  from  prince  to  peasant,  has  some  person 
before  whom  be  is  bound  to  cringe  and  crouch  in  the  dirt.  Oneis  reminded,  as  he  looks  upon  a 
universal  nation  on  their  knees,  "in  suppliance  bent,"  of  a  favorite  amusement  of  childhood, 
•where  a  number  of  blocks  are  placed  on  end  in  a  row,  one  shoves  the  other,  and  the  first  being 
knocked  down,  topples  over  the  second,  and  so  on  in  succession  until  all  are  tumbled  upon  the 
ground.  The  crouching  position  in  which  an  ini'erior  places  himself,  when  in  the  presence  of 
his  superior  in  rank,  seems  very  easy  to  a  Japanese,  but  would  be  very  difficult  and  painful  for 
one  to  assume  who  had  not  been  accustomed  to  it.     Tbe  ordinary  mode  pursued  is  to  drop  on 


*  It  may  not  be  without  interest  to  the  reader  to  present  the  heraldic  devices  of  the  Emperor  and  commissioners,  as  well  as 
tliat  ol  Lew  Chew. 


t  '•!    P  L  h  U  H 


Hf^'i  ASHI,  CHItF    COMMISSt* 


IDO,  PRINCE  Of    TSU5-5IMA 
SECUMD    COMM  ? 


TAKE-HO-UCHI     SHEYTARO- 
SIXTH     COMMISSS 


LEW  —  CHEW 


ANSWER     TO     THE     PRESIDENT'S     LETTER.  349 

the  knees,  cross  the  feet,  and  turn  up  tlie  heels,  with  the  toes,  instep,  and  calves  of  the  legs 
brought  together  into  close  contact. 

Sometimes  it  is  mere  squatting  down  with  the  soles  firm  upon  the  ground,  the  knees  bent,  and 
the  body  crouched  low.  Yenoske  was  quite  an  adept  in  these  manccuvres,  as  were  his  coadjutors, 
and  especially  the  prefect,  Kura-kawa-kahei,  who  was  one  of  tlie  subordinate  functionaries 
present  during  the  conference.  They  all  showed  a  wonderful  elasticity  of  muscle  and  suppleness 
of  joint  which  could  only  have  been  acquired  by  long  practice,  and  reminded  one  of  those  .'skilful 
contortionists  or  clowns,  who  exliibit  their  caoutchouc  accomplishments  to  the  wonderment  of 
the  spectators.  Thesp  worthies,  humble  as  they  were  in  the  august  presence  of  the  commis- 
sioners, had  their  worshippers  in  turn,  who  were  more  humble  still,  and  who  outdid  them,  even, 
in  their  bowings  and  prostrations.  Every  Japanese  is  thus  by  turns  master  and  slave,  now 
submissively  with  his  neck  beneath  the  foot  of  one,  and  again  haughtily  with  his  foot  upon 
the  neck  of  another.  The  commissioners,  after  a  momentary  silence,  spoke  a  word  to  the 
prostrate  Yenoske,  who  listened  an  instant,  with  downcast  eyes,  and  then  by  a  skilful 
manoeuvre,  still  upon  his  knees,  moved  toward  the  commissioners'  interpreter,  and  having  com- 
municated his  message,  which  proved  to  be  merely  the  ordinary  compliments,  with  an  inquiry 
after  the  health  of  the  Commodore  and  his  officers,  returned  with  an  appropriate  answer  to  his 
former  position.  An  interchange  of  various  polite  messages  having  been  thus  borne  backward 
and  forward  for  several  minutes,  through  the  medium  of  the  humble  but  useful  Yenoske, 
refreshments,  consisting  of  the  invariable  pipe,  tea  in  porcelain  cups,  served  on  lacquered 
trays,  cakes,  and  some  confectionary  were  handed  round. 

It  was  now  proposed  by  the  commissioners  that  an  adjournment  should  take  place  to  another 
room,  which  they  stated  would  accommodate  comfortably  about  ten  persons.  Accordingly,  the 
Commodore  having  assented,  he,  accompanied  by  the  captain  of  the  fleet,  his  two  interpreters 
and  secretary,  were  conducted  into  another  and  much  smaller  room,  the  entrance  to  which  was 
only  separated  from  the  principal  hall  by  a  blue  silk  flag,  ornamented  in  the  centre  with  the 
embroidered  arms  of  Japan.  On  entering,  the  commissioners  were  found  already  seated  on  the 
right,  they  having  withdrawn  previously  to  the  Commodore,  and  arranged  themselves  in  rank 
ujion  one  of  the  red  divans,  which  extended  along  the  sides  of  the  apartment. 

The  Commodore  and  his  party  took  their  seats  on  the  left,  and  business  commenced,  the 
commissioners  having  preliminarily  stated  that  it  was  a  Japanese  custom  to  speak  slowly. 
They  were  evidently  very  anxious  to  proceed  with  deliberation,  and  weigh  every  word  with  the 
exactness  of  cautious  diplomatists. 

The  chief  commissioner  now  handed  the  Commodore  a  long  roll  of  paper,  which  proved  to  be 
an  answer  to  the  President's  letter,  delivered  on  the  previous  visit  at  Gori-hama  in  July. 

Translation  of  answer  to  the  letter  of  the  President  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan. 

"  The  return  of  your  excellency,  as  ambassador  of  the  United  States  to  this  Empire,  has  been 
expected  according  to  the  letter  of  his  Majesty  the  President,  which  letter  your  excellency 
delivered  last  year  to  his  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  this  Empire. 

"It  is  quite  impossible  to  give  satisfactory  answers  at  once  to  all  the  proposals  of  your 
government,  as  it  is  most  positively  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  our  Imperial  ancestors  ;  but  for  us 
to  continue  attached  to  the  ancient  laws,  seems  to  misunderstand  the  spirit  of  the  age  ;  how- 
ever, we  are  governed  now  by  imperative  necessity. 


350  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

"  At  the  visit  of  your  excellency  last  year  to  this  Empire,  his  Majesty  the  former  Emperor 
was  sick,  and  is  now  dead.  Subse(juently,  liis  Majesty  the  present  Emperor  ascended  the 
throne  ;  the  many  occupations  in  consequence  thereof  are  not  yet  finished,  and  there  is  no  time 
to  settle  other  business  thoroughly.  Moreover,  his  Majesty  the  new  Emperor,  at  the  succession 
to  the  throne,  promised  to  the  princes  and  high  officers  of  the  Empire  to  observe  the  laws.  It 
is  therefore  evident  that  he  cannot  now  bring  about  any  alteration  in  the  ancient  laws. 

"  Last  autumn,  at  the  departure  of  the  Dutch  ship,  the  superintendent  of  the  Dutch  trade  in 
Japan  was  requested  to  inform  your  government  of  this  event,  and  a  reply  in  writing  has  been 
received. 

"At  Nangasaki  arrived  recently  the  Russian  ambassador  to  communicate  a  wish  of  his  govern- 
ment. He  has  since  left  the  said  place,  because  no  answer  would  be  given  to  anj^  nation  that 
might  communicate  similar  wishes.  However,  we  admit  the  iirgency  of,  and  shall  entirely  com- 
ply with,  the  proposals  of  your  government  concerning  coal,  wood,  water,  provisions,  and  the 
saving  of  ships  and  their  crews  in  distress.  After  being  inforued  which  harbor  your  excellency 
selects,  that  harbor  shall  be  prepared,  which  preparation  it  is  estimated  will  take  about  five 
years.  Meanwhile  a  commencement  can  be  made  with  the  coal  at  Nangasaki  by  the  next 
Japanese  first  month,  (Siogoots,)  (16th  of  February,  1855.) 

"Having  no  precedent  with  respect  to  coal,  we  request  your  excellency  to  furnish  us  with  an 
estimate,  and  upon  due  consideration  this  will  be  complied  with,  if  not  in  opposition  to  our  laws. 
What  do  you  understand  by  provisions,  and  how  much  coal? 

"Finally,  anything  ships  may  be  in  want  of  that  can  be  furnished  from  the  production  of 
this  Empire  shall  be  supplied.  The  prices  of  merchandise  and  articles  of  barter  to  be  fixed  by 
Kurakawa  Kabei  and  Moryama  Yenoske.  After  settling  the  points  before  mentioned,  the  treaty 
can  be  concluded  and  signed  at  the  next  interview. 

"  Seals  attached  by  order  of  the  high  gentlemen. 

"MORYAMA  YENOSKE." 

The  Commodore  having  returned  the  document,  reqiiesting  it  should  be  signed  by  the  high 
commissioner,  and  delivered  to  him  next  day,  entered  at  once  upon  the  subject  which  was  upper- 
most in  his  mind,  the  negotiation  of  a  treaty.  He  remarked  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  two 
nations  that  a  treaty  similar  to  the  one  between  the  United  States  and  China  should  be  made. 
He  had  been  sent,  he  continued,  by  his  government  to  make  a  treaty,  and  if  he  did  not  succeed, 
the  United  iStates  would  jirobably  send  more  ships  to  make  one ;  but  he  hoped  that  everything 
would  be  soon  settled  in  an  amicable  manner,  and  that  he  would  be  enabled  to  send  two  of  his 
ships,  as  he  desired,  to  prevent  others  from  coming.  A  copy  of  the  Chinese  treaty,  written  in 
English,  Chinese,  and  Dutch,  accompanied  by  two  notes  from  the  Commodore,  and  a  letter  in 
answer  to  one  sent  by  the  high  commissioner  from  Uraga,  were  now  handed  to  the  Japanese, 
when  they  asked  for  time  to  have  the  documents  translated  into  their  own  language. 

Notes  handed  to  First  Commissioner  on  Wednesday,  March  8,  1854. 

The  American  ambassador  learns  with  pleasure  that  the  Japanese  government  is  disposed  to 
enter  into  some  friendly  arrangement  with  tlie  United  States.  As  such  is  happily  the  case,  it 
would  be  much  more  advantageous  to  both  nations,  and  especially  to  Ja])an,  if  a  treaty  is 
agreed  upon,  even  if  it  be  of  short  duration  ;  for  reason  tliat  tlie  citizens  and  subjects  of  both 


COMMOnOIlE'S      LKTTER      TO      HAY  AS  HI.  351 

the  contracting  powers  would  be  mutually  bound  by  law  to  conform  to  all  its  stipulations,  and 
thus  prevent  mistakes  and  consequent  disputes. 

This  is  the  practice  with  all  other  nations  ;  and  such  is  the  present  condition  of  the  world, 
that  these  treaties  have  become  necessary  to  avert  contention  and  war.  The  obligations  to  con- 
form to  them  are  enjoined  as  well  by  considerations  of  honor,  as  the  preservation  of  the  peace 
and  prosperity  of  the  respective  countries  ;  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  western  nations 
to  preserve  friendly  intercourse  if  it  were  not  for  similar  treaties. 

Although  we  have  abundance  of  prepared  provisions  in  the  squadron,  it  wovild  be  desirable 
to  obtain  daily  supplies  of  fresh  meat,  vegetables,  &c.,  for  which  we  would  pay  the  prices 
demanded.  Wood  and  water  will,  of  course,  be  wanted,  and  for  a  supply  of  which  we  shall  be 
thankful. 

The  Bealth  of  the  officers  and  men  require  that  they  should  have  exercise  on  shore ;  and 
though  I  have  hitherto,  out  of  respect  to  the  Japanese  laws,  forbidden  any  one  to  land  except 
for  purposes  of  duty,  I  feel  assured  that  some  arrangement  will  be  made  to  admit  of  some 
reasonable  intercourse  with  the  neighborhood. 

Copies  of  the  surveys  which  the  officers  are  employed  in  making  will  be  presented  to  the 
Imperial  government ;  and,  to  make  them  more  perfect,  it  will  be  necessary  to  place  signal- 
poles  at  some  points  on  shore  by  which  to  measure  the  angles  ;  therefore  it  is  requested  that  the 
officers  landing  for  such  purposes  may  not  be  molested. 

It  is  thought  that  the  business  of  the  negotiation  would  be  facilitated  by  submitting  the^ 
several  questions  and  replies  that  may  arise  in  writing. 

M.  C.  PERKY. 

United  Statis  Flag-ship  Powhatan, 
Tedo  Bay,  off  the  town  of  Yoku-hama,  March  1,  1854. 

YouK  Excellency  :  In  presenting  for  the  consideration  of  your  highness  the  accompanying 
draught  of  a  treaty,  which,  in  all  its  essential  features,  is  identical  with  that  at  present  subsist- 
ing between  the  United  States  and  China,  I  again  venture  to  urge  upon  the  Imperial  govern- 
ment of  Japan  the  importance  of  establishing  a  friendly  understanding  with  the  nation  which 
I  have  the  honor  on  this  occasion  to  represent. 

It  would  be  needless  in  me  to  reiterate  the  arguments  already  advanced  in  support  of  a 
measure  so  fraught  with  the  best  interests  of  the  two  nations,  and  so  necessary  to  the  peace  and 
prosperity  of  Japan. 

I  have  in  a  former  communication  remarked  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  enter- 
tains the  strongest  desire,  and  cherishes  a  most  fervent  hope,  that  the  mission  which  he  has 
intrusted  to  my  charge  may  result  in  the  accomplishment  of  a  treaty  mutually  beneficial,  and 
tending  to  avert,  by  timely  negotiation,  the  consequences  that  would  otherwise  grow  out  of 
collisions  certain  to  arise,  should  the  present  undefined  relations  between  the  two  countries 
much  longer  continue. 

In  the  increasing  number  of  American  ships  almost  daily  passing  and  repassing  the  territories 
of  Japan,  the  President  is  apprehensive  of  the  occurrence  of  some  further  act  of  hostility  towards 
the  unoffending  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  may  be  thrown  by  misfortune  upon  your 
shores,  and  hence  his  wish  to  establish  a  treaty  of  friendship,  whicli  shall  give  assurance  of  the 
discontinuance  of  a  course  of  policy,  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese,  altogether  at  variance  with  the 
usages  of  other  nations,  and  no  longer  to  be  tolerated  by  the  United  States. 


352  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

As  an  evidence  of  the  friendly  intentions  of  the  President,  and  to  pay  the  highest  honor  to  his 
Imperial  Majesty,  he  has  sent  nic  in  command  of  a  number  of  ships — to  be  increased  by  others 
which  are  to  follow — not  only  to  bear  to  his  Majesty  the  letter  which  I  have  already  presented, 
but  to  evince,  by  every  suitable  act  of  kindness,  the  cordial  feelings  entertained  liy  him  towards 
Japan. 

That  there  might  be  sufficient  time  allowed  for  a  full  consideration  of  the  just  and  reasonable 
demands  of  the  President,  I  took  u])on  myself  to  withdraw  the  ships  in  July  last  from  the  coast, 
and  have  now,  after  an  absence  of  seven  months,  returned,  in  the  full  expectation  of  a  most 
satisfactory  arrangement. 

Another  proof  of  the  friendly  disposition  of  the  President  has  been  given  in  his  sending  for 
exhibition  to  the  Imperial  court  three  of  the  magnificent  steamers  of  the  United  States,  of  which 
there  are  many  thousands,  large  and  small,  in  America ;  and  he  has  also  sent,  for  premutation 
to  the  Emperor,  many  specimens  of  the  most  useful  inventions  of  our  country. 

Therefore,  after  all  these  demonstrations  of  good  will,  it  would  be  strange  if  the  Japanese 
government  did  not  .seize  upon  this  very  favorable  occasion  to  secure  a  friendly  intercourse  with 
a  people  anxious  to  prevent,  by  wise  and  prudent  foresight,  all  causes  of  future  misunderstanding 
and  strife. 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  is  no  western  nation  so  intimately  connected  with  the  peace  and 
welfare  of  Japan  as  the  United  States,  a  part  of  whose  territory  lies  opposite  the  Imperial  coast, 
and  whose  commerce  covers  the  Pacific  ocean  and  Japan  seas  ;  not  less  than  five  hundred  large 
ships  being  engaged  exclusively  in  those  regions  in  pursuit  of  whales,  the  crews  of  many  of 
which  suffer  for  want  of  water  and  other  refreshments  ;  and  it  would  seem  nothing  more  than 
common  humanity  to  receive  those  who  may  seek  shelter  in  the  ports  of  Japan  with  kindness 
and  hospitality. 

The  government  of  China  has  derived  much  benefit  from  its  treaty  with  the  United  States. 
The  purchase  of  teas  by  the  Americans  during  the  present  year  will  amount  to  three  million  six 
hundred  thou.sand  (3,600,000)  taels,  and  of  raw  and  manufactured  silks  to  nearly  three  millions 
(3,000,000)  of  taels. 

Nearly  thirty  thousand  subjects  of  the  Emperor  of  China  have  visited  America,  where  they 
have  been  kindly  received,  and  jjermitted  by  the  American  laws  to  engage  in  whatever  occupa- 
tion best  suited  them.  They  have  also  been  allowed  to  erect  temples,  and  to  enjoy  in  all  freedom 
their  religious  rites.  All  have  accumulated  money,  and  some  have  returned  to  China,  after  a 
short  absence,  with  sums  varying  from  300  to  10,000  taels. 

I  have  adverted  to  these  facts  merely  to  show  the  advantages  that  would  grow  out  of  sUch  a 
treaty  as  I  now  propose,  and  to  remark  again  that  some  amicable  arrangement  between  the  two 
nations  has  become  positively  necessary,  and  for  reasons  already  explained. 

Indeed,  I  shall  not  dare  to  return  to  the  United  States  without  carrying  with  me  satisfactory 
responses  to  all  the  proposals  of  the  President,  and  I  must  remain  until  such  are  placed  in  my 
possession. 

With  the  most  profound  respect, 

M.  C.  PERRY, 
Commander-in-chief  U.  S.  Naval  Forces  East  India, 

China,  and  Japan  Seas,  and  special  Ambassador  to  Japan. 

His  Highness  Hayasiii-Daigaku-no-kami,  dc,  (to. 


BURIAL     OF     A     MARINE     AT     YOKU-IIAMA.  353 

One  of  the  marines  belonging  to  the  Mississippi  had  died  two  days  previous  to  the  conference, 
and  the  suitable  interment  of  his  body  now  cume  up  in  course  of  discussion.  The  Commodore 
proposed  to  buy  a  piece  of  ground  from  the  Japanese  for  the  burial  of  the  man  then  lying 
dead,  and  for  any  other  American  who  might  die.  This  proposition  seemed  to  perplex  the 
commissioners,  and,  after  some  consultation,  they  retired  to  discuss  the  question  alone,  and,  on 
leaving,  invited  the  Commodore  and  his  officers  to  partake  of  some  refreshments,  consisting  of 
saki,  fruit  and  cakes,  soups  and  fish,  which  were  immediately  served.  This  invitation  was 
accepted,  with  the  remark  that  it  would  be  more  consonant  with  American  notions  of  hospitality 
if  tlie  commissioners  were  to  join  the  Commodore  and  his  officers,  as  the  breaking  of  bread 
together  was,  in  the  United  States,  as  among  many  other  nations,  considered  an  evidence  of 
friendship.  The  Japanese  replied  that  they  were  unacquainted  with  foreign  customs,  but 
would  cheerfully  join.  They  then  all  retired ;  but,  shortly  after,  the  second  and  third  in  rank 
of  the  number  returned  and  participated  socially  in  the  repast  th^  had  been  served,  one  of  the 
dignitaries  filling  a  cup  of  saki  at  once,  drinking  it  ofi"  to  the  dregs,  and,  turning  it  bottom 
upward,  remarked  that  it  was  a  Japanese  custom  for  the  host  to  drink  first. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  whole  board  was  again  in  session,  and  a  written  repl}-  to  the 
Commodore's  request  respecting  the  burial  of  the  marine  presented  by  the  chief  commissioner, 
and  to  the  purport  that,  as  a  temple  had  been  set  apart  at  Nagasaki  for  the  interment  of 
strangers,  it  would  be  necessary  to  send  the  body  to  Uraga,  whence,  at  a  convenient  season,  it 
might  be  conveyed  in  a  Japanese  junk  to  the  former  place.  To  this  the  Commodore  objected 
tliat  undisturbed  resting  places  were  granted  by  all  nations,  and  then  proposed  to  send  boats 
and  inter  the  body  at  Webster  island.  Webster  island,  as  it  is  named  on  the  American  charts, 
is  a  small  island  lying  convenient  to  the  "American  anchorage;"  and  the  Commodore  had 
determined,  if  the  Japanese  had  persisted  in  forbidding  the  interment  within  any  of  their 
numerous  burial  places,  to  have  effected  it  at  all  hazards  upon  that  island,  being  perfectly 
satisfied  that  the  Japanese  respect  for  the  dead  would  leave  the  body  undisturbed.  The 
commissioners  evinced  strong  objections  to  the  choice  of  the  spot,  and,  after  considerable 
discussion  among  themselves,  finally  consented  to  allow  the  burial  to  take  place  at  Yoku-hama, 
at  a  place  adjoining  one  of  their  temples,  and  in  view  of  the  squadron.  They  observed, 
however,  that,  as  the  novelty  of  the  scene  might  attract  an  inconvenient  crowd,  the  authorities 
would  send  on  board  the  Mississippi,  in  the  morning,  an  officer  to  accompany  the  funeral  party. 

The  Commodore  now  prepared  to  depart,  having  first  stated  that  he  would  be  happy  to  see 
the  Japanese  dignitaries  on  board  his  vessel  as  soon  as  the  weather  should  become  warmer. 
They  expressed  courteously  the  pleasure  they  would  have  in  accejiting  the  invitation,  and, 
bowing,  retired.  The  subordinate  American  officers  had  been  entertained  with  refreshments  in 
the  large  outer  hall  during  the  conference,  and  amused  with  the  rude  efibrts  of  Japanese  artists, 
who  liad  been  sent  from  Yedo,  at  delineating  their  portraits.  The  Commodore  now  passed  out, 
followed  by  his  suite  and  the  procession  of  officers  as  before,  and  marcliing  down,  to  the  music 
of  the  bands,  between  the  files  of  marines  on  either  side,  embarked  in  his  barge  and  pulled  for 
the  ship.  The  other  boats  soon  followed,  filled  with  the  numerous  officers,  sailors,  marines,  and 
others,  who  had  shared  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  day. 

Early  next  day,  (Tliursday,  March  9,)  as  had  been  arranged,  a  Jajianese  official  went  on 
board  the  Mississippi,  to  accompany  the  funeral  party  on  shore,  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out 
the  burial  place  selected  for  the  interment  of  the  dead  marine.     At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
45  J 


354 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


the  'boats  left  the  ship  with  the  hotly,  attended  by  the  chaphxin,  Mr.  Jones,  Mr.  Williams,  the 
interpreter,  and  a  party  of  marines.  The  flags  of  every  vessel  in  the  squadron  were  hoisted  at 
half  mast  as  the  boats  pushed  oflP.  The  body  was  borne  to  a  very  picturesque  spot  at  the  foot  of 
a  hill,  at  a  short  distance  from  the  village  of  Yoku-hama.  The  chaj^lain,  Mr.  Jones,  was  robed 
in  his  clerical  gown,  and  on  landing  was  received  in  the  most  courteous  manner  by  some  of  the 
Japanese  authorities,  who  showed  none  of  their  supposed  reinignance  to  the  Christian  religion 
and  its  ministers.     Crowds  of  the  people  had  also  gathered,  and  looked  on  with  great  curiosity, 


IJuddhlst  I'liest  in  Full  Dress. 


hut  with  decorous  respect,  as  the  funeral  procession  moved  slowly  along  to  the  sound  of  the 
muffled  drum.  The  road  lay  tlirough  the  village,  and  its  inhabitants  came  out  from  their 
houses  and  open  shops  to  behold  tlie  novel  scene.  The  place  chosen  for  tlie  burial  was  ne.ar 
a  Japanese  place  of  interment,  with  stone  idols  and  sculptured  headstones,  and  as  the  procession 
camo  up  a  Buddhist  priest,  in  robos  of  richly  embroidered  silk,  was  observed  already  on  the 
ground. 


VISIT     OF     THE     PREFECT     AND     INTERPRETER.  355 

Mr.  Jones  read  the  service  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  and  while  he  was  offici- 
ating the  Buddhist  priest  sat  near  hy  on  a  mat,  with  an  altar  before  him,  on  which  was  a 
collection  of  scraps  of  paper,  some  rice,  a  gong,  a  vessel  containing  saki,  and  some  turning 
incense.  The  service  having  been  read,  the  body  lowered,  and  the  earth  thrown  in,  the  party 
retired  from  the  grave.  The  Buddhist  priest  then  commenced  the  peculiar  ceremonies  of  his 
religion,  beating  his  gong,  telling  his  rosary  of  glass  and  wooden  beads,  muttering  his  prayers, 
and  keeping  alive  the  burning  incense.  He  was  still  going  through  his  strange  formulary  when 
the  Americans  moved  away,  and  crowds  of  Japanese  continued  to  linger  in  the  neighborhood, 
about  the  crests  and  acclivities  of  the  hills  wliich  bounded  the  scene.  Mr.  Williams,  the 
interpreter,  who  had  lived  long  in  China,  and  was  familiar  with  the  Buddhi.st  worship,  recog- 
nized its  peculiarities  in  the  precisely  similar  ceremonies  performing  at  the  grave  by  the 
Japanese  priest.  A  neat  enclosure  of  bamboo  was  subsequently  put  up  about  the  American 
grave  by  the  authorities,  and  a  small  hiit  was  erected  near,  for  a  Japanese  guard  to  watch  the 
grave  for  a  time,  according  to  their  custom. 

On  the  same  day  the  prefect,  Kura-Kawa-Kahei,  and  the  chief  interpreter,  Yenoske,  came  on 
board  the  Powhatan  with  a  copy  of  the  Imperial  reply  to  the  President's  letter,  duly  certified 
and  signed  by  the  four  commissioners.  The  two  Japanese  officials  subsequently  repaired  to  the 
Mississippi,  where  they  conferred  for  some  time  with  Captain  Adams.  They  appointed  the 
Monday  following  (March  13th)  for  the  reception  of  the  presents,  and  it  was  arranged  that  those 
persons  who  had  the  supervision  of  the  telegraph,  the  Daguerreotype  apparatus,  and  steam 
engine,  should  land  on  the  previous  Saturday,  to  arrange  a  place  for  their  suitable  exhibition. 
The  Japanese  stated  that  two  of  the  commissioners  would  be  in  attendance,  with  a  scribe,  to 
receive  and  record  the  various  presents,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  for  whom  they  were 
^tended.  Upon  Captain  Adams  saying  that  all  the  presents  received  by  the  officers  of  the 
United  States  were,  by  law,  the  property  of  the  government,  Yenoske  remarked  that  a  similar 
law  existed  in  Japan.  To  the  inquiry  of  the  Japanese  as  to  when  the  Commodore's  reply  to  the 
answer  to  the  President's  letter  would  be  ready,  it  was  promised  for  the  subsequent  Saturday. 

Captain  Adams  now  asked  what  ports  the  commissioners  had  selected  for  the  trade  of  the 
Americans,  and  where  they  were,  and  remarked  that  five  years,  the  time  appointed  for  the 
opening  of  them,  was  deemed  by  the  Commodore  much  too  long,  and  that  he  woidd  never 
submit  to  having  a  place  so  restricted  as  Dezima  for  the  use  of  the  Americans.  The  prefect 
waived  all  immediate  consideration  of  the  subject,  saying  that  it  was  one  upon- which  the 
commissioners  woidd  negotiate  and  deliberate,  and  that  it  would  necessarily  require  time. 
Yenoske,  the  interpreter,  was  then  told  that  he  could  forward  the  purposes  of  the  expedition, 
since  he  was  familiar  with  them  ;  he  promised  to  do  so  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  but  he 
declined,  although  a  map  was  placed  before  him,  to  name  the  ports  for  American  intercourse, 
saying,  as  he  refused,  that  the  whole  matter  was  so  new,  and  so  opposed  to  the  laws  of  the 
Empire,  that  time  would  he  required  to  bring  matters  to  such  an  issue.  In  regard  to  the 
question  of  going  ashore,  which  had  been  submitted  to  the  commissioners,  Captain  Adams  asked 
for  some  explicit  reply,  stating  that  the  surveying  party,  which  was  at  the  time  at  work  in  the 
bay,  would  require  to  plant  signals  along  the  shore,  but  would  not  go  into  the  interior.  To 
this  the  prefect  answered  that  the  views  of  the  commissioners  had  not  been  yet  fully  matured, 
but  seemed  to  concur  in  the  necessity  of  the  signals,  if  the  Commodore  had  so  ordered  it.  lie, 
however,  expressed  his  fear  of  trouble  and  confusion,  if  the  officers,  engaged  in  their  duty, 


356 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


should  enter  the  villages,  and  hoped  they  would  go  down  tlie  hay,  and  not  northward.  The 
suhject  of  supplies  was  next  spoken  of,  and  the  question  of  payment  seemed  to  he  conceded  hy 
the  Japanese,  who  proposed  that  as  soon  as  a  port  was  selected,  certain  compradors  should  he 
appointed  for  the  sale  of  articles  of  every  kind,  hut  in  the  meantime,  they  said  a  single  person 
would  he  chosen,  whose  duty  it  would  he  to  supply  what  was  necessary,  and  receive  in  payment 
the  American  coin,  to  he  estimated  weight  for  weight  with  the  Japanese  money.  They  would 
prefer,  they  said,  that  Nagasaki  should  he  the  place  for  such  transactions,  hut  granted  the 
necessity  of  carrying  them  on  for  the  present  where  they  were.  The  liours  for  tlie  future 
meetings  heing  settled  at  from  eleven  o'clock  to  one,  instead  of  the  previous  irregular  mode,  the 
Japanese  took  their  departure. 

On  the  next  day  (March  11)  a  short  conference  was  held  hy  Captain  Adams  with  the  same 
Japanese  officials  in  the  treaty  house  on  shore.  He  also  hore  a  communication  of  the  date  of 
the  loth  of  March  from  tlie  Commodore,  addressed  to  the  commissioners,  in  wliich  the  answer  to 
the  President's  letter  was  acknowledged.  The  Commodore,  while  he  expressed  his  satisfaction 
at  the  determination  of  the  Japanese  government  to  alter  its  policy  in  regard  to  foreign  govern- 
ments, at  the  same  time  stated  that  the  concessions  proposed  were  not  enough,  and  that  a 
written  compact  or  treaty,  with  wider  provisions,  was  essential.  The  chief  points  talked  of 
were,  the  answer  to  the  Commodore's  notes  in  reference  to  the  proposed  treaty,  and  the  privilege 
of  going  ashore.  In  regard  to  the  former,  they  stated  that  a  reply  was  not  yet  prepared ;  hut 
as  for  the  latter,  tlie  interpreter  remarked,  unofficially,  that  there  would  he  no  ohjection  to  the 
Commodore  and  his  officers  going  ashore ;  hut  that  if  the  permission  should  he  general,  diffi- 
culty with  the  people  might  ensue.  Some  general  conversation  followed  in  regard  to  tlie 
necessity  of  disjjatch  in  the  negotiations,  Captain  Adams  stating  that  it  was  the  Commodore's 
intention  to  send  one  of  his  ships  to  the  United  States,  in  the  course  of  a  week  or  so,  to  inform 
the  government  at  home  of  the  progress  of  the  negotiations,  that  it  might  know  whether  it  was 
necessary  to  send  more  vessels  or  not.  The  Japanese  evinced  some  uneasiness  at  this  statement, 
and  asked,  "Whether  the  Americans  are  friendly?"  "Certainly  we  are,"  was  the  answer, 
and  the  conference  closed  in  the  most  amicahle  manner. 

The  day  agreed  upon  had  arrived  (Monday,  March  13)  for  the  landing  of  the  presents,  and 
although  the  weather  was  unsettled,  and  the  waters  of  the  hay  somewhat  rough,  they  all 
reached  the  shore  without  damage.* 


'  The  following  is  a  list  of  some  of  the  various  presents  landed  on  the  occasion  : 


■  Emperor. 


1  box  of  arms,  containing — 
5  Hall's  rifles, 
3  Maynard's  muskets, 
12  cavalry  swords, 
C  artillery  swords, 

1  carbine, 
20  army  pistols, 

2  carbines,  cartridge  boxes,  and  belts,  containing  120 

cartridges. 

10  Hall's  rifles. 

11  cavalry  swords. 

1  carbine,  cartridge  box  and  belts,  and  60  cartridges. 
60  ball  cartridges. 
1  box  books,  Emperor. 
1  box  dressing-cases.  Emperor. 


1  box  perfumery,  2  packages.  Emperor. 

1  barrel  whi.skey,  Emperor. 

1  cask  wine,  Emperor. 

1  box  for  distribution. 

1  box  containing  11  pistols,  for  distribution. 

1  box  perfumery,  for  distribution. 

A  quantity  of  cherry  cordials,  distribution- 

A  quantity  of  cherry  cordials,  Emperor. 

A  number  of  baskets  champaignc.  Emperor. 

A  number  of  baskets  champaignc,  conmiissioncrs 

1  box  China  ware,  commissioners. 

A  quantity  of  maraschino,  commissioners. 

1  telescope,  Emperor. 

Boxes  of  tea,  Emperor. 

1  box  of  tea,  commissiouera. 


DELIVERY  OF  TUE  PRESENTS, 


357 


The  presents  filled  several  large  boats,  which  left  the  ship  escorted  by  a  number  of  officers,  a 
company  of  marines,  and  a  band  of  music,  all  imder  the  superintendence  of  Captain  Abbott, 
■who  was  delegated  to  deliver  the  presents,  with  proper  ceremonies,  to  the  Japanese  high 
commissioners.  A  building  adjoining  the  treaty  bouse  had  been  suitably  constructed  and 
arranged  for  the  purpose,  and  on  landing  Captain  Abbot  was  met  by  Yezaiman,  the  governor  of 
Uraga,  and  several  subordinate  officials,  and  conducted  to  the  treaty  house.  Soon  after  entering, 
the  high  commissioner,  Prince  Hayashi,  came  in,  and  the  usual  compliments  being  interchanged, 
Captain  Abbott,  with  the  interpreters,  were  led  into  the  smaller  room,  where  a  letter  from  the 
Commodore  and  some  formalities  on  the  delivery  of  the  presents  were  disposed  of.  The  Japanese 
commissioner,  after  some  discussion,  fixed  the  ensuing  Thursday  (March  16)  for  an  interview 
with  the  Commodore  on  shore,  when  they  promised  to  deliver  a  formal  reply  to  his  notes  in 
regard  to  the  opening  of  the  various  Japanese  ports  insisted  upon. 

The  presents  having  been  formally  delivered,  the  various  American  officers  and  workmen 
selected  for  the  purpose  were  diligently  engaged  daily  in  unpacking  and  arranging  them  for 
exhibition.  The  Japanese  authorities  ofiered  every  facility;  their  laborers  constructed  sheds  for 
sheltering  the  articles  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather ;  a  piece  of  level  ground  was 
assigned  for  laying  down  the  circular  track  of  the  little  locomotive,  and  posts  were  brought  and 
erected  for  the  extension  of  the  telegraph  wires,  the  Japanese  taking  a  very  ready  part  in  all 
the  labors,  and  watching  the  result  of  arranging  and  putting  together  the  machinery  with  an 
innocent  and  childlike  delight.  The  telegraphic  apparatus,  under  the  direction  of  Messrs. 
Draper  and  Williams,  was  soon  in  working  order,  the  wires  extending  nearly  a  mile,  in  a  direct 
line,  one  end  being  at  the  treaty  house,  and  another  at  a  building  expressly  allotted  for  the 
purpose.  When  communication  was  opened  up  between  the  operators  at  either  extremity,  the 
Japanese  watched  with  intense  curiosity  the  modus  operandi,  and  were  greatly  amazed  to  find 
that  in  an  instant  of  time  messages  were  conveyed  in  the  English,  Dutch,  and  Japanese 
languages^  fi-om  building  to  building.  Day  after  day  the  dignitaries  and  many  of  the  people 
would  gather,  and,  eagerly  beseeching  the  operators  to  work  the  telegraph,  watch  with  unabated 
interest  the  sending  and  receiving  of  messages. 

Nor  did  the  railway,  under  the  direction  of  Engineers  Gay  and  Danby,  with  its  Lilli- 
putian locomotive,  car,  and  tender,  excite  less  interest.  All  the  parts  of  the  mechanism 
were  perfect,  and  the  car  was  a  most  tasteful  specimen  of  workmanship,  but  so  small  tliat  it 
could  hardly  carry  a  child  of  six  years  of  age.  The  Japanese,  however,  were  not  to  be  cheated 
out  of  a  ride,  and,  as  they  were  unable  to  reduce  themselves  to  the  capacity  of  the  inside  of  the 
carriage,  they  betook  themselves  to  the  roof.     It  was  a  spectacle  not  a  little  ludicrous  to  behold 


2  telegraph  instruments. 

3  Francis's  life-boats. 

1  locomotive  and  tender,  passenger  car,  and  rails  complete. 

4  volumes  Audubon's  Birds  of  America. 
3  volumes  Audubon's  Quadrupeds. 
Several  clocks. 

10  ship's  beakers,  containing  100  gallons  whiskey. 

8  baskets  Irish  potatoes. 

3  stoves. 

Boxes  standard  United  States  balances. 

Boxes  standard  United  States  bushels. 

Boxes  standard  United  States  gallon  mcasurcii. 

Boxes  standard  United  Slates  yards. 


1  box  coast  charts. 

4  bundles  lelegrajjli  wires. 

1  box  gutta  perclia  wires. 

4  boxes  batteries. 

1  box  machine  paper. 

1  box  zinc  plates. 

1  box  insulators. 

1  box  connecting  apparatus. 

I  box  machine  weights. 

1  box  acid. 

1  box  seed. 

Largo  quantity  of  agricultural  implomenli,  &c.,  &.c.,  £cc. 


358  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

a  difrnified  mamlarin  -whirlins;  around  the  circular  road  at  the  rate  of  twenty  miles  an  honr,  with 
his  loose  robes  flying  in  the  wind.  As  he  clung  with  a  desperate  hold  to  the  edge  of  the  roof, 
grinning  with  intense  interest,  and  his  huddled  up  body  shook  convulsively  with  a  kind  of 
laughing  timidity,  while  the  car  spun  rapidly  around  the  circle,  you  might  have  supposed  that 
the  movement,  somehow  or  other,  was  dependent  rather  upon  the  enormous  exertions  of  the 
uneasy  mandarin  than  upon  the  power  of  the  little  puffing  locomotive,  which  was  so  easily 
performing  its  work. 

Although  the  Japanese  authorities  were  still  very  jealous  of  any  intercourse  on  the  part  of  the 
Americans  with  the  people,  and  did  all  they  could  to  prevent  it,  still  there  was  necessarily  a 
good  deal  of  intermingling.  The  ships  of  the  squadron  were  being  daily  supplied  with  water 
and  provisions,  for  Avliich  the  officials  of  the  government  had  now  consented  to  receive  payment, 
but  they  insisted  upon  conducting  all  the  regulations,  and  provided  their  own  boats  and  laborers 
for  the  purpose.  There  was,  however,  what  with  the  necessary  passing  to  and  from  the  ships 
with  the  supplies,  and  the  arranging  and  working  the  telegraphic  apparatus,  and  the  toy 
railway,  almost  daily  intercourse  between  the  American  officers,  sailors,  and  marines,  and  the 
Japanese  mandarins,  officials,  and  laborers. 

The  Japanese  always  evinced  an  inordinate  curiosity,  for  the  gratification  of  which  the  various 
articles  of  strange  fabric,  and  the  pieces  of  mechanism,  of  ingenious  and  novel  invention, 
brought  from  the  United  States,  gave  them  a  full  opportunity.  They  were  not  satisfied  with 
the  minutest  examination  of  all  these  things,  so  surprisingly  wonderful  as  they  .appeared  to 
them,  biit  followed  the  officers  and  men  about  and  seized  upon  every  occasion  to  examine  each, 
part  of  their  dress.  The  laced  caps,  boots,  swords,  and  tailed  coats  of  tbe  officers,  the  tarpaulins, 
jackets,  and  trowsers  of  the  men,  all  came  in  for  the  closest  scrutiny,  and  a  tailor  in  search  of  a  new 
cut  or  a  latest  fashion  could  not  have  been  more  exacting  in  his  observations  than  the  inquisitive 
Japanese  as  he  fingered  the  broadcloth,  smoothed  down  the  nap  with  his  long  delicate  hands, 
pulled  a  lappel  here,  adjusted  a  collar  there,  now  fathomed  the  depth  of  a  pocket,  and  again 
peered  curiously  into  the  inner  recesses  of  Jack's  loose  toilette.  They  eagerly  sought  to  possess 
themselves  of  anything  that  pertained  to  the  dress  of  their  visitors,  and  showed  a  peculiar 
passion  for  buttons.  They  would  again  and  again  ask  for  a  button,  and  when  presented  with 
the  cheap  gift,  they  appeared  immediately  gratified,  and  stowed  it  away  as  if  it  were  of  the 
greatest  value.  It  is  possible  that  their  affection  for  buttons  and  high  appreciation  of  their 
value,  may  be  owing  to  the  rarity  of  the  article  in  Japan,  for  it  is  a  curious  fact,  that  the  simple 
convenience  of  a  button  is  but  little  used  in  any  article  of  Japanese  dress,  strings  and  variou 
bindings  being  the  only  mode  of  fastening  the  garments.  When  visiting  the  ships  the  man- 
darins and  their  attendants  were  never  at  rest,  but  went  about  peering  into  every  nook  and 
corner,  peeping  into  the  muzzles  of  the  guns,  examining  curiously  the  small-arms,  handling  the 
ropes,  measuring  the  boats,  looking  eagerly  into  the  engine-room,  and  watching  every  movement 
of  the  engineers  and  workmen  as  they  busily  moved,  in  and  about,  the  gigantic  machinery  of  the 
steamers.  They  were  not  contented  with  merely  observing  with  their  eyes,  but  were  constantly 
taking  out  their  writing  materials,  their  mulberry-bark  paper,  and  their  Indian  ink  and  hair 
pencils,  which  they  always  carried  in  a  pocket  within  the  left  breast  of  their  loose  robes,  and 
making  notes  and  sketclies.  Tlie  Japanese  had  all  apparently  a  strong  pictorial  taste,  and 
looked  with  great  delight  upon  the  engravings  and  pictures  which  were  shown  them,  but  their 
own  performances  appeared  exceedingly  rude  and  unartistic.     Every  man,  however,  seemed 


EXCITEMENT    CAUSED    BY    CHAPLAIN    BITTINGEB.  359 

anxious  to  try  Lis  skill  at  drawing,  and  they  were  constantly  taking  the  portraits  of  the 
Americans,  and  sketches  of  the  various  articles  that  appeared  curious  to  them,  with  a  result,  which, 
however  satisfactory  it  might  have  been  to  the  artists,  (and  it  must  he  conceded  they  exhibited 
no  little  exultation^)  was  far  from  showing  any  encouraging  advance  in  art.  It  should,  however, 
he  remarked,  that  the  artists  were  not  professional.  Our  future  pages  will  show  more  artistic 
skill  than  the  rude  specimens  here  alluded  to  would  have  led  one  to  suppose  existed  in  Japan. 
The  Japanese  are,  undoubtedly,  like  the  Chinese,  a  very  imitative,  adaptative,  and  compliant 
peoide,  and  in  these  characteristics  may  be  discovered  a  promise  of  the  comparatively  easy 
introduction  of  foreign  customs  and  habits,  if  not  of  the  nobler  i^rinciples  and  better  life  of  a 
higher  civilization. 

Notwithstanding  the  Japanese  are  so  fond  of  indulging  their  curiosity,  they  are  by  no  means 
communicative  about  themselves.  They  allege,  as  a  reason  for  their  provoking  reserve,  that 
their  laws  forbid  them  to  communicate  to  foreigners  anything  relating  to  their  country  and  its 
institutions,  habits,  and  customs.  This  silence  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  was  a  serious 
obstacle  to  acquiring  that  minute  information  about  a  strange  people  of  whom  curiosity  is 
naturally  on  the  alert  to  know  everything.  Much  progress  will,  however,  never  be  obtained 
toward  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Japan,  until  some  of  our  men  of  intelligence  are  established 
in  the  country  in  the  character  of  consular  agents,  merchants,  or  missionaries,  who  may  thus 
be  enabled  to  acquire  the  language  and  mingle  in  intimate  social  relations  with  the  people. 

The  common  people  were  found  much  moi-e  disposed  to  fraternize  than  were  the  Japanese 
officials.  It  seemed  evident  that  nothing  but  a  fear  of  punishment  deterred  the  former  from 
entering  into  free  intercourse  witli  the  Americans ;  but  they  were  closely  watched  by  their 
superiors,  as  in  fact  the  latter  were  by  their  equals. 

In  Japan,  as  in  Lew  Chew,  probably,  a  closer  intimacy  would  have  en.sued,  during  the  visits 
of  the  squadron,  with  all  classes,  if  they  had  been  allowed  to  follow  their  own  natural  inclina- 
tions, and  had  not  been  so  jealously  guarded  by  the  numerous  spies.  Xo  one,  even  of  the 
highest  dignitaries,  is  entrusted  with  public  business  of  importance,  without  having  one  or  more 
associated  with  him,  who  is  ever  on  the  alert  to  detect  and  take  note  of  the  slightest  suspicion 
of  delinquency. 

Kura-Kawa-Kahei,  the  prefect,  and  Yenoske,  the  interpreter,  paid  almost  daily  visits  to  the 
ships,  and  had  always  something  to  communicate  in  regard  to'  the  supplying  of  the  vessels  with 
water  and  fresh  provisions,  the  arrangements  for  which  were  under  their  especial  care.  When 
they  came  on  board,  as  they  were  subordinate  dignitaries,  they  were  not  received  by  the 
Commodore  himself,  but  by  some  of  his  chief  officers,  who  were  delegated  for  the  purpose,  and 
acted  as  his  medium  of  communication  with  them.  After  one  of  these  interviews,  (March  14,) 
as  Kura-Kawa  and  Yenoske  were  about  taking  leave,  a  Japanese  official  liurried  aboard  from 
Kanagawa,  and,  in  a  state  of  considerable  excitement,  reported  that  an  American  officer  had 
passed  through  that  town,  and  was  walking  very  fast  toward  Yedo.  His  appearanee,  so  said  the 
messenger,  was  causing  great  excitement,  and  it  was  feared  that  unpleasant  consequences  might 
ensue.  The  Japanese  officials,  on  hearing  this,  declared  that  tbe  conduct  of  the  American 
officer  was  in  violation  of  their  laws  and  of  the  promi.se.?  made  to  them  by  the  Admiral.  The 
Commodore,  when  informed  of  the  fact,  directed  guns  to  be  fired  immediately,  and  a  signal 
made  recalling  all  boats  and  officers  to  their  respective  ships.  He  also  prepared  written  orders, 
which  were  sent  in  different  directions,  commanding  all  persons  belonging  to  the  squadron  to 


360  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

repair  immediately  on  board.  A  copy  of  tliese  orders  was,  on  the  instant^  dispatched  by  the 
Japanese  officials,  then  in  the  Powhatan,  in  pnrsuit  of  the  American  officer,  rei>orted  to  be  on 
his  way  to  Yedo.  The  Commodore's  prompt  action  was  handsomely  acknowledged  by  tlie 
authorities,  who  sent  to  him,  next  day,  a  formal  expression  of  their  gratitude. 

The  American  officer,  whose  intrusion  had  created  so  great  an  excitement,  was  Mr.  Bittinger, 
the  chaplain  of  the  steamer  Susquehanna.     While  taking  a  walk  on  shore,  this  gentleman's 
curiosity  prompted  him  to  extend  his  observations  somewhat  beyond  the  usual  circuit  of  some 
four  or  five  miles,  within  which  the  Japanese  authorities  had  contracted  the  movements  of 
their  visitors.     Starting  from  Yoku-hama,  opposite  to  where  the  squadron  was  anchored,  the 
enterprising  investigator  pushed  on  to  the  town  of  Kanagawa,  some  three  miles  further  up  the 
bay,  whore  he  was  accosted  by  some  of  the  Japanese  officials  and  the  interpreter,  Gohatsiro, 
who  urgently  solicited  him  to  return.     He  was  not,  however,  to  be  so  easily  balked  of  his 
purpose,  and  continued  his  journey,  followed  by  the  Japanese  officers,  who  dogged  his  steps  at 
every  turn  until  he  reached  Kamasaki.     Here  there  was  a  river  to  cross,  and  he  tried  to  prevail 
upon  the  Japanese  boatmen  to  ferry  him  to  the  opposite  side,  but  they  refused  in  spite  of  bribes 
and  threats,  in  the  course  of  which  the  chaplain,  if  the  Japanese  accounts  are  to  be  believed, 
drew  his  sword.     He  now  pursued  his  way  higher  up  the  river  with  the  hope  of  finding  a  place 
that  might  be  forded,  and  had  just  reached  a  very  promising  looking  crossing,  the  depths  of 
which  he  was  about  trying,  when  the  messenger,  who  had  hurried  in  rapid  dispatch,  from  the 
steamer   Powhatan   accosted  him  with  the  written  order  of  the  Commodore.      "He,"   thus 
reported  the  Japanese  authorities,  with  their  usual  minuteness  of  description,  "read  it,  walked 
four  steps  further,  read  it  again,  then  suddenly  returned  and  intimated  his  intention  of  going 
back  to  the  ship."     The  chaplain,  in  the  course  of  his  wanderings,  had  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  one  of  the  largest  towns  of  Japan,  that  of  Kanagawa,  which,  with  its  numerous  wide 
streets,  and  its  crowded  population,  had  quite  an  imposing  ajipearance.     He  penetrated  into 
several  of  the  dwellings   and  temples,  and,  by  his  pertinacious  perseverance,   succeeded  in 
obtaining,  in  one  of  the  shops,  some  Japanese  money  in  exchange  for  American  coin.     The 
native  authorities  seemed  particularly  worried  in  regard  to  this  last  matter,  as  it  was  so  great 
an  offence  against  their  laws.     The  Japanese,  in  their  rejjort  of  the  occurrence,  stated  that  the 
American  officer  had  gone  into  a  shop  by  the  roadside  and  asked  the  keeper  to  allow  him  to  see 
some  coins.     The  Japanese  shopman  complied  with  the  request,  but  as  he  seemed  somewhat 
chary  in  the  display  of  his  treasure  the  chaplain  insisted  upon  seeing  more,  which  demand  was 
also  granted.     Scales  were  now  asked  for,  which  being  brought  the  chaplain  took  out  some 
silver  pieces,  and  weighing  them  in  one  balance  against  the  Japanese  gold  and  silver  coins, 
mixed  indiscriminately  in  a  heap,  in  the  other,  transferred  the  latter  to  his  pockets  and  left  his 
American  coin  to  console  the  shopman  for  the  loss  of  his  Japanese  change.     The  authorities 
further  reported  that  the  chaplain  was  not  content  with  gentle  exhortations  and  mild  persu<a- 
sions,  but  bad  used  threatening  gestures,  in  which  his  drawn  sword  had  figured  conspicuously. 
They,  however,  mildly  and  courteously  added  in  their  report,  "that  they  supposed  that  it  was 
with  no  intention  to  do  harm,  but  for  his  own  amusement."     There  was  a  gentle  and  graceful 
charity  in  the  suggestion  of  an  apology  for  the  conduct  of  the  American  officer,  which  sliowcd 
an  example  in  beautiful  accordance  witli  the  precepts  of  the  faith  of  the  intruder,  and  well 
worthy  of  imitation.     On  the  next  day  Yenoske  brought  back  the  sum  of  three  dollars  and  a 
half  in  American  silver  coin,  which  had  been  left  in  compulsory  exchange  with  the  Jajjanese 


COMMISSIONERS    DECLINE    TO    ADOPT    THE    CHINESE    TREATY.     3G1 

shopman,  and  stated  that  six  pieces  of  gold,  six  of  silver,  and  the  same  number  of  copper,  were 
in  possession  of  the  chai)lain.  Tenoske  requested  that  the  Japanese  money  should  be  returned, 
and  was  told  it  should  be  restored. 

The  day  appointed  for  the  conference,  on  sh  tc,  with  the  Commodore  (March  16)  proved 
very  stormy,  and,  accordingly,  the  interview  was  postponed  until  the  next  morning.  In  the 
meantime,  a  communication  h.ad  been  received  from  the  commissioners,  in  answer  to  several 
notes  of  the  Commodore,  in  regard  to  a  proposed  treaty  with  Japan,  on  the  basis  of  that  between 
the  United  States  and  China:  , 

Kofe  from  the  Japanese  Commissioners  to  Commodore  Perry. 

At  our  personal  interview,  on  the  8th,  you  presented  us  a  paper  in  which  the  President's 
views  were  expressed;  and,  on  the  11th,  we  received  a  reply  to  our  letter,  in  which  the  same 
views  were  given  as  at  the  interview  in  relation  to  the  commerce  your  country  now  has  with 
China ;  both  of  which  we  have  carefully  examined,  and  learn  that  you  wish  to  ascertain  whether 
we  are  ready  to  adopt  the  same  that  the  Chinese  have.  The  burden  of  that  which  you  presented 
on  the  8th  is  similar  to  that  which  was  sought  in  the  President's  letter,  and  you  gave  it,  to 
learn  whether  we  would  adopt  it  or  not.  In  our  letter,  it  was  plainly  stated  that  our  Emperor 
had  but  lately  acceded  to  his  throne,  and  all  the  numerous  aifairs  of  government  required  to  be 
quietly  settled,  and  that  he  had  no  leisure  for  extraneous  negotiations.  Consequently,  he  last 
autumn  sent,  through  the  superintendent  of  the  Dutch  shipping,  to  make  this  known  to  you, 
for  you  to  communicate  it  to  the  United  States. 

Among  those  points  which  you  now  propose  for  adoption,  the  two  items  of  extending  succor 
and  protection  to  the  distressed  and  wrecked  vessels  on  our  coast,  and  of  furnishing  coal  to 
passing  ships  and  supplying  provisions  and  other  necessaries  to  those  who  may  be  in  need  of 
them,  are  founded  in  reason,  and  ought  to  be  granted  without  hesitation.  But  as  to  opening  a 
trade,  such  as  is  now  carried  on  with  China  by  your  country,  we  certainly  cannot  yet  bring  it 
about.  The  feelings  and  manners  of  our  people  are  very  unlike  those  of  outer  nations ;  and  it 
will  be  exceedingly  difficult,  even  if  you  wish  it,  to  immediately  change  the  old  regulations  for 
those  of  other  countries.  Moreover,  the  Chinese  have  long  had  intercourse  with  western 
nations,  while  we  have  had  dealings  at  Nagasaki  with  only  the  people  of  Holland  and  China. 
Beside  them,  it  mattered  not  for  us  to  trade  with  those  of  any  other  land ;  and  this  has  made 
our  exchange  of  commodities  very  small. 

The  ships  of  your  country  must,  therefore,  begin  your  trade  at  Nagasaki  during  the  first 
moon  of  our  next  year,  where  they  can  procure  fuel,  water,  coal,  and  other  things ;  but  as  our 
ideas  of  things,  and  what  we  each  like,  are  still  very  dissimilar,  as  are  also  our  notions  of  the 
prices  or  worth  of  things,  this  makes  it  indispensable  that  we  both  first  make  a  mutual  trial  and 
examination,  and  then,  after  five  years,  we  can  open  another  port  for  trade,  which  will  be 
convenient  for  your  ships  when  passing. 

The  points  of  the  treaty  you  have  now  presented  for  our  deliberation,  and  this  now  given  to 
you  can  be  retained  by  each  as  evidence  of  our  separate  views. 

Kayei,  ^tk  year,  2d  moon,  l*llh  day.  (March  15,  1854.) 

HAYASHI. 

IDO. 

IZ.VAVA. 

UDONO. 
46  J 


362  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

The  next  day,  (ilarcli  17th,)  the  Commodore,  accompanied  by  his  interpreters,  secretary,  and 
two  or  three  of  his  officers,  met  the  commissioners  at  the  treaty  liouse,  and  after  some  preliminary 
compliments  iu  regard  to  the  presents,  he  was  conducted  as  before  from  the  hall  of  reception  to 
the  inner  room  of  conference.  The  Commodore,  on  the  present  occasion,  had  dispensed  with  the 
military  display,  and  much  of  the  ceremony  of  the  former  visit,  (which,  as  we  have  intimated 
in  a  previous  chapter,  was  merely  for  effect,)  as  had  the  Japanese  commissioners,  although  the 
negotiations  were  carried  on  with  the  usual  formalities. 

Hayashi,  the  chief  dignitary,  opened  the  day's  business  by  asking  whether  the  Commodore 
was  satisfied  with  the  Japanese  propositions  for  a  treaty,  which  had  been  sent  on  the  previous 
day,  alluding  to  those  embodied  in  the  note  printed  above.  The  Commodore  having  replied 
that  their  communication  was  not  accomjjanied  with  a  Dutch  translation,  the  Japanese  presented 
one  immediately,  and  the  discussion  began.  The  various  propositions  of  the  Japanese,  and  the  ^ 
answers  have  been  thus  formularised : 

PROPOSITIONS  OF  JAPANESE  COMMISSIONERS,  WITH  REPLIES  OF  COMMODORE  PERRY. 

First  Japanese  proposition. 

From  the  next  first  month,  wood,  water,  provisions,  coal,  and  other  things,  the  productions 
of  this  country,  that  American  ships  may  need,  can  be  had  at  Nagasaki ;  and  after  five  years 
from  this,  a  port  in  another  principality  shall  be  opened  for  ships  to  go  to. 

Note. — Those  articles  to  be  charged  at  the  same  prices  that  are  charged  to  the  Dutch  and 
Chinese,  and  to  be  paid  for  in  gold  and  silver  coin. 

Commodore  Perry's  reply. 

Agreed  to ;  but  one  or  more  ports  must  be  substituted  for  Nagasaki,  as  that  is  out  of  the 
route  of  American  commerce ;  and  the  time  for  the  opening  of  the  ports  to  be  agreed  upon 
must  be  immediate,  or  within  a  space  of  sixty  days.  The  manner  of  paying  for  articles  received 
shall  be  arranged  by  treaty. 

Second  Japanese  proposition. 

Upon  whatever  part  of  the  coast  people  may  be  shipwrecked,  those  people  and  their  property 
shall  be  sent  to  Nagasaki  by  sea. 

Note. — When,  after  five  years  shall  have  expired,  and  another  harbor  shall  be  opened,  those 
shipwrecked  men  will  be  sent  either  there  or  to  Nagasaki,  as  may  be  most  convenient. 

Commodore  Perry's  reply. 
Agreed  to,  excepting  as  to  the  port  to  which  the  shipwrecked  men  are  to  be  carried. 

Third  Japanese  proposition. 
It  being  impossible  for  us  to  ascertain  who  are  pirates  and  who  are  not,  such  men  shall  not 
be  allowed  to  walk  about  wherever  they  please. 

Commodore  Perry's  reply. 

Shipwrecked  men  and  others  who  may  resort  to  the  porta  of  Japan  are  not  be  confined,  and 
shall  enjoy  all  the  freedom  granted  to  Japanese,  and  be  subject  to  no  further  restraints.  They 
shall,  however,  be  held  amenable  to  just  laws,  or  such  as  may  be  agreed  upon  by  treaty. 


FTRTHER     NEGOTIATIONS.  363 

It  is  altogether  inconsistent  with  justice,  that  persons  thrown  by  the  providence  of  God  upon 
the  shores  of  a  friendly  nation  should  be  looked  upon  and  treated  as  pirates,  before  any  proof 
shall  be  given  of  their  being  so  ;  and  the  contiiuiance  of  the  treatment  which  has  hitherto  been 
visited  upon  strangers  will  no  longer  be  tolerated  by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  so 
far  as  Americans  are  concerned. 

Fourth  Japanese  proposition 
At  Nagasaki  they  shall  have  no  intercourse  with  the  Dutch  and  Chinese. 

Commodore  Perry's  reply. 

The  Americans  will  never  submit  to  the  restrictions  which  have  been  imposed  upon  the 
Dutch  and  Chinese,  and  any  further  allusion  to  such  restraints  will  be  considered  offensive. 

Ft/th  Japanese  proposition. 

After  the  other  port  is  opened,  if  there  be  any  other  sort  of  articles  wanted,  or  business  which 
requires  to  be  arranged,  there  shall  be  careful  deliberation  between  the  parties  in  order  to  settle 
them. 

Commodore  Perry's  reply. 
Agreed  to,  so  far  as  it  applies  to  ports  other  than  Nagasaki. 

Sixth  Japanese  proposition. 
Lew  Chew  is  a  very  distant  country,  and  the  opening  of  its  harbor  cannot  be  discussed  hj  us. 

Commodore  Perry's  reply. 

As  there  can  be  no  good  reason  why  the  Americans  should  not  communicate  freely  with  Lew 
Chew,  this  point  is  insisted  on. 

Seventh  Japanese  proposition. 

Matsmai  is  also  a  very  distant  country,  and  belongs  to  its  prince  ;  this  cannot  be  settled  now, 
but  a  definite  answer  on  this  subject  shall  be  given  when  the  ships  are  expected  next  spring. 

Commodore  Perry's  reply. 

The  same  with  respect  to  the  port  of  Matsmai,  for  our  whaling-ships,  steamers,  and  other 
vessels. 

These  propositions  and  replies  were  consecutively  discussed,  the  commissioners  interposing 
with  great  pertinacity  all  possible  difficulties,  and  contending  that  the  laws  of  the  Empire 
were  of  such  a  character  as  positively  forbade  the  concessions  demanded.  They  insisted  that 
Nagasaki  was  the  place  set  apart  for  strangers ;  they  stated  that  the  inhabitants  and  authorities 
of  that  city  had  been  trained  to  enforce  the  laws  with  respect  to  foreigners,  and  declared  that 


364  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

if  the  Americans  wore  to  have  another  port  assigned  to  them,  five  years  would  he  required  to 
make  simihir  preparations.  The  Commodore  replied  that  the  fact  of  Nagasaki  having  been 
especially  appropriated  to  foreigners  was  one  of  the  grounds  of  his  objections  to  it ;  that  its 
inhabitants  and  authorities,  having  been  so  long  accustomed  to  the  servility  of  the  Dutch,  would 
doubtless  exact  more  from  the  Americans  than  they  would  he  inclined  to  submit  to,  and  serious 
consequences  might  follow.  Moreover,  the  Commodore  declared  that  he  desired  it  to  be  well 
understood  that  his  countrymen  visiting  Japan  must  be  free  from  all  those  oppressive  laws 
which  have  been  hitherto  imposed  upon  strangers.  In  a  word,  he  declared  emj^hatically  that 
he  would  not  think  of  accepting  Nagasaki  as  one  of  the  ports. 

The  Commodore  then  informed  the  commissioners  that  he  should  expect,  in  the  course  of  time, 
five  ports  to  be  opened  to  the  American  flag.  He  would,  however,  he  said,  be  content  for  the 
present  with  three :  one  on  the  island  of  Nippon,  say  either  Uraga  or  Kagosima ;  another  in 
Yesso,  suggesting  Matsmai,  and  a  third  in  Lew  Chew,  that  of  Napha.  In  regard  to  the 
remaining  two  he  was  willing  to  defer  all  discussion  to  .some  future  time. 

After  many  evasions,  and  their  usual  protestations  of  legal  difficulties,  they  at  last  answered 
that,  as  the  Commodore  positively  refused  to  accept  Nagasaki,  and  as  they  themselves  objected 
to  Uraga,  that  Simoda  accordingly  was  formally  proposed.  In  regard  to  Lew  Chew,  the 
commissioners  declared  that,  as  it  was  a  distant  dependency,  over  which  the  Emperor  of  Japan 
had  but  limited  control,  they  could  entertain  no  proposition.  And  as  for  Matsmai,  that  also 
stood  in  similar  relations  to  the  Japanese  government. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  objections,  the  Commodore  still  persisted  in  his  demands,  as  he 
had  always  to  be  on  his  guard  against  the  deceitful  diplomacy  of  the  people  with  whom  he  was 
negotiating.  Finding  that  the  Commodore  was  resolute,  and  that  all  their  cunning  devices  to 
bend  him  from  his  purpose  were  of  no  avail,  the  commissioners  proposed  to  consider  the  matter, 
and  retired  to  another  apartment  for  private  consultation.  After  an  absence  of  an  hour  they 
returned  and  reported  as  the  result  of  their  deliberations  that  a  longer  time  would  be  required 
before  their  decision  could  be  given  in  regard  to  tlie  opening  of  Matsmai.  They  remarked,  in 
addition,  that  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  Emperor  to  grant  the  use  of  this  port  without 
consulting  the  prince  under  whose  hereditary  right  it  was  governed,  and  that  to  do  this  would 
require  a  year,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  they  would  he  prepared  to  give  a  reply.  The 
Commodore  then  told  them  that  he  could  not  leave  Japan  without  an  answer  of  some  kind,  and 
that  if  tlie  prince  to  whom  they  referred  was  an  independent  sovereign,  he  would  go  himself  to 
Matsmai  and  negotiate  with  him. 

This  point  was  finally  settled  for  the  time  by  the  Japanese  saying  that  they  would  give  a 
definite  answer  on  Thursday,  the  twenty-third  of  March.  In  regard  to  Simoda,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  Commodore  should  disjiatch  one  or  more  vessels  to  that  port,  and  the  commissioners  a 
Japanese  officer  of  rank  to  meet  tliem,  in  order  that  the  harbor  might  be  examined,  and  its 
fitness  for  the  required  purposes  determined,  it  having  been  clearly  understood  that  if  it  did  not 
answer  the  expectations  of  the  Americans  in  all  respects,  another  place,  somewhere  in  the 
southern  part  of  Nippon,  would  be  insisted  on.  The  Vandalia  and  Southampton  were  accord- 
ingly dispatched,  on  the  twentieth  of  March,  to  examine  the  harbor  of  Simoda. 

The  day  after  the  conference  on  shore,  Moryama  Yenoske,  the  chief  interpreter,  accompanied 
by  two  Japanese  officials,  came  on  Ijoaid  tlic  Powhatan  and  submitted  a  paper,  in  the  Dutch 
language,  containing  a  report  by  the  Japanese  themselves  of  the  propositions  made  by  the 


ACCURACY     OF     JAPANESE     IN     NOTING     DISCUSSIONS,  3G5 

Commodore,  and  it  proved  that  the  commissioners  were  perfectly  cognizant  of  his  views.*  On 
the  occasion  of  this  visit  Yenoske  asked  for  the  Ja])anese  coins  which  had  heen  obtained  by  the 
chaplain  of  the  Susquehanna  in  the  course  of  his  wanderings  on  shore,  and  they  were  delivered 
to  him.  On  the  interpreter  and  his  companions  taking  leave,  presents  were  given  to  them,  as 
they  had  been  also  to  the  commissioners  after  the  last  interview  at  the  treaty  house.  These 
gifts  consisted  of  Colt's  pistols,  and  various  articles  of  American  manufacture  of  no  great  value. 

On  one  of  these  visits,  which  were  regularly  kept  up  almost  without  the  intermission  of  a 
single  day,  the  Japanese  officials  wore  asked  what  had  been  the  result  of  the  expedition  of  the 
Kussians  to  Nagasaki?  They  replied  that  no  treaty  of  any  kind  whatever  had  been  made  with 
them ;  but  they  had  been  told  that  the  Emperor  had  so  many  affairs  to  dispose  of  that  their 
propositions  could  not  be  entertained  at  that  time;  although,  perhaps,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  circumstances  might  be  more  favorable  for  negotiation.  This  they  declared  was  the 
constant  answer  to  their  repeated  demands.  The  Russians  had  been,  however,  supplied  with 
wood,  water,  and  provisions.  One  of  the  chief  objects  of  their  visit,  said  the  Japanese,  was  to 
define  with  precision  the  frontier  of  Yesso. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  March  the  usual  deputation  visited  the  Powhatan,  bearing  with  them 
the  final  answer  of  the  commissioners  in  regard  to  the  opening  of  the  port  of  Matsmai.  The 
document  presented  was  written  in  the  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  Dutch  languages ;  of  the  latter 
of  which  the  following  is  a  translation : 

"Ships  of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  in  want  of  provisions,  wood,  and  water,  shall 
be  supplied  in  the  harbor  of  'Hakodadi,'  as  has  been  desired.  Some  time  will  be  required  to 
make  preparations,  inasmuch  as  this  harbor  is  very  distant ;  consequently  a  commencement  can 
be  made  the  7th  month  of  next  year,  (the  17th  September,  1855.)  Kaei  Sitzinen  Nigoats. 
(March  23,  1854.) 

' '  Seals  attached  by  order  of  the  high  gentlemen. 

"MORYAMA  YENOSKE." 


*  This  Japanese  report  is  curious  as  an  evidence  of  the  precision  with  which  the  commissioners  conducted  the  negotiations, 
and  of  the  exactitude  with  which  their  reporter,  wlio  was  constantly  present,  noted  the  proceedings  of  the  conference  : 

Japanese  slatemenl  of  points  agreed  upon  in  the  interview  of  Commodore  Perry  toilh  the  Japanese  commissioners,  March  17,  1854. 

1st.  The  citizens  of  the  United  States  will  not  suhmit  to  degradations  like  those  imposed  upon  the  Dutch  and  Chinese,  in 
their  confinement  at  Nagasaki  ;  that  place  is  not  convenient  for  ships  to  resort  to,  and  docs  not  answer  the  purpose. 

2d.  Lew  Chew  is  a  very  distant  country,  and  a  definite  answer  cannot  be  given. 

3d.  Matsmai  is  a  very  distant  place,  and  belongs  to  a  prince.  This  point  cannot  be  settled  now  ;  some  time  will  be  required 
for  negotiation,  until  the  first  month  of  our  next  year  ;  because  the  concurrence  of  the  central  government  and  of  the  prince  of 
that  country  are  both  necessary  to  effect  a  result ;  a  negotiation  of  the  admiral  with  that  prince,  therefore,  would  be  to  no 
purpose. 

It  was  stated  that  an  answer  had  better  be  given  at  once.  There  was  time  enough  to  have  that  harbor  opened  by  the  above- 
mentioned  time  ;  that  it  was  not  probable  that  in  the  first  year  that  harbor  would  be  resorted  to  by  many  ships,  because  some 
time  would  be  required  to  communicate  this  decision  lo  the  government  and  to  have  it  generally  known. 

In  consideration  thereof,  it  was  agreed  that  a  final  answer  should  be  given  on  the  33d  of  iVIarch,  (the  3Gth  of  the  Japanese 
month.) 

It  being  mentioned  that,  besides  Lew  Chew  and  Matsmai,  more  harbors  in  Nippon  would  bo  required,  it  was  aaggeated  that 
the  harbor  of  Simoda  could  be  opened  for  the  ships  of  the  United  States,  and  agreed  that  two  ships  of  the  squadron  would  sail 
on  the  ]9th  of  March  to  make  a  survey  of  that  harbor  ;  and,  further,  that  some  Japanese  officers,  to  go  by  land,  would  arrive 
at  that  place  on  the  22d  instant,  and  that  the  captains  of  those  ships  would  await  the  arrival  of  those  officers  before  proceeding 
to  survey,  permit  any  one  to  land,  &c. 

That  shipwrecked  men  should  meet  with  kind  treatment,  and  be  free  .i«  in  other  countrie*. 

Agreement  made  upon  due  consideration. 


366 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN, 


The  CommcKlore  assented  to  the  proposition  of  the  commissioners  assigning  the  port  of 
Hakodadi,  which  was  near  the  city  of  Matsmai,  and  was  reported  to  have  a  better  harbor,  on 
the  condition  that,  on  examination,  it  proved  equal  to  the  favorable  description  given  of  it. 
He,  however,  expressed  his  desire  that  it  should  be  opened  at  an  earlier  date  than  that  proposed. 

This  concession  of  Hakodadi  betokened  a  favorable  prospect  for  a  successful  issue  to  the  great 
purpose  of  the  expedition ;  and  the  Commodore  now  looked  forward  with  sanguine  expectations 
to  an  early  consummation  of  his  labors  in  the  formation  of  a  satisfactory  treaty. 


Japanese  grave-yard  at  Yoku-hama. — Grave  of  the  Slarlne  on  Ihc  right. 


CORDIALITY     BETWEEN     JAPANESE     AND      AMERICANS. 


367 


CHAPTER  XX. 

CORDIALITY    BETWEEN-    JAPANESE    AKD    AMERICAN'S. PRESEXTS    FROM    THE    JAPANESE. COIN'S. SINGULAR    CUSTOM    OF    IN-CLCDINO 

RICE,     CHARCOAL,     AND      DOGS,      IN      A      ROYAL      JAPANESE      PRESENT. JAPA.VESE      WRESTLERS. THEIR      IM.ME.V5E      SIZE      ANT) 

STRENGTH. EXHIBITION    IN     THE     RING. CONTRAST     IN     THE    EXHIBITIO.V     OF    THE    TELEGRAPH     AND     LOCOMOTIVE. PARADE 

OF    THE    MARINES. YENOSKE    VISITS    THE    FLAG-SHIP,    AND    SEEKS    TO    DRAW    THE    COMMODORE    OCT. FAILURE. ENTERTAIN. 

MENT    OF    CHINESE     COM.MISSIONERS     ON     BOARD     THE     FLAG-SHIP. GREAT     CORDIALITY. PERFORMANCE     ON     SHIP    BOARD    OF 

"ETHIOPIAN    minstrels"    TO    THE    GREAT    AMUSEMENT    OF     THE    JAPANESE. .NEGOTIATIONS    CONTINUED. JAPA.VESE    OBJECT 

TO     THE     IM.MEDIATE     OPE.NING     OF    THE     PORTS. FINALLY     CONCEDE     THE     POINT     TO    A     CERTAIN     EXTENT. ABSOLUTE     AND 

PERSISTENT     REFUSAL     TO     ALLOW     AMERICANS     PERMANENTLY     TO     ABIDE     IN     JAPAN. RELUCTANT     CONSENT,     AFTER     .MUCH 

DISCUSSION,    TO     ALLOW    ONE    CONSUL     TO    RESIDE    AT     SIMODA. TREATY    FINALLY     AGREED     ON     AND     SIGNED. PRESENTS    BY 

COMMODORE    TO     THE    COM.MISSIONERS,    THAT    TO     THE    CHIEF     BEING     THE    A.MERICAN     FLAG. E.NTERTAINMENT    OF    THE    COM- 
MODORE   ANT)    HIS    OFFICERS    BY    THE     COM.MISSIONERS. PECULIARITIES    OF     THE    MISSION    TO    JAPAN. OBSTACLES    TO    MAKING 

ANY    TREATY    AT    ALL. DISPOSITION    OF    THE    JAPANESE     SHOWN    IN     THE    CONFERENCES. PARTICULAR    REFUSAL    TO    MAKE    A 

TREATY     ALLOWI.NG     AMERICAN     FAMILIES      OR     FE.MALES     TO      LIVE     IN     JAPAN. ANALYSIS      OF      THE     TREATY- COMMODORE 

CAREFUL    TO     SECURE     FOR    THE     UNITED    STATES    ALL     PRIVILEGES     THAT     MIGHT    THEREAFTER    B£    GRANTED    BY    TREATY    TO 
OTHER    NATIONS. CASE    OF    THE    AMERICAN    SCHOONER    FOOTE. 


FTER  the  concessions  made  by  the  Japanese,  related  in 
the  last  chapter,  the  greatest  good  feeling  prevailed 
on  both  sides,  and  there  seemed  every  prospect  of 
establishing  those  national  relations  which  had  been 
the  purpose  of  Commodore  Perry's  mission.  In  accord- 
ance with  the  harmony  and  friendship  which  existed, 
there  was  an  interchange  of  those  courtesies  by  which 
mutual  good  feeling  seeks  an  outward  expression. 
The  Japanese  had  acknowledged,  with  courtly  thanks, 
the  presents  which  had  been  bestowed  on  behalf  of 
the  government,  and   now,   on   the  24th  of  Maich, 

invited  the  Commodore  to  receive  the  various  gifts 

which  had  been  ordered  by  the  Emperor  in  return,  as  a  public  recognition  of  the  courtesy  of  the 
United  States. 

The  Commodore,  accordingly,  landed  at  Yoku-hama,  with  a  suite  of  officers  and  his  interpreters, 
and  was  received  at  the  treaty  house,  with  the  usual  ceremonies,  by  the  high  commissioners. 
The  large  reception  room  was  crowded  with  the  various  presents.  The  red-covered  settees, 
numerous  tables  and  stands,  and  even  the  floors,  were  heaped  with  the  different  articles.  The 
objects  were  of  Japanese  manufacture,  and  consisted  of  specimens  of  rich  brocades  and  silks, 
of  their  famous  lacquered  ware,  such  as  choio-cJwio  boxes,  tables,  trays,  and  goblets,  all  skilfully 
wrought  and  finished  with  an  exquisite  polish  ;  of  porcelain  cups  of  wonderful  lightness  and 
transparency,  adorned  with  figures  and  flowers  in  gold  and  variegated  colors,  and  exhibiting  a 
workmanship  which  surpassed  even  that  of  the  ware  for  which  the  Clnnese  are  remarkable. 
Fans,  pipe-cases,  and  articles  of  apjjarel  in  ordinary  use,  of  no  great  value,  but  of  exceeding 
interest,  were  scattered  in  among  the  more  luxurious  and  costly  objects. 


368 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


With  the  usual  order  and  neatness  which  seera  almost  instinctive  with  the  Japanese,  the 
various  jircsents  had  been  arranged  in  lots,  and  classified  in  accordance  with  the  rank  of  those 
for  whom  they  were  respectively  intended.  The  commissioners  took  their  position  at  the  further 
end  of  the  room,  and  when  the  Commodore  and  his  suite  entered,  the  ordinary  compliments 
having  heen  interchanged,  the  Prince  Hayashi  read  aloud,  in  Japanese,  the  list  of  presents,  and 
the  names  of  the  persons  to  whom  they  were  to  be  given.  This  was  then  translated  by  Yenoske 
into  Dutch,  and  by  Mr.  Portman  into  English.  This  ceremony  being  over,  the  Commodore 
was  invited  by  the  commissioners  into  the  inner  room,  where  he  was  presented  with  two 
complete  sets  of  Japanese  coins,  three  matchlocks,  and  two  swords.  These  gifts,  though  of  no 
great  intrinsic  value,  were  very  significant  evidences  of  the  desire  of  the  Japanese  to  express 
their  respect  for  the  representative  of  the  United  States.  The  mere  bestowal  of  the  coins,  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  Japanese  laws,  which  forbid,  absolutely,  all  issue  of  their  money  beyond 
the  Kingdom,  was  an  act  of  marked  favor. 

r9:^ 


Japanese  Match-lock. 

As  the  Commodore  prepared  to  depart,  the  commissioners  said  that  there  was  one  article 
intended  for  the  President  which  had  not  yet  been  exhibited.  They  accordingly  conducted  the 
Commodore  and  his  officers  to  the  beach,  where  one  or  two  hundred  sacks  of  rice  were  pointed 
out,  heaped  up  in  readiness  to  be  sent  on  board  the  ships.  As  that  immense  supply  of 
substantial  food  seemed  to  excite  some  wonder  on  tlie  part  of  the  Americans,  Yenoske,  the 
interpreter,  remarked  that  it  was  always  customary  with  the  Japanese,  when  bestowing  royal 
presents,  to  include  a  certain  quantity  of  rice,  although  he  did  not  say  whether  that  quantity 
always  amounted,  as  on  the  present  occasion,  to  hundreds  of  immense  sacks.* 


•The  Commodore,  upon  subsequent  inquiry,  learned  that  there  are  three  articles  which,  in  Japan,  as  he  understood,  alway* 
form  part  of  an  Imperial  present.     These  are  rice,  dried  fisli,  and  dogs. 


Fish  Present  of  Japan. 
tWlial  is  neon  protruding  at  cillier  end  of  tlio  paper  cover  is  a  spories  of  dried  soa-wcad,  used  an  food.     The  fish 

is  placed  upon  it,  and  covered  by  the  paper] 


JAPANESE      PRESENTS. 


369 


As  illustrative  of  the  usages  of  the  country,  we  subjoin,  in  a  note,  the  list  of  articles  presented 
by  the  Japanese.* 

While  contemplating  these  substantial  evidences  of  Japanese  generosity,  the  attention  of  all 
was  suddenly  riveted  upon  a  body  of  monstrous  fellows,  who  tramped  down  the  beach  like  so 
many  huge  elephants.  They  were  professional  wrestlers,  and  formed  part  of  the  retinue  of  the 
princes,  who  kept  them  for  their  private  amusement  and  for  public  entertainment.  They  were 
some  twenty-five  in  number,  and  were  men  enormously  tall  in  stature,  and  immense  in  weight 
of  flesh.  Their  scant  costume,  which  was  merely  a  colored  cloth  about  the  loins,  adorned  with 
fringes  and  emblazoned  with  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  prince  to  whom  each  belonged, 
revealed  their  gigantic  proportions  in  all  the  bloated  fulness  of  fat  and  breadth  of  muscle.    Their 

Some  also  said  tliat  charcoal  was  always  included.  "Why  these  should  have  been  selected,  or  what  they  particularly 
symbolize,  he  did  not  learn.  The  charcoal  was  not  omitted  in  the  gifts  on  this  occasion,  and  four  small  dogs  of  a  rare  breed 
were  sent  to  the  President,  as  part  of  the  Emperor's  gift.  We  have  observed  also  in  the  public  prints  that  two  were  put  on 
board  of  Admiral  Stirling's  ship  for  her  Majesty  of  England.  The  fact  that  dogs  are  always  part  of  a  royal  Japanese  present 
suggested  to  the  Commodore  the  thought  that  possibly  one  species  of  spaniel  now  in  England  may  be  traced  to  a  Japanese 
origin.  In  1613,  when  Captain  Saris  returned  from  Japan  to  England,  he  carried  to  the  King  a  letter  from  the  Emperor,  and 
presents  in  return  for  those  which  had  been  sent  to  him  by  his  Majesty  of  England.  Dogs  probably  formed  part  of  the  gifts, 
and  thus  may  have  been  introduced  into  the  Kingdom  the  Japanese  breed.  At  any  rate,  there  is  a  species  of  spaniel  in  England 
which  it  is  hard  to  distinguish  from  the  Japanese  dog.  The  species  sent  as  a  present  by  the  Emperor  is  by  no  means  common 
even  in  Japan.  It  is  never  seen  running  about  the  streets,  or  following  its  master  in  his  walks,  and  the  Commodore  under- 
stood that  they  were  costly. 

*  List  of  the  articles  received  from  the  Japanese  government,  March  24,  1854  : 


1st.  For  the  government  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
from  the  Emperor — 

1  gold  lacquered  writing  apparatus. 

1  gold  lacquered  paper  bo.t. 

1  gold  lacquered  book-case. 

1  lacquered  writing  table. 

1  censer  of  bronze,  (cow-shape,)  supporting  silver 

flower  and  stand. 
1  set  waiters. 

1  flower  holder  and  stand. 

2  brasiers. 

10  pieces  fine  red  pongee. 
10  pieces  white  pongee. 
5  pieces  flowered  crape. 
5  pieces  red  dyed  figured  crape. 
2d.  From  Hayashi,  1st  commissioner — 
1  lacquered  writing  apparatus. 
1  lacquered  paper  box. 
1  box  of  paper. 
1  box  flowered  note  paper. 
5  boxes  stamped  note  and  letter  paper. 
4  bo.xes  assorted  sca-shclls,  100  in  each. 
1  box  of  branch  coral  and  feather  in  silver. 
1  lacquered  chow-chow  box. 

1  box,  set  of  three,  lacquered  goblets. 

7  boxes   cups   and   spoons   and   goblet   cut    from 

conch  shells. 
3d.  From  Ido,  2d  commissioner — 

2  boxes  lacquered  waiters,  4  in  all. 
2  boxes,  conlainmg  20  umbrellas. 

1  box  30  coir  brooms. 
4th.  From  Izawa,  3d  commissioner — 
1  piece  red  pongee. 
1  piece  white  pongee. 

8  boxes,  13  dolls. 

1  box  bamboo  woven  articles. 

2  boxes  bamboo  stands. 

47  J 


5th.  From  Udono,  4tli  commissioner — 
3  pieces  striped  crape. 

2  boxes  porcelain  cups. 
1  box,  10  jars  of  soy. 

6th.  From  Matsusaki,  5th  commissioner — 

3  boxes  porcelain  goblets. 
1  bo.x  figured  matting. 

35  bundles  oak  charcoal. 
7th.  From  Abe,  1st  Imperial  councillor — 

14  pieces  striped-figured  sUk,  (taffeta.) 
8th — 12th.  From  each  of  other  5  Imperial  councillors  — 

10  pieces  striped-figured  silk,  (taff"eta.) 
13lh    From  Emperor  to  Commodore  Perry — 
1  lacquered  writing  apparatus. 

1  lacquered  paper  box. 
3  pieces  red  pongee. 

2  pieces  white  pongee. 

2  pieces  flowered  crape. 

3  pieces  figured  dyed  crape. 

I4th.  From  commissioners  to  Capt.  H.  A.  Adams — 
3  pieces  plain  red  pongee. 
2  pieces  dyed  figured  crape. 
20  sets  lacquered  cups  and  covers. 
15th — 17th.  From  commissioners  to  Mr.  Perry,  Mr.  Port- 
man,  and  Mr.  S.  W.  Williams,  each — 
2  pieces  red  pongee. 
2  pieces  dyed  figured  crape. 
10  sets  lacquered  cups  and  covers. 
18th — 22d.  From  commissioners  to  .Mr.  Gay,  Mr.  Danby, 
Mr.  Draper,  Dr   Morrow,  and  Mr.  J.  P.  Williams — 
1  piece  red  dyed  figured  crape. 
10  sets  lacquered  cups  and  covers. 
23d.  From  Emperor  to  the  squadron — 

200  bundles  of  rice,  each  5  Japanese  pecks. 
300  chickens. 


370  EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN. 

proprietors,  the  princes,  seemed  proud  of  them,  and  were  careful  to  show  their  points  to  the 
greatest  advantage  hefore  our  astonished  countrymen.  Some  two  or  three  of  these  huge  monsters 
were  the  most  famous  wrestlers  iu  Japan,  and  ranked  as  the  champion  Tom  Cribs  and  Hyers  Of 
the  land.  Koyanagi,  the  reputed  huUy  of  the  capital,  was  one  of  them,  and  paraded  himself 
with  the  conscious  pride  of  superior  immensity  and  strength.  He  was  especially  brought  to 
the  Commodore,  that  he  might  examine  his  massive  form.  The  commissioners  insisted  that  the 
monstrous  fellow  should  he  minutely  inspected,  that  the  hardness  of  his  well-rounded  muscles 
should  he  felt,  and  that  the  fatness  of  his  cushioned  frame  should  be  tested  by  the  touch.  The 
Commodore  accordingly  attempted  to  grasp  his  immense  arm,  which  he  found  as  solid  as  it  was 
huge,  and  then  passed  his  hand  over  the  monstrous  neck,  which  fell  in  folds  of  massive  flesh, 
like  the  dewlap  of  a  prize  ox.  As  some  surprise  was  naturally  expressed  at  this  wondrous 
exhibition  of  animal  development,  the  monster  liimself  gave  a  grunt  expressive  of  his  flattered 
vanity. 

They  were  all  so  immense  in  flesh  that  they  appeared  to  have  lost  their  distinctive  features, 
and  seemed  to  be  only  twenty-five  masses  of  fat.  Their  eyes  were  barely  visible  through  a  long 
perspective  of  socket,  the  prominence  of  their  noses  was  lost  in  the  puffiness  of  their  bloated 
cheeks,  and  their  heads  were  almost  set  directly  on  their  bodies,  with  merely  folds  of  flesh 
where  the  neck  and  chin  are  usually  found.  Their  great  size,  however,  was  more  owing  to  the 
development  of  muscle  than  to  the  deposition  of  fat,  for,  although  they  were  evidently  well  fed, 
they  were  not  less  well  exercised,  and  capable  of  great  feats  of  strength.  As  a  preliminary 
exhibition  of  the  power  of  these  men,  the  princes  set  them  to  removing  the  sacks  of  rice  to  a 
convenient  place  on  the  shore  for  shipping.  Each  of  the  sacks  weighed  not  less  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds,  and  there  were  only  a  couple  of  the  wrestlers  who  did  not 
carry  each  two  sacks  at  a  time.  They  bore  the  sacks  on  the  right  shoulder,  lifting  the  first 
from  the  ground  and  adjusting  it  without  help,  but  obtaining  aid  for  the  raising  of  the  second. 
One  man  carried  a  sack  suspended  by  his  teeth,  and  another,  taking  one  in  his  arms,  turned 
repeated  somersaults  as  he  held  it,  and  apparently  with  as  much  ease  as  if  his  tons  of  flesh  had 
been  only  so  much  gossamer,  and  his  load  a  feather. 

After  this  preliminary  display,  the  commissioners  proposed  that  the  Commodore  and  his  party 
should  retire  to  the  treaty  house,  where  they  would  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  wrestlers 
exhibit  their  professional  feats.  The  wrestlers  themselves  were  most  carefully  provided  for, 
having  constantly  about  them  a  number  of  attendants,  who  were  always  at  hand  to  supply  them 
with  fans,  which  they  often  required,  and  to  assist  them  in  dressing  and  undressing.  Wiiilo 
at  rest  they  were  ordinarily  clothed  in  richly-adorned  robes  of  the  usual  Japanese  fashiim,  but 
when  exercising  they  were  stripped  naked,  with  the  exception  of  the  cloth  about  the  loins. 
After  their  performance  with  the  sacks  of  rice,  their  servitors  spread  upon  the  huge  frames  of 
the  wrestlers  their  rich  garments  and  led  them  up  to  the  treaty  house. 

A  circular  space  of  some  twelve  feet  in  diameter  had  been  enclosed  within  a  ring,  and  the 
ground  carefully  broken  up  and  smoothed  in  front  of  the  building,  while  in  the  portico,  divans 
covered  with  red  cloth  were  arranged  for  the  Japanese  commissioners,  the  Commodore,  his 
officers  and  their  various  attendants.  The  bauds  from  the  ships  were  also  present,  and  enli- 
vened the  intervals  during  the  performance  with  occasional  lively  strains.  As  soon  as  the 
spectators  had  taken  their  seats,  the  naked  wrestlers  were  brought  out  into  the  ring,  and  the 
whole  number,  being  divided  into  two  opposing  parties,  tramped  heavily  backward  and  forward, 
looking  defiance  at  eacli  other,  but  not  engaging  in  any  contest,  as  their  object  was  merely  to 


EXnin  1X10X1X7  IIERING.  371 

parade  their  points,  to  give  the  beholders,  as  it  were,  an  opportunity  to  form  an  estimate  of 
their  comparative  powers,  and  to  make  up  their  betting-hooks.  They  soon  retired  behind  some 
screens  phiced  for  the  purpose,  where  all,  with  the  exception  of  two,  were  again  clothed  in  full 
dress  and  took  their  position  on  scats  in  front  of  tlie  spectators. 

The  two  who  had  been  reserved  out  of  the  band,  now,  on  the  signal  being  given  by  the 
heralds,  who  were  seated  on  opposite  sides,  presented  themselves.  They  came  in,  one  after  the 
other,  from  behind  the  screen,  and  walked  with  slow  and  deliberate  steps,  as  became  such  huge 
animals,  into  the  centre  of  the  ring.  Then  they  ranged  themselves,  one  against  the  other,  at 
a  distance  of  a  few  yards.  They  crouched  for  a  while,  eyeing  each  other  with  a  wary  look,  as 
if  each  were  watching  for  a  chance  to  catch  his  antagonist  oif  his  guard.  As  the  spectator 
looked  on  these  over-fed  monsters,  whose  animal  natures  had  been  so  carefully  and  successfully 
developed,  and  as  he  watched  them,  glaring  with  brutal  ferocity  at  each  other,  ready  to  exhibit 
the  cruel  instincts  of  a  savage  nature,  it  was  easy  for  him  to  lose  all  sense  of  their  being  human 
creatures,  and  to  persuade  himself  that  he  was  beholding  a  couple  of  brute  beasts  thirsting  for 
one  another's  blood.  They  were,  in  fact,  like  a  pair  of  fierce  bulls,  whose  nature  they  had  not 
only  acquired,  but  even  their  look  and  movements.  As  they  continued  to  eye  each  other  they 
stamped  the  ground  heavily,  pawing  as  it  were  with  impatience,  and  then  stooping  their  huge 
bodies,  they  grasped  handfuls  of  dirt  and  flung  it  with  an  angry  toss  over  their  backs,  or  rubbed 
it  impatiently  between  their  giant  palms,  or  under  their  stout  shoulders.  They  now  crouched 
low,  still  keeping  their  eyes  fixed  upon  each  other,  and  watching  every  movement,  until,  in  an 
instant,  they  had  both  simultaneously  heaved  their  massive  forms  in  opposing  force,  body  to 
body,  with  a  shock  that  might  have  stunned  an  ox.  The  equilibrium  of  their  monstrous  frames 
was  hardly  disturbed  by  the  concussion,  the  efiiect  of  which  was  but  barely  visible  in  the  quiver 
of  the  hanging  flesh  of  their  bodies.  As  they  came  together,  they  had  thrown  their  brawny 
arms  around  each  other,  and  were  now  entwined  in  a  desperate  struggle,  each  striving  with  all 
his  enormous  strength  to  throw  his  adversary.  Their  great  muscles  rose  with  the  distinct 
outline  of  the  sculptured  form  of  a  colossal  Hercules,  their  bloated  countenances  swelled  up 
with  gushes  of  blood  which  seemed  ready  to  burst  through  the  skin  of  their  reddened  faces,  and 
their  huge  bodies  palpitated  with  emotion  as  the  struggle  continued.  At  last,  one  of  the 
antagonists  fell,  with  his  immense  weight,  heavily  upon  the  ground,  and  being  declared 
vanquished,  was  assisted  to  his  feet  and  conducted  from  the  ring. 

The  scene  was  now  somewhat  varied  by  a  change  in  the  kind  of  contestbetween  two  succeeding 
wrestlers.  The  heralds,  as  before,  summoned  the  antagonists,  and  one,  having  taken  his  place 
in  the  ring,  assumed  an  attitude  of  defence  with  one  leg  in  advance,  as  if  to  steady  himself, 
and  his  bent  body,  with  his  head  lowered,  placed  in  position,  as  if  to  receive  an  attack. 
Immediately  after,  in  rushed  the  other,  bellowing  loudly  like  a  bull,  and,  making  at  once  for 
the  man  in  the  ring,  dashed,  with  his  head  lowered  and  thrust  forward,  against  the  head  of  his 
opponent,  who  bore  the  shock  with  the  steadiness  of  a  rock,  although  the  blood  streamed  down 
his  face  from  his  bruised  forehead,  which  had  been  struck  in  the  encounter.  This  manoeuvre 
was  repeated  again  and  again,  the  same  one  acting  always  as  the  opposing,  and  the  other  as  the 
resisting,  force ;  and  thus  they  kept  up  their  brutal  contest  until  their  foreheads  were  besmeared 
with  blood,  and  the  flesh  on  their  chests  rose  in  great  swollen  tumors,  from  the  repeated  blows. 
This  disgusting  exhibition  did  not  terminate  until  the  whole  twenty-five  had,  successively,  in 
pairs,  displayed  their  immense  powers  and  savage  qualities. 

From  the  brutal  performance  of  these  wrestlers,  the  Americans  turned  with  pride  to  the 


372  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

exhibition — to  which  the  Japanese  commissioners  were  now  in  their  turn  invited — of  the 
telegraph  and  the  railroad.  It  was  a  happy  contrast,  which  a  higher  civilization  presented,  to 
the  dis^ustin"-  display  on  tlie  part  of  the  Japanese  otHcials.  In  place  of  a  show  of  brute  animal 
force,  there  was  a  triumphant  revelation,  to  a  partially  enlightened  people^  of  the  success  of  science 
and  enterprise.  The  Japanese  took  great  delight  in  again  seeing  the  rapid  movement  of  the 
Lilliputian  locomotive ;  and  one  of  the  scribes  of  the  commissioners  took  his  seat  upon  the  car, 
while  the  engineer  stood  upon  the  tender,  feeding  the  furnace  with  one  hand,  and  directing  the 
diminutive  engine  with  the  other.  Crowds  of  the  Japanese  gathered  around,  and  looked  on 
the  repeated  circlings  of  the  train  with  unabated  pleasure  and  surprise,  unable  to  repress  a 
shovit  of  delight  at  each  blast  of  the  steam  whistle.  The  telegraph,  with  its  wonders,  though 
before  witnessed,  still  created  renewed  interest,  and  all  the  beholders  were  unceasing  in  their 
expressions  of  curiosity  and  astonishment.  The  agricultural  instruments  having  been  explained 
to  the  commissioners  by  Dr.  Morrow,  a  formal  delivery  of  the  telegraph,  the  railway,  and  other 
articles,  which  made  up  the  list  of  American  presents,  ensued.  The  Prince  of  Mamasaki  had 
been  delegated  by  his  coadjutors  ceremoniously  to  accept,  and  Captain  Adams  appointed  by  the 
Commodore  to  deliver,  the  gifts  ;  and  each  performed  his  separate  functions  by  an  interchange 
of  suitable  compliments  and  some  half  dozen  stately  bows.  After  this,  a  detachment  of 
marines  from  the  squadron  were  put  through  their  various  evolutions,  drills,  &c.,  while  the 
bands  furnished  martial  music.  The  Japanese  commissioners  seemed  to  take  a  very  great 
interest  In  this  military  display,  and  expressed  themselves  much  gratified  at  the  soldierly  air 
and  excellent  discipline  of  the  men.  This  closed  the  performances  of  the  day;  and,  the 
commissioners  having  accepted  an  invitation  from  the  Commodore  to  dine  with  him  on  the 
twenty-seventh,  the  Japanese  retired  to  the  treaty-house,  and  the  Americans  returned  to  the 
ships.  The  Japanese  jirc^ents  were  all  boxed  up  and  sent,  together  with  the  rice  and  charcoal, 
on  board  the  storeship  Supply,  when,  after  being  duly  addressed  to  the  proper  department  of 
the  government,  they  were  stored  away  for  future  shipment. 

On  the  next  day,  (March  25,)  Yenoske,  accompanied  by  Kenzeiro,  his  fellow  interpreter,  came 
on  board  the  Powhatan  to  acknowledge,  formally,  in  behalf  of  the  commissioners,  their 
gratitude  for  the  exhibition  of  the  marines,  the  locomotive,  and  the  telegraph,  with  all  which 
they  declared  themselves  highly  delighted.  Yenoske  and  his  coadjutor  were  invited  to  seat 
themselves  in  the  cabin  of  the  Commodore,  and,  after  some  expressions  of  courtesy,  which  the 
Japanese  officials  were  careful  never  to  intermit,  j)roposed  to  talk  over  some  points  in  connexion 
with  the  projected  treaty.  The  Commodore  said  he  had  no  objections  to  the  discussion  of  the 
matters  informally;  but  he  protested  against  considering  the  interpreters  as  the  official 
representatives  of  the  commissioners,  with  the  latter  of  whom  only,  he  declared,  could  he  treat 
authoritatively. 

Yenoske  then  commenced  by  stating  that  Hakodadi,  which  the  commissioners  had  desired 
not  to  have  opened  before  September,  1855,  might  be  ready  for  American  shij^s  as  early  as 
March  of  that  year,  and  added  that  Simoda,  also,  would  be  prepared  by  that  date.  The  Com- 
modore replied  that,  in  regard  to  Hakodadi,  although  it  was  his  intention  to  visit  it  during  the 
Eummer,  he  was  willing  to  accept  it  without  a  preliminary  survey ;  but,  as  for  Simoda,  it  must 
first  be  examined  belorc  it  cotild  be  adopted.  Tlie  Jajianese  now  expressed  the  hof)e  that  the 
Commodore  would  not  go  to  Hakodadi  for  a  hundred  days  yet,  as  it  was  necessary  to  send  to 
Nagasaki  for  an  interpreter,  who  would  be  obliged  to  go  to  Yedo  previous  to  going  to  Hakodadi. 
The  Commodore  stated  that  he  could  not  wait  so  long  a  time,  but  would  be  obliged  to  pay  his 


COMMODORE  S   CONVERSATION   WITH   THE   INTERPRETERS.   373 

contemplated  visit  in  about  a  month;  and,  as  for  an  interpreter,  he  would  take  with   him 
Namoura,  one  of  those  who  was  occasionally  present  in  behalf  of  the  commissioners. 


Namoura,  Th\rd  Interpreter,  Yoku-hama. 

The  Japanese  rejilied  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  retain  Namoura,  and,  beside,  that  the 
dialect  at  Hakodadi  was  so  different  another  interpreter  would  be  required.  The  Commodore 
finally  declared  that,  as  for  Simoda,  he  would  consider  that  port  opened,  in  accordance  with  his 
express  understanding  with  the  commissioners,  as  soon  as  he  should  receive  a  favorable  report  of 
it  from  Captain  Pope,  who  had  been  dispatched  to  make  the  proper  investigation. 

He  also  stated  that,  though  he  wished  all  the  ports  to  be  opened  at  once,  none  of  them  could 
be  practically  available  for  more  than  a  year,  since  the  necessary  preliminary  action  of  his 
government  would  require  at  least  that  time  before  ratifying  the  agreement  with  the  Japanese. 
The  Commodore  then  cut  the  discussion  short  by  saying  that  he  desired  to  refer  these  points  in 
detail  to  the  commissioners,  which  he  would  do,  in  writing,  at  the  next  interview. 

Yenoske,  who  had  evidently  been  delegated  by  tlio  commissioners  to  test  the  firmness  of  the 


374  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

Commodore  in  regard  to  various  points  in  the  proposed  treaty  whicb  they  were  loth  to  concede, 
now  alluded  to  the  establishment  of  an  American  consular  agent.  He  said  tliat  they  would 
not  be  required,  as  the  governors  of  the  towus  could  carry  on  all  the  business  of  supplying  the 
ships  with  coals,  provisions,  and  other  necessaries,  without  the  intervention  of  any  consul,  and 
that,  consequently,  the  commissioners  proposed  a  delay  of  four  or  five  years  before  consenting  to 
the  appointment  of  any  such  officer  among  them,  that  they  might,  in  the  meantime,  discover 
how  the  new  intercourse  with  the  Americans  worked.  In  reply,  the  Commodore  explained  to 
Tenoske  the  nature  and  duties  of  the  consular  office,  and  urged  the  residence  of  such  an  officer 
as  a  consul  upon  the  ground  of  its  advantage  to  the  Japanese  themselves  ;  and  finally  declared 
that  this  feature  must  be  in  the  treaty,  though  he  was  willing  there  should  be  but  one  consul 
who  should  reside  at  Simoda. 

Tlie  Commodore  now  informed  the  interpreters  that  he  wished  a  junk,  loaded  with  a  thousand 
peculs  of  coal,  to  be  in  readiness  for  him  at  Simoda,  after  his  return  from  Hakodadi.  He  also 
desired  various  other  supplies  at  the  same  time  and  place,  the  whole  to  be  accompanied  with  a 
list  of  prices,  as  he  insisted  upon  paying  for  everything.  He  also  insisted  that  the  Americans 
should  be  permitted  to  purchase  any  articles  of  Jajjanese  manufacture  they  might  desire,  and 
should  have  the  liberty  of  going  on  shore  and  rambling  about  the  country,  under  such  proper 
restrictions  as  the  Japanese  authorities  might  be  inclined  to  impose.  The  interpreters  seemed 
to  admit  the  propriety  of  these  concessions  on  their  part,  but  were  evidently  apprehensive  of  the 
consequences,  remarking  that  their  government  had  been  obliged  to  make  severe  regulations  in 
regard  to  the  English  and  Portuguese,  and  animadverting  with  anger  upon  the  conduct  of 
Captain  Pellew  at  Nagasaki  some  years  before. 

Monday,  March  27,  was  the  day  appointed  for  the  entertainment  to  which  the  Commodore 
had  invited  the  commissioners,  and  their  attendants.  Accordingly,  great  arrangements  were 
made  in  the  flag-ship  preparatory  to  the  occasion.  The  quarter-deck  was  adornel  with  a  great 
variety  of  flags,  and  all  parts  of  the  steamer  put  in  perfect  order,  while  the  officers,  marines, 
and  men  dressed  themselves  in  their  uniforms  and  prepared  to  do  honor  in  every  respect  to  their 
expected  visitors. 

The  Commodore  was  determined  to  give  the  Japanese  a  favorable  impression  of  American 
hospitality,  and  had  accordingly  spared  no  pains  in  providing  must  bountifully  for  the  large 
party  expected,  which  was  understood  to  comprise  no  less  than  seventy,  exclusive  of  the 
boatmen  and  menials.  As  it  was  known  that  the  strictness  of  Japanese  etiquette  would  not 
allow  the  high  commissioners  to  sit  at  the  same  table  with  their  subordinates,  the  Commodore 
ordered  two  banquets,  one  to  be  spread  in  his  cabin  for  the  chief  dignitaries,  and  another  on 
the  quarter-deck.  The  Commodore  had  long  before  made  up  his  mind  to  give  this  entertain- 
ment as  soon  as  the  negotiations  with  the  Japanese  took  a  turn  sufficiently  favorable  to  justify 
some  degree  of  convivial  rejoicing.  He  had  accordingly  I'eserved  for  it  live  bullocks,  some 
sheep,  and  a  supply  of  game  and  poultry.  The  ordinary  cabin  stores  of  preserved  meats,  fish, 
vegetables,  fruits,  and  a  choice  supply  of  tlie  best  wines,  furnished  every  requisite  for  the 
preparation  of  a  generous  feast.  These  abundant  materials,  under  the  cunning  hands  of  the 
Commodore's  chef  de  cuisine,  assumed  nearly  every  variety  of  dish  attractive  to  the  eye  and 
appetising  to  the  taste. 

Previous  to  coming  on  board  the  Powhatan,  the  commissioners  visited  the  sloop-of-war 
Macedonian,  being  saluted  as  they  stepped  on  her  deck  by  seventeen  guns  froin  tlie  Mississippi, 
lying  near.     The  great  guns  and  boarders  having  been  exercised  for  their  entertainment,  tlio 


ENTERTAINMENT      ON       BOARD      TUE      FLAG-SHIP.  375 

commissioners,  with  their  numerous  attendants,  left  for  the  Powhatan,  the  Macedonian  firing  a 
salvo  in  their  honor,  as  they  took  their  departure.  On  arriving  on  board  the  flag-ship,  they 
were  first  conducted  through  the  different  dqmrtments  of  the  steamer,  and  examined  with 
minute  interest  the  guns  and  the  machinery.  A  boat  was  lowered,  with  a  howitzer  in  its  bows, 
and  this  was  repeatedly  discharged,  much  to  their  amusement ;  for,  although  not  a  very  warlike 
people,  (at  least  in  their  modern  history,)  the  Japanese  evidently  liad  a  great  fondness  for 
martial  exercise  and  display.  The  engines  were  next  put  in  motion,  and  they  evinced  the  usual 
intelligence  of  the  higher  class  of  Japanese  in  their  inquiries  and  remarks.  After  satisfying 
their  curiosity,  dinner  was  announced,  and  the  five  commissioners  were  conducted  to  the  Com- 
modore's cabin,  where  a  very  handsome  banquet  awaited  them.  The  subordinate  officials, 
amounting  to  about  sixty,  were  provided  for  under  the  awning  on  the  quarter-deck,  where  a 
large  table  had  been  spread  with  an  abundant  supply. 

The  Commodore  had  invited  the  four  captains  of  the  squadron,  his  interpreter,  Mr.  Williams, 
and  his  secretary,  to  join  the  commissioners  at  his  table.  Yenoske,  the  Japanese  interpreter, 
was  allowed  the  privilege,  as  a  special  condescension  on  the  part  of  his  superiors,  to  sit  at  a  side- 
table  in  the  cabin,  where  his  humble  jiosition  did  not  seem  to  disturb  either  his  equanimity  or 
his  appetite.  Hayashi,  who  always  preserved  his  grave  and  dignified  bearing,  ate  and  drank 
sparingly,  but  tasted  of  every  dish,  and  sipped  of  every  kind  of  wine.  The  others  proved  them- 
selves famous  trencher-men,  and  entered  more  heartily  than  their  chief  into  the  conviviality  of 
the  occasion.  Matsusaki  was  the  soul  of  the  party,  and  showed  at  once  a  very  decided  appreci- 
ation of  American  fare,  and  a  special  fondness  for  the  champaigne,  with  no  marked  aversion, 
however,  to  the  other  wines  and  beverages.  The  liqueurs,  particularly  the  maraschino,  seemed 
to  suit  the  tastes  of  the  Japanese  exactly,  and  they  drank  unnumbered  glasses  of  it.  Matsusaki, 
who  was  a  jovial  fellow,  soon  showed  the  effects  of  his  copious  libations,  and  became  very  parti- 
cularly happy.  Hayashi,  the  grave  prince,  was  the  only  one,  in  fact,  whose  sobriety  was  proof 
against  the  unrestrained  conviviality  which  prevailed  among  his  bacchanalian  coadjutors. 

The  Japanese  party  upon  deck,  who  were  entertained  by  a  large  body  of  officers  from  the 
various  ships,  became  quite  uproarious  under  the  influence  of  overflowing  supplies  of  cham- 
paigne, Madeira,  and  punch,  which  they  seemed  greatly  to  relish.  The  Japanese  took  the  lead 
in  proposing  healths  and  toasts,  and  were  by  no  means  the  most  backward  in  drinking  them. 
They  kept  shouting  at  the  top  of  their  voices,  and  were  heard  far  above  the  music  of  the  bands 
that  enlivened  the  entertainment  by  a  succession  of  brisk  and  cheerful  tunes.  It  was,  in  short, 
a  scene  of  noisy  conviviality,  and  of  very  evident  enjoyment  on  the  part  of  the  guests.  The 
eating  was  no  less  palatable  to  them  than  the  drinking,  and  the  rapid  disappearance  of  the  large 
quantity  and  variety  of  the  viands  profusely  heaped  upon  the  table  was  quite  a  marvel,  even  to 
the  heartiest  feeders  among  the  Americans.  In  the  eagerness  of  the  Japanese  appetite,  there 
was  but  little  discrimination  in  the  choice  of  dishes  and  in  the  order  of  coiu'ses,  and  the  most 
startling  heterodoxy  was  exhibited  in  the  confused  commingling  of  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl,  soups 
and  syrups,  fruits  and  fricassees,  roast  and  boiled,  pickles  and  preserves.  As  a  most  generous 
supply  had  been  provided,  there  were  still  some  remnants  of  the  feast  left,  after  the  guests  had 
satisfied  their  voracity,  and  most  of  these,  the  Japanese,  in  accordance  with  their  usual  custom, 
stowed  away  about  their  persons  to  carry  off  witli  them.  The  Japanese  always  have  an 
abundant  supply  of  pajier  within  the  left  bosom  of  their  loose  robes  in  a  capacious  pocket.  This 
is  used  for  various  purposes ;  one  species,  as  soft  as  our  cotton  clotli,  and  withal  exceedingly 
tough,  is  used  for  a  pocket  handkerchief;  another  furnishes  the  material  for  taking  notes,  or  for 


376  EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN. 

■wrapping  up  wliat  is  left  after  a  feast.  On  the  present  occasion,  when  the  dinner  was  over,  all 
the  Japanese  guests  simultaneously  spread  out  their  long  folds  of  paper,  and  gathering  what 
scraps  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  without  regard  to  the  kind  of  food,  made  up  an  envelope 
of  conglomerate  eatables  in  which  there  was  such  a  confusion  of  the  sour  and  sweet,  the  albu- 
minous, oleaginous,  and  saccharine,  that  the  chemistry  of  Leibig,  or  the  practised  taste  of  the 
Commodore's  Parisian  cook,  would  never  liave  reached  a  satisfactory  analysis.  Nor  was  this 
the  result  of  gluttony,  or  a  deficiency  of  breeding  ;  it  was  the  fashion  of  the  country.  These 
unsavory  parcels  they  stowed  away  in  their  pockets,  or  in  their  capacious  sleeves,  to  carry 
away  with  them.  The  practice  was  universal,  and  they  not  only  always  followed  it  themselves, 
but  insisted  that  their  American  guests,  wlien  entertained  at  a  Japanese  feast,  should  adopt  it 
also.  Whenever  the  Commodore  and  his  officers  were  feasted  on  shore,  they  had  paper  parcels 
of  what  was  left  thrust  into  their  hands  on  leaving,  which  they  were  obliged  to  take  away  with 
them,  as  it  seemed  an  important  part  of  Japanese  hospitality,  which  could  not  be  declined  with- 
out giving  offence. 

After  the  banquet,  the  Japanese  were  entertained  by  an  exhibition  of  negro  minstrelsy,  got  up 
by  some  of  the  sailors,  who,  blacking  their  faces  and  dressing  themselves  in  character,  enacted 
their  parts  with  a  humor  that  would  have  gained  them  unbounded  applause  from  a  New  York 
audience  even  at  Christy's.  The  gravity  of  the  saturnine  Hayashi  was  not  proof  against  the 
grotesque  exhibition,  and  even  he  joined  with  the  rest  in  the  general  hilarity  provoked  by  the 
farcical  antics  and  humorous  performances  of  the  mock  negroes.  It  was  now  sunset,  and  the 
Japanese  prepared  to  depart  with  quite  as  much  wine  in  them  as  they  could  well  bear.  The 
jovial  Matsusaki  threw  his  arms  about  the  Commodore's  neck,  crushing,  in  his  tipsy  embrace, 
a  pair  of  new  epaulettes,  and  repeating,  in  Japanese,  with  maudlin  affection,  these  words,  as 
interpreted  into  English:  "Nippon  and  America,  all  the  same  heart."  He  then  went  toddling 
into  his  boat,  supported  by  some  of  his  more  steady  companions,  and  soon  all  the  happy  party 
had  left  the  ships  and  were  making  rapidly  for  tlie  shore.  The  Saratoga  fired  tlie  salute  of 
seventeen  guns  as  the  last  boat  pulled  off  from  the  Powhatan,  and  the  squadron  was  once  more 
left  in  the  usual  quiet  of  ordinary  ship's  duty. 

The  following  day  the  Commodore  lauded  to  have  a  conference  in  regard  to  the  remaining 
points  of  the  treaty  previous  to  signing.  He  was  met,  as  usual,  at  the  treaty  house  by  the 
commissioners,  who  had  more  than  their  ordinary  share  of  gravity,  probably,  owing  to  the 
natural  effects  of  the  previous  day's  conviviality. 

As  soon  as  the  Commodore  had  taken  his  seat,  a  letter  was  handed  to  him,  which  tlic  Japanese 
stated  they  had  just  received  from  Simoda.  It  was  from  Commander  Pope,  and  had  been 
transmitted  through  the  authorities  over  land.  Its  contents  gave  a  satisfactory  report  of 
Simoda,  and  the  Commodore  at  once  said  that  he  accepted  that  port,  but  declared  that  it  must 
be  opened  without  delay.  Hakodadi,  he  added,  would  do  for  the  other,  and  Napha,  in  Lew 
Chew,  could  be  retained  for  'the  third.  In  regard  to  the  other  two,  he  was  willing,  he  said,  to 
postpone  their  consideration  to  some  other  time. 

The  Commodore  now  proposed  to  sign  the  agreement  in  regard  to  the  three  ports,  and  directed 
his  interpreter  to  read  it  in  Dutch.  When  the  document  had  been  thus  read  and  afterwards 
carefully  perused  by  the  Japanese,  they  stated  that  they  were  prepared  to  concur  in  everything 
except  as  to  the  immediate  opening  of  Simoda.  After  discussion,  it  was  finally  settled  that 
though  the  port  might  be  opened,  the  Japanese  would  address  a  note  to  the  Commodore,  stating 
that  everything  which  might  be  wanting  by  ships  could  not  be  furnished  there  before  the 


SIGNING     OF     THE     TREATY.  377 

expiration  of  ten  months,  but  that  wood  and  water,  and  whatever  else  the  place  possessed  would 
be  supplied  immediately  ;  and  to  this  note  the  Commodore  promised  to  reply,  and  express  his 
satisfaction  with  such  an  arrangement. 

The  question  now  came  up  with  respect  to  the  extent  of  privileges  to  be  granted  to  Americans 
who  might  visit  Simoda,  in  the  discussion  of  which  it  was  perfectly  plain  that  the  Japanese 
meant  to  be  distinctly  understood  as  prohibiting,  absolutely,  at  least,  for  the  present,  tlie 
permanent  residence  of  Americans,  with  their  families,  in  Japan.  The  distance,  also,  to  which 
Americans  might  extend  their  excursions  into  the  country  around  the  ports  of  Simoda  and 
Hakodadi  was  settled ;  and  it  is  observable,  that,  at  the  special  request  of  the  Japanese,  the 
Commodore  named  the  distance,  they  assenting,  at  once,  to  that  which  he  mentioned. 

The  proposition  to  have  consular  agents  residing  in  Japan  was  one  which  evidently  gave  great 
anxiety  to  the  commissioners,  and  the  same  grounds  were  taken  and  answered  as  have  already 
been  related  in  the  narrative  of  the  Commodore's  conversation  with  the  interpreters  on  a  previous 
page  of  this  chapter.  The  Commodore  was  firm  in  saying  there  must  be  such  agents  for  the 
sake  of  the  Japanese  themselves  as  well  as  for  that  of  our  own  countrymen,  and  it  was  finally 
conceded  that  there  should  be  one,  to  live  at  Simoda,  and  that  he  should  not  be  appointed  until 
a  year  or  eighteen  months  from  the  date  of  the  treaty. 

Two  more  articles,  including  the  new  points  which  had  been  discussed  were  now  added  to  the 
transcript  of  the  proposed  treaty,  and  the  Japanese  having  promised  to  bring  on  board  the 
Powhatan  next  day  a  copy,  in  Dutch,  of  their  understanding  of  the  agreement  as  far  as 
concurred  in,  the  Commodore  took  his  departure. 

During  the  next  two  days  several  notes  passed  between  the  Commodore  and  the  Japanese 
commissioners,  in  the  course  of  which  various  questions  that  had  been  already  considered  were 
more  definitively  settled ;  and  the  American  interpreters  were  occupied,  in  cooperation  with  the 
Japanese,  in  drawing  up  the  treaty  in  the  Chinese,  Dutch,  and  Japanese  languages.  On  the 
twenty-ninth,  the  ships  Vandalia  and  Southampton  arrived  from  Simoda  with  a  confirmation  of 
what  Commander  Pope  had  already  stated  in  his  dispatch  which  had  been  transmitted  by  the 
Japanese  authorities,  over  land,  to  the  Commodore,  namely,  that  the  harbor  and  town  of  Simoda 
had  been  found,  on  examination,  suitable  in  every  respect  for  the  purposes  of  the  Americans. 
All  was  now  in  readiness  for  the  final  signing  of  the  treaty. 

Accordingly,  on  Friday,  the  31st  of  March,  1854,  the  Commodore  proceeded  to  the  treaty 
house  with  his  usual  attendants,  and  immediately  on  his  arrival  signed  three  several  drafts  of 
the  treaty  written  in  the  English  language,  and  delivered  them  to  the  commissioners,  together 
with  three  copies  of  the  same  in  the  Dutch  and  Chinese  languages,  certified  by  the  interpreters, 
Messrs.  Williams  and  Portman,  for  the  United  States.  At  the  same  time,  the  Japanese 
commissioners,  in  behalf  of  their  government,  handed  to  the  Commodore  three  drafts  of  the 
treaty  written  respectively  in  the  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  Dutch  languages,  and  signed  by  the 
four  of  their  body  especially  delegated  by  the  Emperor  for  that  purpose.  The  following  is  the 
treaty  as  agreed  upon. 


The  United  States  of  America  and  the  Empire  of  Japan,  desiring  to  establish  firm,  lasting, 
and  sincere  friendship  between  the  two  nations,  have  resolved  to  fix,  in  a  manner  clear  and 
positive,  by  means  of  a  treaty  or  general  convention  of  peace  and  amity,  the  rules  wliich  shall 
48  J 


378  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN, 

in  future  be  mutually  observed  in  the  intercourse  of  their  respective  countries ;  for  which  most 
desirable  object  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  conferred  full  powers  on  his  commissioner, 
Matthew  Calbraith  Perry,  special  ambassador  of  the  United  States  to  Japan  ;  and  the  august 
sovereign  of  Japan  has  given  similar  full  powers  to  his  commissioners,  Hayashi-Daigaku-no- 
kami,  Ido,  Prince  of  Tsus-Sima,  Izawa,  Prince  of  Mimasaki,  and  Udono,  member  of  the 
Board  of  Kevenue. 

And  the  said  commissioners,  after  having  exchanged  their  said  full  powers,  and  duly 
considered  the  premises,  have  agreed  to  the  following  articles  : 

AKTICLE  I. 

There  shall  be  a  perfect,  permanent,  and  universal  peace,  and  a  sincere  and  cordial  amity, 
between  the  United  States  of  America,  on  the  one  part,  and  the  Empire  of  Japan  on  the  other, 
and  between  their  people,  respectively,  without  exception  of  persons  or  places. 

ARTICLE  II. 

The  port  of  Simoda,  in  the  principality  of  Idzu,  and  the  port  of  Hakodadi,  in  the  principality 
of  Matsmai,  are  granted  by  the  Japanese  as  ports  for  the  reception  of  American  ships,  where 
they  can  be  supplied  with  wood,  water,  provisions,  and  coal,  and  other  articles  their  necessities 
may  require,  as  far  as  the  Japanese  have  them.  The  time  for  opening  the  first  named  port  is 
immediately  on  signing  this  treaty  ;  the  last  named  port  is  to  be  opened  immediately  after  the 
same  day  in  the  ensuing  Japanese  year. 

Note. — A  tariff  of  prices  shall  be  given  by  the  Japanese  officers  of  the  things  which  they  can 
furnish,  payment  for  which  shall  be  made  in  gold  and  silver  coin. 

ARTICLE  III. 

Whenever  ships  of  the  United  States  are  thrown  or  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Japan,  the 
Japanese  vessels  will  assist  them,  and  carry  their  crews  to  Simoda  or  Hakodadi,  and  hand  them 
over  to  their  countrymen  appointed  to  receive  them.  Whatever  articles  the  shipwrecked  men 
may  have  preserved  shall  likewise  be  restored,  and  the  expenses  incurred  in  the  rescue  and 
support  of  Americans  and  Japanese  who  may  thus  be  thrown  upon  the  shores  of  either  nation 
are  not  to  be  refunded. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Those  shipwrecked  persons  and  other  citizens  of  the  United  States  shall  be  free  as  in  otlier 
countries,  and  not  subjected  to  confinement,  but  shall  be  amenable  to  just  laws. 

ARTICLE  V. 
Shipwrecked  men,  and  other  citizens  of  the  United  States,  temporarily  living  at  Simoda  and 
Hakodadi,  shall  not  be  subject  to  such  restrictions  and  confinement  as  the  Dutch  and  Chinese 
are  at  Nagasaki ;  but  shall  be  free  at  Simoda  to  go  where  they  please  within  the  limits  of  seven 
Japanese  miles  (or  ri)  from  a  small  island  in  the  harbor  of  Simoda,  marked  on  the  accompa- 
nying chart,  hereto  appended ;  and  shall  in  like  manner  be  free  to  go  where  they  please  at 
Hakodadi,  within  limits  to  be  defined  after  the  visit  of  the  United  States  squadron  to  that  place. 

ARTICLE  VI. 
If  there  be  any  other  sort  of  goods  wanted,  or  any  business  which  shall  require  to  be 
arranged,  there  shall  be  careful  deliberation  between  the  parties  in  order  to  settle  such  matters. 


TREATY     WITH     JAPAN,  379 

ARTICLE  VII. 

It  is  agreed  that  sliips  of  the  United  States  resorting  to  tlie  ports  open  to  them  sliall  be 
permitted  to  exchange  gold  and  silver  coin  and  articles  of  goods  for  other  articles  of  goods, 
under  such  regulations  as  shall  be  temporarily  established  by  the  Japanese  government  for  that 
purpose.  It  is  stipulated,  however,  that  the  ships  of  the  United  States  shall  be  permitted  to 
carry  away  whatever  articles  they  are  unwilling  to  exchange. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

Wood,  water,  provisions,  coal,  and  goods  required,  shall  only  be  procured  through  the  agency 
of  Japanese  officers  appointed  for  that  purpose,  and  in  no  other  manner. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

It  is  agreed,  that  if,  at  any  future  day,  the  government  of  Japan  shall  grant  to  any  other 
nation  or  nations  privileges  and  advantages  which  are  not  herein  granted  to  the  United  States 
and  the  citizens  thereof,  that  these  same  privileges  and  advantages  shall  be  granted  likewise  to 
the  United  States  and  to  the  citizens  thereof  without  any  consultation  or  delay. 

ARTICLE  X. 

Ships  of  the  United  States  shall  be  permitted  to  resort  to  no  other  ports  in  Japan  but  Simoda 
and  Hakodadi,  unless  in  distress  or  forced  by  stress  of  weather. 

ARTICLE  XL 

Tliere  shall  be  appointed  by  the  government  of  the  United  States  consuls  or  agents  to  reside 
in  Simoda  at  any  time  after  the  expiration  of  eighteen  months  from  the  date  of  the  signing  of 
this  treaty  ;  provided  that  either  of  the  two  governments  deem  such  arrangement  necessary. 

ARTICLE  XII. 

The  present  convention,  having  been  concluded  and  duly  signed,  shall  bo  obligatory,  and 
faithfully  observed  by  the  United  States  of  America  and  Jajmn,  and  by  the  citizens  and  subjects 
of  each  respective  power  ;  and  it  is  to  be  ratified  and  approved  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  thereof,  and  by  the  august  Sovereign 
of  Japan,  and  the  ratification  shall  be  exchanged  within  eighteen  months  from  the  date  of  the 
signature  thereof,  or  sooner  if  practicable. 

In  faith  whereof,  we,  the  respective  plenipotentiaries  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  the 
Empire  of  Japan,  aforesaid,  have  signed  and  sealed  these  presents. 

Done  at  Kanagawa,  this  thirty-first  day  of  March,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-four,  and  of  Kayei  the  seventh  year,  third  month,  and 
third  day. 

Immediately  on  the  signing  and  exchange  of  the  copies  of  the  treaty,  the  Commodore 
presented  the  first  commissioner.  Prince  Hayashi,  with  an.  American  flag,  remarking  that  he 
considered  it  the  highest  expression  of  national  courtesy  and  friendship  he  could  ofier.  The 
prince  was  evidently  deeply  impresssed  with  this  significant  mark  of  amity,  and  returned  his 
thanks  for  it  with  indications  of  great  feeling.  The  Commodore  then  presented  the  other 
dignitaries  with  the  various  gifts  he  had  especially  reserved  for  them.     All  formal  business 


380  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN, 

being  now  concluded  to  the  mutual  satisfaction  of  both  parties,  the  Japanese  commissioners 
invited  the  Commodore  and  his  officers  to  partake  of  an  entertainment  which  had  been  particu- 
larly prepared  for  the  occasion. 

The  tables  were  now  spread  in  the  large  reception  hall.  These  were  nothing  more  than  wide 
divans,  such  as  were  used  for  seats,  and  of  the  same  height.  They  were  covered  with  a  red- 
colored  crape,  and  arranged  in  order,  according  to  the  rank  of  the  guests  and  their  hosts,  an 
upper  table,  raised  somewhat  above  the  rest,  being  appropriated  to  the  Commodore,  his  superior 
officers,  and  the  commissioners.  When  all  were  seated,  the  servitors  brought  in  a  rapid 
succession  of  courses,  consisting  chiefly  of  thick  soups,  or  rather  stews,  in  most  of  which  fresh 
fish  was  a  component  part.  These  were  served  in  small  earthen  bowls  or  cups,  and  were 
brought  in  upon  lacquered  stands,  about  fourteen  inches  square  and  ten  high,  and  placed,  one 
before  each  guest,  upon  the  tables.  Together  with  each  dish  was  a  sujiply  of  soy  or  some  otlier 
condiment,  while  throughout  there  was  an  abundant  quantity,  served  in  peculiar  vessels,  of  the 
Japanese  national  liquor,  the  saki,  a  sort  of  whiskey  distilled  from  rice.  Various  sweetened 
confections,  and  a  multiplicity  of  cakes,  were  liberally  interspersed  among  the  other  articles  on 
the  tables.  Toward  the  close  of  the  feast,  a  plate  containing  a  broiled  cray  fish,  a  piece  of  fried 
fish  of  some  kind,  two  or  three  boiled  shrimps,  and  a  small  square  pudding  with  something  of 
the  consistence  of  blanc  mange,  was  placed  before  each,  with  a  hint  that  they  were  to  follow  the 
guests  on  their  return  to  the  ships,  and  they  were  accordingly  sent  and  duly  received  afterward. 

The  feast  of  the  commissioners  did  not  make  a  strikingly  favorable  impression  on  their  guests  ; 
but  they  were  greatly  pleased  with  the  courtesy  of  their  liosts^  whose  urbanity  and  assiduous 
attentions  left  nothing  to  desire  on  the  score  of  politeness.  They  left,  however,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, with  apjjetites  but  scantily  gratified  by  the  unusual  fare  that  had  been  spread  before 
them.  It  is  true  that  apologies  were  made,  and  this,  by  the  way,  proved  to  be  an  habitual 
feature  of  their  entertainments,  and  causes  were  assigned  for  the  poorness  of  the  repast  on  the 
score  of  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  the  best  articles  of  food  at  Kanagawa.  The  dinner  given  to 
the  commissioners  on  board  the  Powhatan  would  have  made,  in  quantity,  at  least  a  score  of 
such  as  that  offered  by  the  Japanese  on  this  occasion.  To  dispose  of  the  subject  in  one  word, 
the  entertainments  of  the  Japanese,  generally,  while  full  of  hospitality,  left  but  an  unfavorable 
impression  of  their  skill  in  cookery.  The  Lew  Chewans  evidently  excelled  them  in  good 
living. 

After  the  feast,  which  passed  pleasantly  and  convivially,  mutual  compliments  being  freely 
exchanged,  and  healths  drunk  in  full,  though  Lilliputian,  cups  of  saki,  the  commissioners 
expressed  great  anxiety  about  the  proposed  visit  of  the  Commodore  to  Yedo.  They  earnestly 
urged  him  not  to  take  his  ships  any  higher  up  the  bay,  as,  they  said,  it  would  lead  to  trouble, 
by  which  tlie  populace  might  be  disturbed,  and  their  own  lives,  perhaps,  jeoparded.  The 
Commodore  argued  the  matter  with  them  for  some  considerable  time,  and,  as  they  still  pertina- 
ciously urged  their  objections  to  his  visit  to  the  capital,  it  was  agreed  that  the  subject  should  be 
further  discussed  by  an  interchange  of  notes.     The  meeting  then  broke  up. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  the  narrative,  it  may  be  well  here  briefly  to  pause  and  define 
with  precision  what  had  been  accomplished  by  means  of  the  treaty  that  had  been  signed. 

When  it  was  determined  by  our  government  to  send  an  expedition  to  Japan,  those  in  authority 
were  not  unmindful  of  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  that  singular  nation.  Unlike  all  otlier 
civilized  people,  it  was  in  a  state  of  voluntary,  long-continued,  and  dotcrmincd  isolation.     It 


PECULIARITIES     OF     THE     MISSION     TO     JAPAN.  381 

neither  desired  nor  sought  communication  with  the  rest  of  the  world  ;  hut,  on  the  contrary, 
strove  to  the  uttermost  to  prevent  it.  It  was  comparatively  an  easy  task  to  propose  to  any  power, 
the  ports  of  which  were  freely  visited  by  ships  from  every  part  of  the  world,  the  terms  of  a  com- 
mercial treaty.  Such  powers  have  recognized  commerce  itself  as  part  of  tlieir  national  system, 
and  the  principle  of  permitting  it  is  freely  avowed  by  their  usage ;  a  treaty,  therefore,  had  but  to 
define  its  privileges,  and  state  the  conditions  on  which  they  might  be  enjoyed  in  the  case  of  any 
nation  seeking  to  make  such  a  treaty.  But  not  so,  when,  by  any  power,  commerce  itself  was 
interdicted  and  made  contrary  to  law.  Before  general  conditions  of  commerce  could  be  proposed 
to  such  a  power,  it  was  necessary  to  settle  the  great  preliminary  that  commerce  would  be  allowed 
at  all.  Again,  if  that  preliminary  were  settled  affirmatively,  a  second  point,  of  great  moment, 
remained  to  be  discussed,  viz.,  to  what  degree  shall  intercourse  for  trading  purposes  be  extended? 
Among  nations  accustomed  to  the  usages  of  Christendom,  the  principles  and  extent  of  national 
comity  in  the  interchanges  of  commercial  transactions  have  been  so  long  and  so  well  defined 
and  understood,  that,  as  between  them,  the  term,  "  commercial  treaty,"  needs  no  explanation; 
its  meaning  is  comprehended  alike  by  all,  and  in  its  stipulations  it  may  cover  the  very  broad 
extent  that  includes  everything  involved  in  the  operations  of  commerce  between  two  maritime 
nations.  All  ports  are  open,  all  commodities  maybe  imported  or  exported,  subject  only  to  such 
regulations  as  may  have  been  agreed  upon  between  the  contracting  parties.  The  foundation  for 
the  contract  existed  before  its  terms  were  adjusted.  But  in  a  kingdom  which,  in  its  polity, 
expressly  ignored  commerce  and  repudiated  it  as  an  evil  instead  of  a  good,  it  was  necessary,  as 
we  have  said,  to  lay  the  very  foundation  as  well  as  adjust  the  terms. 

Hence  the  instructions  to  Commodore  Perry  covered  broad  ground,  and  his  letters  of  credence 
conformed  to  his  instructions.  If  he  found  the  Japanese  disposed  to  abandon,  at  once  and 
forever,  their  deliberately  adopted  plan  of  non-intercoiirse  with  foreigners  (an  event  most 
unlikely)  his  powers  were  ample  to  make  with  them  a  commercial  treaty  as  wide  and  general 
as  any  we  have  with  the  nations  of  Europe.  If  they  were  disposed  to  relax  but  in  part  their 
jealous  and  suspicious  system,  formally  to  profess  relations  of  friendship,  and  opening  some 
only  of  their  ports  to  our  vessels  to  allow  a  trade  in  those  ports  between  their  people  and  ours, 
he  was  authorized  to  negotiate  for  this  jnirpose,  and  secure  for  his  country  such  privileges  as  he 
could,  not  inconsistent  with  the  self  respect  which,  as  a  nation,  we  owed  to  ourselves.  It  must 
not  be  forgotten,  in  the  contemplation  of  what  was  accomplished,  that  our  representative  went 
to  a  people  who,  at  the  time  of  his  arrival  among  them,  had,  both  by  positive  law  and  an  usage 
of  more  than  two  hundred  years,  allowed  but  one  of  their  harbors,  Nagasaki,  to  be  opened  to 
foreigners  at  all ;  had  permitted  no  trade  with  such  foreigners  when  they  did  come,  except,  under 
most  stringent  regulations,  to  the  Dutch  and  Chinese ;  were  in  the  habit  of  communicating 
with  the  world  outside  of  them  at  second  hand  only,  through  the  medium  of  the  Dutch,  who 
were  in  prison  at  Dezima  ;  and  a  people  who,  as  far  as  we  know,  never  made  a  formal  treaty 
with  a  civilized  nation  in  the  whole  course  of  their  antecedent  history.  To  expect  such  a  people 
to  make  a  compact  such  as  would  be  made  between  two  great  commercial  nations,  England  and 
ourselves,  for  instance,  would  have  been  simply  ridiculous.  There  were,  in  fact,  but  two  points 
on  which  the  Commodore's  instructions  did  not  allow  him  a  large  discretion,  to  bo  exercised 
according  to  circumstances.  These  two  were,  first,  that  if,  liappily,  any  arrangements  for  trade, 
either  general  or  special,  were  made,  it  was  to  be  distinctly  stipulated  that,  under  no  circum- 
stances, and  in  no  degree,  would  the  Americans  submit  to  tlio  iiumiliating  treatment  so  long 


882  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

borne  by  the  Dutch  in  carrying  on  their  trade.  The  citizens  of  our  country  would  be  dealt 
with  as  freemen,  or  there  should  be  no  dealings  at  all.  The  second  point  was,  that  in  the  event 
of  any  of  our  countrymen  being  cast,  in  God's  providence,  as  shipwrecked  men  on  the  coast  of 
Japan,  they  should  not  be  treated  as  prisoners,  confined  in  cages,  or  subjected  to  inhuman 
treatment,  but  should  be  received  with  kindness  and  hospitably  cared  for  until  they  could  leave 
the  country. 

It  will  easily  be  seen,  therefore,  that,  from  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  there  was  novelty 
in  the  features  of  the  mission  on  which  Commodore  Perry  was  sent.  Little  or  no  guidance  was 
to  be  derived  from  our  past  diplomatic  experience  or  action.  The  nearest  approach  to  such 
guidance  was  to  be  found  in  our  treaty  with  China,  made  in  1844.  This,  therefore,  was  care- 
fully studied  by  the  Commodore.  It  jJurports  to  be  "a,  treaty  or  general  convention  of  peace, 
amity,  and  commerce,"  and  to  settle  the  rules  to  "be  mutually  observed  in  the  intercourse  of 
the  respective  countries."  So  far  as  "  commerce"  is  concerned,  it  permits  "  the  citizms  of  the 
United  States  to  frequent"  five  ports  in  China,  "  and  to  reside  loith  their  families  and  trade  there, 
and  to  proceed  at  pleasure  with  their  vessels  and  merchandise  to  or  from  any  foreign  port,  and 
from  either  of  the  said  five  ports  to  any  other  of  them."  As  to  duties  on  articles  imported, 
they  are  to  pay  according  to  a  tariff  which  is  made  part  of  the  treaty,  and  in  no  case  are  to  be 
subjected  to  higher  duties  than  those  paid,  under  similar  circumstances,  by  the  people  of  other 
nations.  Consuls  are  provided  for,  to  reside  at  the  five  open  ports  ;  and  those  trading  there  are 
"permitted  to  import  from  their  own  or  any  other  j^orts  into  China,  and  sell  there,  and  pur- 
chase therein,  and  export  to  their  own  or  any  other  ports  all  manner  of  merchandise,  of  which 
the  importation  or  exportation  is  not  prohibited  by"  the  treaty.  In  short,  so  far  as  the  five 
ports  are  concerned,  there  exists  between  us  and  China  a  general  treaty  of  commerce ;  and 
accordingly  the  twenty-second  article  expressly  declares  that  "relations  of  peace  and  amity 
between  the  United  States  and  China"  are  "  established  by  this  treaty,  and  the  vessels  of  the 
United  States"  are  "  admitted  to  trade  freely  to  and  from  the  five  ports  of  China  open  to  foreign 
commerce." 

It  certainly  was  very  desirable  to  obtain,  if  possible,  similar  privileges  from  Japan,  and  the 
Commodore  resolved  that^  if  the  Japanese  would  negotiate  at  all,  his  first  efforts  should  be 
directed  to  that  end.  Accordingly  he  caused  to  be  prepared,  in  the  Chinese  character,  a  tran- 
script of  the  treaty,  with  such  verbal  alterations  as  would  make  it  applicable  to  Japan,  with 
the  view  of  exhibiting  it  to  the  Imperial  commissioners  of  that  country  should  he  be  so 
successful  as  to  open  negotiations.  He  was  not  sanguine  enough  to  hope  that  he  could  procure 
an  entire  adoption  of  the  Chinese  treaty  by  the  Japanese.  He  was  not  ignorant  of  the  differ- 
ence in  national  characteristics  between  the  inhabitants  of  China  and  the  more  independent, 
self-reliant,  and  sturdy  natives  of  the  Japanese  islands.  He  knew  that  the  latter  held  the 
former  in  some  degree  of  contempt,  and  treated  them,  in  the  matter  of  trade,  very  much  as 
they  did  the  Dutch.  He  was  also  aware  that  the  Chinese,  when  they  made  their  treaty,  did 
know  something  of  the  advantages  that  might  result  from  an  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the 
world;  while  as  to  the  Japanese,  in  tlicir  long-continued  isolation,  either  they  neither  knew 
nor  desired  such  advantages  ;  or,  if  they  knew  them,  feared  they  might  be  purchased  at  too 
high  a  price  in  the  introduction  of  foreigners  who,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Portuguese,  centuries 
before,  might  seek  to  overturn  the  empire.  It  was  too  much  therefore  to  exjiect  that  the 
Japanese  would  in  all  the  particulars  of  a  treaty  imitate  the  Chinese.     Still,  they  might  be 


DISPOSITION     OF     TUB     JAPANESE     IN     CONFERENCE.  £83 

disposed  to  adopt  some  of  its  most  important  features  when  suggested  to  them  by  a  knowledge 
of  what  otlier  orientals  had  done. 

But  of  the  difficulties  encountered,  even  after  the  Japanese  had  consented  to  negotiate,  the 
best  account  we  think  may  be  given  from  the  conferences  and  discussions  between  the  respective 
negotiators,  of  all  which  most  accurate  reports  were  kept  on  both  sides,  in  the  form  of  dialogue. 
At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Commodore  with  the  Imperial  commissioners,  on  the  8th  of  March, 
he  acted  on  the  plan  he  bad  proposed  to  himself  with  respect  to  the  treaty  with  China,  and  thus 
addressed  them : 

' '  Com.  Perry.  I  think  it  would  be  better  for  the  two  nations  that  a  treaty  similar  to  the  one 
between  my  country  and  the  Chinese  should  be  made  between  us.  I  have  prepared  the  draft  of 
one  almost  identical  with  our  treaty  with  China.  I  have  been  sent  here  by  my  government  to 
make  a  treaty  with  yours ;  if  I  do  not  succeed  noiu,  vaj  government  will  probably  send  more 
ships  here  ;  but  I  hope  we  will  soon  settle  matters  amicably." 

"Japanese.  We  wish  for  time  to  have  the  document  translated  into  the  Japanese  language." 

This  was  but  one  among  a  himdred  proofs  of  their  extreme  suspicion  and  caution ;  for  there 
was  not  one  of  the  imperial  commissioners,  probably,  who  could  not  have  read,  without  the 
least  difficulty,  the  document  as  furnished  by  the  Commodore ;  and  certain  it  is  that  their 
intei'preters  could  have  read  it  off  into  Japanese  at  once. 

The  Commodore,  whose  wish  it  was  to  do  as  far  as  possible  everything  that  might  conciliate, 
of  course,  made  no  objection  to  a  request  so  seemingly  reasonable,  though  he  knew  it  to  be 
needless,  and  was  content  to  wait  patiently  for  their  reply.  In  one  week  that  reply  came  in 
writing,  and  was  very  explicit :  "  As  to  opening  a  trade,  such  as  is  now  carried  on  by  China 
with  your  country,  we  certainly  cannot  yet  bring  it  about.  The  feelings  and  manners  of  our 
people  are  very  unlike  those  of  outer  nations,  and  it  will  be  exceedingly  difficult,  even  if  you 
wish  it,  to  immediately  change  the  old  regulations  for  those  of  other  countries.  Moreover,  the 
Chinese  have  long  had  intercourse  with  western  nations,  while  we  have  had  dealings  at  Nagasaki 
with  only  the  people  of  Holland  and  China." 

This  answer  was  not  entirely  unexpected,  and  put  an  end  to  all  prospect  of  negotiating 
a  "  commercial  treaty,"  in  the  European  sense  of  that  phrase.  It  only  remained,  therefore,  to 
secure,  for  the  present,  admission  into  the  Kingdom,  and  so  much  of  trade  as  Japanese  jealousy 
could  be  brought  to  concede.  At  length,  after  much  and  oft  repeated  discussion,  the  point  was 
yielded  that  certain  ports  might  be  opened  to  om-  vessels;  and  then,  in  the  interview  of  March 
25th,  came  up  the  subject  of  consuls. 

"Japanese.  About  the  appointment  of  consuls  or  agents,  the  commissioners  desire  a  delay  of 
four  or  five  years  to  see  how  the  intercourse  works.  The  governor  of  the  town  and  the  official 
interpreter  will  be  able  to  carry  on  all  the  business  of  supplying  provisions,  coal,  and  needed 
articles,  with  the  captain,  without  the  intervention  of  a  consul." 

"Com.  Ferry.  The  duties  of  a  consul  are  to  report  all  difficulties  between  American  citizens 
and  Japanese  to  his  government  in  an  authentic  manner,  assist  the  Japanese  in  carrying  out 
their  laws  and  the  provisions  of  the  treaty,  and  recovering  debts  made  by  the  Americans  ;  and 
also  communicating  to  the  government  at  Washington  whatever  the  Japanese  wish,  as  no  letters 
can  be  received  after  this  through  the  Dutch  ;  and  if  no  consuls  are  received,  then  a  ship  of  war 
must  remain  in  Japan  constantly,  and  her  captain  do  the  duties  of  a  consul." 

"Japanese.  If  we  had  not  felt  great  confidence  in  you,  we  should  not  have  consented  to  open 


384  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

our  ports  at  all.  Consuls  may  be  accepted  by  aud  by,  after  experience  bas  shown  their  need  ; 
and  we  hope  that  all  American  citizens  obey  the  laws  of  their  country,  and  behave  properly." 

"Com.  Perry.  True  ;  aud  I  hope  no  difficulty  will  arise  ;  and  this  appointment  of  consuls  in 
Japan,  as  they  are  in  China,  Hawaii,  and  everywhere  else,  is  to  prevent  and  provide  for  diffi- 
culties. No  American  will  report  his  own  misdeeds  to  his  own  government,  nor  can  the 
Japanese  bring  them  to  our  notice,  except  through  a  government  agent.  This  provision  must 
be  in  the  treaty,  though  I  will  stipulate  for  only  one,  to  reside  at  Simoda,  and  he  will  not  be 
sent,  probably,  for  a  year  or  two  from  this  time." 

And  thus  it  was  that  the  Commodore  had  to  explain  everything,  and  feel  his  way,  step  by 
step,  in  the  progress  of  the  whole  negotiation. 

"  Japanese.  The  commissioners  wish  every  point  desired  by  the  Admiral  to  be  stated  clearly, 
for  the  Japanese  are  not  equal  to  the  Americans,  and  have  not  much  to  give  in  exchange." 

"  Com.  Perry.  I  have  already  stated  all  my  views  as  regards  our  intercourse  in  the  draft  of 
the  treaty  you  have."  [This  was  one  prepared  by  the  Commodore  after  the  rejection  of  the 
transcrijjt  of  the  Chinese  treaty.]  "Let  the  commissioners  state  their  objections  to  it.  This 
treaty  now  to  be  made  is  only  a  beginning  ;  and  as  the  nations  know  each  other,  the  Japanese 
will  permit  Americans  to  go  anywhere,  to  Mount  Fusi,  all  over  the  country." 

"Japanese.  "We  have  found  restrictions  necessary  against  the  Portuguese  and  English." 
Then  followed  observations  by  the  Japanese  on  Pellew's  entry  into  Nagasaki  harbor,  which 
showed  how  much  dislike  of  the  English  that  event  had  occasioned.  A  strong  proof  of  their 
remarkable  caution  was  furnished  by  the  Japanese  at  the  conference  held  on  the  28th  of  March, 
when  most  of  the  terms  of  the  treaty  had  been  agreed  upon. 

"  Crnn.  Perry.  I  am  prepared  now  to  sign  the  treaty  about  these  three  harbors." 

[Mr.  Portman,  interpreter,  then  read  in  Dutch  that  portion  of  the  treaty  which  contained 
such  points  as  had  been  already  agreed  upon.] 

"  Japanese.  It  is  all  correct  except  that  we  have  objection  to  opening  the  port  of  Simoda 
immediately  ;  if  any  vessels  were  to  go  there  in  distress,  we  would  be  glad  to  furnish  them  with 
provisions,  wood,  and  water." 

"  Com.  Perry.  You  have  already  consented,  in  one  of  your  letters  to  me,  to  open  that  port 
immediately.  I  am  very  desirous  of  settling  that  matter  now,  as  I  wish  to  dispatch  the 
Saratoga  home  to  inform  the  government,  before  Congress  adjourns,  how  matters  are  advancing  ; 
that  will  take  some  time,  and  there  is  no  probability  that  any  ships  will  come  here  before  ten  or 
twelve  months  have  expired ;  so  that  it  will  make  no  difference  to  you  whether  you  put  it  in  the 
treaty  to  be  opened  now  or  in  ten  months." 

"  Japanese.  We  are  willing  to  put  it  in  the  treaty  '  to  be  opened  now,'  if  you  will  give  us  a 
letter  or  promise  that  no  ships  will  come  here  before  the  President  gives  his  permission." 

"  Com.  Perry.  I  cannot  do  that  very  well,  but  I  am  willing  to  put  it  off  ninety  days  ;  that 
will  be  about  the  time  I  shall  return  from  Hakodadi ;  it  was  your  own  proposition  yesterday  to 
open  that  port  immediately.  I  consent  to  this,  however,  to  show  you  how  desirous  I  am  to  do 
what  I  can  to  please  you.     I  cannot  consent  to  a  longer  time." 

"  Japanese.  If  we  put  it  in  the  treaty  to  be  opened  now,  Ave  would  like  you  to  give  us  an  order 
that  no  ships  shall  enter  that  port  before  ten  months." 

"  Com.  Perry.  I  cannot  do  that.  But  there  is  no  probability  that  any  .ships  will  come  here 
before  that  time,  as  I  shall  not  leave  here  for  three  months,  and  they  will  not  hear  of  it  before 


CONVERSATION     OF     THE     COMMODORE     WITH     COMMISSIONERS.      385 

that  time ;  and  when  they  do  hear  of  it,  it  will   take  several  months  for  ships  to  make  the 
voyage  here.     If  you  choose,  I  will  keep  one  of  the  ships  at  Simoda  for  several  months." 

"  Japanese.  If  ships  go  there  before  that  time,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  give  them  other  than 
provisions,  wood,  and  water." 

"  Com.  Perry.  The  ships  that  may  go  there  will  want  such  things  only  as  you  may  have  ;  if 
you  have  them  not,  of  course  you  cannot  and  will  not  he  exjiected  to  furnish  them;  but,  as  I 
said  before,  there  is  no  probability  that  ships  will  go  there  before  the  expiration  of  ten 
months." 

"Japanese.  When  you  come  back  from  Matsmai,  we  will  have  a  plenty  of  provisions  at 
Simoda  for  the  whole  squadron  ;  hut  to  other  ships  we  cannot  fuimish  more  than  wood, 
water,  &c." 

"  Com.  Perry.  When  we  return  from  Matsmai  we  shall  not  want  many  pi-ovisions,  as  we 
shall  be  going  to  a  place  where  we  can  get  a  plenty.  It  is  only  the  principle  I  wish  settled 
now.  I  have  come  here  as  a  peacemaker,  and  I  want  to  settle  everything  now,  and  thus  prevent 
trouble  hereafter  ;  and  I  wish  to  write  home  to  my  government  that  the  Japanese  are  friends." 
"  JajMnese.  We  will  write  you  a  letter  stating  that  we  cannot  furnish  everything  before  ten 
months,  hut  that  we  can  furnish  wood  and  water  immediately,  and  that  we  will  furnish  such 
other  things  as  we  possibly  can.  This  letter  we  would  like  you  to  answer." 
"  Com.  Perry.  Very  well  ;  I  will." 

^'Japanese.  [Entering  on  another  part  of  the  terms  agreed  on.]  AYe  will  not  confine 
Americans,  or  prevent  them  from  walking  around ;  hut  we  would  like  to  place  a  limit  to  the 
distance  they  may  walk." 

"  Com.  Perry.  I  am  prepared  to  settle  that  matter  now,  hut  they  must  not  he  confined  to  any 
particular  house  or  street.  Suppose  we  make  the  distance  they  may  walk,  the  same  distance 
that  a  man  can  go  and  come  in  a  day.  Or,  if  you  choose,  the  number  of  lis  or  ris  may  be 
agreed  upon." 

"  Japanese.  We  are  willing  that  they  shall  walk  as  far  as  they  can  go  and  come  in  a  day." 
"  Com,.  Perry.  There  is  no  probability  that  sailors  would  want  to  go  on  shore  more  than  once 
from  curiosity  ;  beside,  they  will  have  their  daily  duties  to  attend  to  on  board  ship,  and  will 
not  be  able  to  go  on  shore." 

"  Japanese.  We  do  not  want  any  women  to  come  and  remain  at  Simoda." 
"  Com.  Perry.  The  probability  is  but  few  women  will  go  there,  and  they  only  the  wives  of 
the  ofiicers  of  the  ships." 

"  Japanese.  When  you  come  back  from  Matsmai  we  would  like  you  to  settle  the  distance 
Americans  are  to  walk.     It  is  difficult  for  us  to  settle  the  distance." 

"  Com.  Perry.  Say  the  distance  of  seven  Japanese  miles  in  any  direction  from  the  centre  of 
the  city  of  Simoda." 

"  Japanese.  Very  well.  A  few  miles  will  make  no  diiference.  You  are  requested  not  to 
leave  agents  until  after  you  have  experienced  that  it  is  necessary." 

"  Com.  Perry.  I  am  willing  to  defer  the  appointment  of  a  consul  or  agent  one  year  or  eighteen 
months  from  the  date  of  signing  the  treaty  ;  and  then,  if  my  government  think  it  necessary,  it 
will  send  one." 

In  fact,  not  an  article  of  the  treaty  was  made  but  upon  the  most  serious  deliberation  by  the 
Japanese.     In  answer  to  a  question  from  Captain  Adams,  in  the  very  first  stages  of  the  negoti- 
ation, they  replied  :   "The  Japanese  are  unlike  the  Chinese;  they  are  averse  to  change  ;  and 
49  J 


386  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN, 

when  they  make  a  compact  of  any  kind  they  intend  it  shall  endure  for  a  thousand  years.  For 
this  reason  it  will  be  best  to  deliberate  and  examine  well  the  facilities  for  trade  and  the  suitable- 
ness of  the  port  before  any  one  is  determined  (m."  Probitbly  nothing  hut  the  exercise  of  the 
most  perfect  truthfulness  and  patience  would  ever  have  succeeded  in  making  with  them  a  treaty 
at  all ;  and  from  the  language  of  one  of  their  communications,  it  is  obvious  that,  with  character- 
istic caution,  they  meant  that  their  present  action  should  be  but  a  beginning  of  intercourse,  which 
might  or  might  not  be  afterward  made  more  extensive  according  to  the  results  of  what  they 
deemed  the  experiment.  Tims  they  say:  "As  our  ideas  of  things  and  what  we  each  like  are  still 
very  dissimilar,  as  are  also  our  notions  of  the  prices  or  worth  of  things,  this  makes  it  indispen- 
sable that  we  both  first  make  a  mutual  trial  and  examination."  This  shows  the  spirit  in  wliich 
they  negotiated.  The  treaty  has  already  been  laid  before  tlie  reader.  A  brief  analysis  of  it  is 
all  that  is  here  necessary.  And  it  is  to  be  remarked  first,  that  it  evidently  implies,  in  its 
language  and  proper  construction,  future  and  more  enlarged  regulations  as  to  commerce.  Thus, 
in  article  VI,  it  is  declared:  "If  there  be  any  other  sort  of  goods  wanted,  or  any  business 
which  shall  require  to  be  arranged,  there  shall  be  careful  deliberation  between  the  parties  in 
order  to  settle  such  matters."  And  again,  in  article  VII,  "It  is  agreed  that  ships  of  the 
United  States,  resorting  to  the  ports  open  to  them,  shall  be  permitted  to  exchange  gold  and 
silver  coin  and  articles  of  goods  for  other  articles  of  goods,  under  such  regulations  as  shall  be 
temporarily  establi.shed  by  the  Japanese  government  for  that  purpose."  In  both  these  articles 
the  Japanese  substituted  the  word  "  goods"  for  "  merchandise,"  as  from  their  ignorance  of  the 
customs  and  terms  used  in  foreign  trade,  they  did  not  know  what  might  be  included  in  the 
technical  meaning  of  the  word  "  merchandise ;"  while  "goods"  had,  to  their  minds,  a  well 
defined  and  perfectly  intelligible  signification.  The  words  "shall  be,"  in  the  sixth  article, 
point  to  the  probable  necessity  o{ future  treaty-making  with  us,  to  "  settle"  "  any  business  which 
shall  require  to  be  arranged."  This,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  the  first  formal  treaty  they 
ever  made  on  the  subject  of  foreign  trade,  at  least  since  the  expulsion  of  the  Portuguese,  and 
they  evidently  meant  to  proceed  cautiously  by  single  steps.  Again,  in  article  VII,  the  word 
"  temporarily"  is  used,  inserted  by  them,  and  meant  to  imply  some  future  action  toward  a  more 
comjjlete  commercial  arrangement  or  treaty,  for  which,  at  the  present,  they  were  not  prepared. 
They  meant,  therefore,  their  action  to  be  initiative  only  now,  but  contemplating,  prospectively, 
a  more  enlarged  commercial  intercourse. 

Secondly.  There  is  observable  throughout,  the  predominating  influence  of  the  national 
prejudice  against  the  permanent  introduction  of  foreigners  among  them.  The  word  "reside" 
is  but  once  used  in  the  whole  treaty,  and  that  in  the  eleventh  article  relative  to  consuls.  The 
details  of  conferences,  already  given,  show  how  anxiously  they  sought  to  avoid  having  consuls  at 
all.  Indeed,  Commodore  Perry  says,  "I  could  only  induce  the  commissioners  to  agree  to  this 
article,  by  endeavoring  to  convince  them  that  it  would  save  the  Japanese  government  much 
trouble,  if  an  American  agent  were  to  reside  at  one  or  both  of  the  ports  opened  by  the  treaty, 
to  whom  complaints  might  be  made  of  any  mal-practice  of  the  United  States'  citizens  who 
might  visit  the  Japanese  dominions."  They  wanted  no  permanent  foreign  residents  among 
them,  official  or  unofficial.  This  was  shown  most  unequivocally  in  the  remark  already  recorded 
in  one  of  tlie  conferences:  "  loe  do  not  zvant  any  women  to  come  and  remain  at  Simoda."  Simoda 
was  one  of  the  ports  open  for  trade  with  us,  they  knew  tliat  our  people  had  wives  and  daughters, 
and  that  a  man's  family  were  ordinarily  resident  with  him  in  his  permanent  abode,  and  that  if 
the  head  of  the  family  lived  in  Simoda  as  a  Japanese  would  live,  there  would  certainly  be 


TREATIES     OF     OTHEU     POWERS     WITH     JAPAN.  387 

w^omcn  who  would  "come  and  remain  at  Simoda."  But  more  tlian  this.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  Commodore  had  submitted  to  them  our  treaty  with  China,  and  tlicy  had  held  it  under 
consideration  for  a  week,  at  the  end  of  which  time  they  said,  "  as  to  opening  a  trade,  such  as  is 
now  carried  on  by  China  with  your  country,  we  certainly  cannot  yet  bring  it  about.  The 
Chinese  have  long  had  intercourse  with  western  nations,  while  we  have  had  dealings  at 
Nagasaki  with  only  the  people  of  Holland  and  China."  Now  what  was  "  such  a  trade"  as  we 
carried  on  with  Ciiina  ?  Tlie  Japanese  read  in  our  treaty  that  five  ports  were  open  to  us,  that 
permission  was  given  "to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  frequent"  them;  and  further, 
"  to  reside  with  their  families  and  trade  there."  This  they  deliberately  declined  assenting  to 
when  they  refused  to  make  a  treaty  similar  to  that  with  China.  Tliey  surely  would  not  afterward 
knowingly  insert  it  in  any  treaty  they  might  make  with  us.  The  only  permanent  residence  to 
which  they  gave  assent,  and  that  most  reluctantly,  was  the  residence  of  a  consul.  Temporary 
residence  was  allowed  to  our  shipwrecked  citizens,  as  well  as  to  tiiose  who  went  to  Simoda 
or  Hakodadi  on  commercial  business.  They  are  allowed  to  land,  to  walk  where  they  please 
within  certain  limits,  to  enter  shops  and  temples  without  restriction,  to  jiurchase  in  the  shops, 
and  have  the  articles  sent  to  the  proper  public  office  duly  marked,  where  they  will  pay  for  them, 
to  resort  to  public  houses  or  inns  that  are  to  be  built  for  their  refreshment,  "  when  on  shore" 
at  Simoda  and  Hakodadi ;  and  until  built,  a  temple,  at  each  place,  is  assigned  "as  a  resting 
place  for  persons  in  their  walks."  They  may  accept  invitations  to  partake  of  the  hospitality  of 
any  of  the  Japanese  ;  but  they  are  not  permitted  to  enter  "  military  establishments  or  private 
houses  without  leave."  Without  leave,  our  citizens  cannot  enter  them  within  the  territories  of 
any  nation  with  which  we  have  a  treaty.  In  short,  the  whole  treaty  shows  that  the  purpose  of 
the  Japanese  was  to  try  the  experiment  of  intercourse  with  us  before  they  made  it  as  extensive 
or  as  intimate  as  it  is  between  us  and  the  Chinese.  It  was  all  they  would  do  at  the  time,  and 
much,  very  much,  was  obtained  on  the  part  of  our  negotiator  in  procuring  a  concession  even  to 
this  extent. 

But,  as  he  knew  that  our  success  would  be  but  the  forerunner  of  that  of  other  powers,  and  as 
he  believed  that  new  relations  of  trade  once  commenced,  not  only  with  ourselves,  but  with 
England,  France,  Holland,  and  Russia,  could  not,  in  the  progress  of  events,  fail  effectually  and 
forever  to  break  up  the  old  restrictive  policy,  and  open  Japan  to  the  world,  but  must  also  lead 
gradually  to  liberal  commercial  treaties,  he  wisely,  in  the  ninth  article,  secured  to  the  United 
States  and  their  citizens,  without  "  consultation  or  delay,"  all  privileges  and  advantages  which 
Japan  might  hereafter  "  grant  to  any  other  nation  or  nations."  And  the  Commodore's 
comments  on  this  article,  conclusively  show,  that  he,  at  least,  did  not  suppose  he  had  made  a 
"commercial  treaty." 

"Article  IX.  This  is  a  most  important  article,  as  there  can  be  little  doubt  that,  on  hearing 
of  the  success  of  this  mission,  the  English,  French,  and  Russians  will  follow  our  example  ;  and 
it  may  be  reasonable  to  suppose  that  each  will  gain  some  additional  advantage,  until  a  commercial 
treaty  is  accomplished.  Article  IX  will  give  to  Americans,  without  further  consultation,  all 
these  advantages." 

As  far  as  we  have  yet  learned,  all  other  powers  have  been  content  to  obtain  just  what  we,  as 
pioneers,  have  obtained.     Their  treaties  are  like  ours.*     That  of  Russia  is  copied  from  ours,  with 

•  In  a  note  to  page  63,  we  have  said  intclliirenco  had  reached  ua  of  a  commercial  treaty  hetween  Enr;Iand  and  Japan.  Wo 
have  reason  to  think  this  is  a  mistake.  If  there  be  such  a  treaty,  wo  are  entitled,  under  our  9th  article,  to  all  its  privileges  and 
advantages,  at  once. 


388  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

no  diange  liut  that  of  the  snhstitution  of  the  port  of  Nagasaki  for  Kapha  in  Lew  Chew.  "We 
respectfully  submit,  therefore,  that  all,  and  indeed,  more  than  all,  that,  under  the  circumstances, 
could  reasonably  have  been  expected,  has  been  accomplished.  Japan  has  been  opened  to  the 
nations  of  the  west,  and  it  is  not  to  be  believed,  that  having  once  effected  an  entrance,  the 
enlightened  powers  that  have  made  treaties  with  her  will  go  backward,  and,  by  any  indiscretion, 
lose  what,  after  so  many  unavailing  efforts  for  centuries,  has  at  last  been  happily  attained.  It 
belongs  to  these  nations  to  show  Japan  that  her  interests  will  be  promoted  by  communication 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written  the  treaty  with  England  has  reached  us.  We  subjoin  it,  with  the  expression  of  our  regret 
that  .iVdniiral  Stirling  could  obtain  no  more  than  he  did,  as  all  he  might  obtain  beyond  what  we  had,  would,  under  article  IX  of 
our  treaty,  have  inured  at  once  to  our  benefit,  as  well  as  that  of  England. 

[From  the  London  Gazette,  of  January  15.] 
CONVENTION  BETWEEN  HER  MAJESTY  QUEEN  VICTORIA  AND  THE  EMPEROR  OF  JAPAN. 

CONTENTION     BETWEEN     HER     MAJESTY     AND     THE     EMPEROR    OF    JAPAN,    SIGNED    AT    NAGASAKI,    IN    THE    ENGLISH     AND     JAPANESE 
LANGUAGE,    OCTOBER    14,    1854,    RATIFICATIONS    EXCHANGED    AT    NAGASAKI,    OCTOBER    9,    1855. 

Convention  for  regulating  the  admission  of  British  ships  into  the  ports  of  Japan. 

It  is  agreed  between  Sir  James  Stirling,  knight,  rear  admiral,  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  ships  and  vessels  of  her  Britannic 
Majesty  in  the  East  Indies  and  seas  adjacent,  and  Mezi-no  f'liekfusno  Kami,  Obm  yo  of  Nagasaki,  and  Nagai  Evan  Ocho, 
Omedski  of  Nagasaki,  ordered  by  his  Imperial  Highness  the  Emperor  of  Japan  to  act  herein,  that — 

1.  The  ports  of  Nagasaki  (Fisen)  and  Hakodadi  (Matsmai)  shall  be  open  to  British  ships  for  the  purposes  of  effecting  repairs 
and  obtaininii-  fresh  water,  provisions,  and  other  supplies  of  any  sort  they  may  absolutely  want  for  the  use  of  the  ships. 

2.  Nao-asaki  shall  be  open  for  the  purposes  aforesaid  from  and  after  the  present  date,  and  Hakodadi  from  and  after  the  end 
of  fifty  days  from  the  admiral's  departure  from  this  port.  The  rules  and  regulations  of  each  of  these  ports  are  to  be  complied 
with. 

3.  Only  ships  in  distress  from  weather,  or  unmanageable,  will  be  permitted  to  enter  other  ports  than  those  specified  in  the 
foregoing  articles,  without  permission  from  the  Imperial  government. 

4.  British  ships  in  Japanese  ports  shall  conform  to  the  laws  of  Japan.  If  high  officers  or  commanders  of  ships  shall  break 
any  such  laws,  it  will  lead  to  the  ports  being  closed.  Should  inferior  persons  break  them,  they  are  to  be  delivered  over  to  tha 
commanders  of  their  ships  for  punishment. 

5.  In  the  ports  of  Japan,  either  now  open  or  which  may  hereafter  be  opened  to  the  ships  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  nation, 
British  ships  and  subjects  shall  be  entitled  to  admission  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  an  equality  of  advantages  with  those  of  the 
most  fiivored  nation,  always  excepting  the  advantages  accruing  to  the  Dutch  and  Chinese  from  their  existing  relations  with 
Japan. 

C.  This  convention  shall  be  ratified,  and  ratifications  shall  be  exchanged,  at  Nagasaki,  on  behalf  of  her  Majesty  the  Queen 
of  Great  Britain,  and  on  behalf  of  his  Highness  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  within  twelve  months  from  the  present  date. 

7.  When  tliis  convention  shall  be  ratified,  no  high  officer  coming  to  Japan  shall  alter  it. 

In  witness  wnereof  we  have  signed  the  same,  and  have  affixed  our  seals  thereunto,  at  Nagasaki,  this  14th  day  of  October,  1854. 

JAMES  STIRLING. 
N.  B.  The  Japanese  text  was  signed  by  the  Japanese  plenipotentiaries. 

Exposition  of  the  Articles  of  the  Convention  of  .N'agasaki  of  the   Wth  of  Oc/o6er,  1854,  agreed  to  on  the  \%th  of  October,  1855,  by 
their  Excellencies  the  Rear-Admiral  Cominanding-in-  Chief  and  the  Japanese  Commissioners. 

1.  The  ports  of  Nagasaki  (Fizen)  and  Hakodadi  (Matsmai)  The  first  article  of  the  convention  ooens  the  ports  of  Naga- 
shall  be  open  to  British  ships  for  the  purposes  of  effecting  re-  saki  and  Hakodadi  to  British  ships  for  repairs  and  supplies.  It 
pairs  and  obtaining  fresh  water,  provisions,  and  other  supplies  opens  the  whole  and  every  part  of  those  ports  ;  but  ships  must 
of  any  sort  they  may  absolutely  want  for  the  use  of  the  ships.  bo  guided  in  anchoring  by  the  directions  of  the  local  govern- 
ment. Safe  and  convenient  places  will  be  assigned  where  ships 
may  be  repaired.  Workmen,  materials  and  supplies  will  be  provided  by  the  local  government  according  to  a  tariff  to  bo  agreed 
upon,  by  which,  also,  the  modes  of  payment  will  be  regulated.  All  official  communications  will  hereafter,  when  Japanese  shall 
have  time  to  learn  English,  be  made  in  that  language.  A  British  burying  ground  shall  bo  set  apart  on  Medsurae  Sima,  fenced 
in  by  a  stone  wall  and  properly  protected. 

2.  Nagasaki  shall  be  open  for  the  purposes  aforesaid  from  The  second  article  provides  that  at  each  of  the  ports  of  Na- 
and  after  the  present  date  ;  and  Hakodadi  from  and  after  the  gasaki  and  Hakodadi  the  port  regulations  shall  be  obeyed  ;  but 
end  of  fifty  days  from  the  Admiral's  departure  from  this  port,  the  Japanese  government  will  take  care  that  they  shall  not  be 
The  rules  and  regulations  of  each  of  these  (lorts  arc  to  be  com-  of  a  nature  to  create  embarrassment,  nor  to  contradict  in  any 
plied  with.  other  way  the  general  tenor  and  intent  of  the  treaty,  the  main 

object  of  which  is  to   promote  a  friendly  intercourse  between 
Great  Britain  and  Japan. 


TREATIES     OF      OTHER      POWERS      IVITH      JAPAN.  389 

with  them  ;  and,  as  prejudice  gradually  vanif3hes,  vre  may  hope  to  see  the  future  necjotiation  of 
commercial  treaties,  more  and  more  liberal,  for  the  benefit,  not  of  ourselves  only,  hut  of  all  the 
maritime  powers  of  Europe,  for  the  advancement  of  Japan,  and  for  the  upward  progress  of  our 
common  humanity.     It  would  be  a  foul  reproach  to  Christendom  now  to  force  Japan  to  relapse 

3.  Only  ships  in  distress  from  weather,  or  unmanajreable,  will  The  third  article  declares  that  only  ships  in  distress  from 
be  permitted  to  enter  other  ports  than  those  specified  in  the  fore-  weather,  or  uninana{»eahle,  shall  enter  other  ports  than  Naga- 
going  articles,  without  permission  from  the  imperial  govern-  saki  and  Hokadadi  without  permission  from  the  imperial  ijov- 
ment.  ernment;  but  ships  of  war   have  a  general   right  to  enter  the 

ports  of  friendly  powers  in  the  unavoidablu  performance  of  public 
duties,  which  right  can  neither  be  waived  nor  restricted  :but  her  Majesty's  sliips  will  not  enter  any  other  tlian  open  ports  without 
necessity,  nor  without  offering  proper  explanation  to  the  imperial  authorities. 

4.  British  ships  in  Japanese  ports  shall  conform  to  the  laws  The  fourth  article  provides  that  the  British  ships  and  subjects 
of  Japan.  If  high  officers  or  commanders  of  ships  shall  break  in  Japanese  ports  shall  conform  to  the  laws  of  Japan  ;  and  that 
any  such  laws,  it  will  lead  to  the  ports  being  closed.  Should  if  any  subordinate  British  subjects  couimit  otfences  against  the 
inferior  persons  break  them,  they  are  to  be  delivered  over  to  laws,  they  shall  be  handed  over  to  their  own  officers  for  punish- 
the  commanders  of  their  ships  for  punishment.  ment ;  and  that  if  high  officers  or  commanders  of  ships  shall 

break  the  laws,  it  will  lead  to  the  closing  of  the  ports  specified  . 
All  this  is  as  it  should  be  ;  but  it  is  not  intended  by  this  article  that  any  acts  of  individuals,  whether  high  or  low,  previously  un- 
authorized or  subsequently  disapproved  of  by  her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  can  set  aside  the  convention  entered  into 
with  her  Majesty  alone  by  his  Imperial  Highness  the  Emperor  of  Japan. 

5.  In  the  ports  of  Japan,  either  now  open,  or  which  may  The  fifth  article  secures  in  the  fullest  sense  to  British  ships 
hereafter  be  opened,  to  the  ships  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  na-  and  subjects  in  every  port  of  Japan,  either  now  open  or  here- 
tion,  British  ships  and  subjects  shall  be  entitled  to  admission,  after  to  be  opened,  an  equality  in  point  of  advantage  and  ac- 
and  to  the  enjoyment  of  an  equality  of  advantages  with  those  commodation  with  the  ships  and  subjects  orcitizens  of  any  other 
of  the  most  favored  nation,  always  excepting  the  advantages  foreign  nation,  excepting  any  peculiar  privileges  hitherto  con- 
accruing  to  the  Dutch  and  Chinese  from  their  existing  relations  ceded  to  the  Dutch  and  Chinese  in  the  port  of  Nagasaki.  If, 
with  Japan.  therefore,  any  other  nation  or  people  be  now  or  hereafter  per- 
mitted to  enter  other  ports  than    IN'agasaki,  and   Hakodadi,  or 

to    appoint   consuls,  or  to  open  trade,  or  to  enjoy  any  advantage  or  privilege    whatever,  British  ships  and   subjects  shall,  as  ot 
right,  enter  upon  the  enjoyment  of  the  same. 

6.  This  convention  shall  be  ratified,  and  the  ratification  shall  be  exchanged  at  Nagasaki  on  behalf  of  her  Majesty  the  Queen 
of  Great  Britain,  and  on  behalf  of  his  Highness  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  within  twelve  months  from  the  present  date. 

7.  When  this  convention  shall  be  ratified  no  high  officer  coming  to  Japan  shall  alter  it. 

ARRANGEMENT  REGARDING  STAMPS. 

An  arrangement  made  subsequently  to  the  convention  requires  that  British  ships  intending  to  visit  Japan  shall  be  provided 
with  a  document  in  proof  of  their  nationality,  and  as  a  check  upon  the  conduct  of  vessels  in  Japanese  ports;  and  her  Majesty's 
government  has  directed  a  form  of  certificate  of  registration  to  be  adopted,  which  has  been  accepted  as  satisfactory  by  the 
Japanese  authorities;  and  merchant  ships  arriving  in  Japanese  ports  are  to  submit  their  certificate  of  registration  to  the 
officers  to  be  appointed  by  the  Japanese  authorities,  and  to  permit  them  to  make  such  extracts  from  it  as  may  seem  good  to 
them  before  such  ships  can  be  admitted  to  obtain  repairs  and  supplies.  Her  Majesty's  ships  of  war  will  not  be  provided  with 
such  documents,  but  the  officers  in  command,  upon  proper  application,  will  afford  all  reasonable  information  reirardino-  their 
ships, 

REGCLATIOS'l    FOR    THE    PORT    OF     NAGASAKI,    COMMUNICATED     TO     REAR     ADMIRAL     SIR    JAMES     STERLING     BT    THE     GOVERNOR    OP 

NAGASAKI,    OCTOBER,    1854. 

Standing  port  regulaliom. 

Art.   1.  Ships  shall  anchor  within  two  sima,  and  there  await  the  direction  of  the  governor. 

Art.  2.  No  fire  arms  to  be  discharged. 

Art.  3.  No  person  to  land  on  any  of  the  islands. 

Art.  4.   No  soundings  to  be  taken,  nor  boats  to  be  pulling  about. 

Art.  5.  Should  any  communication  be  desired,  a  bout  of  the  upper  officers  shall  be  called;  but  no  communication  shall  be 
held  with  merchant  boats,  and  no  exchange  of  articles  take  place,  or  trading  of  any  sort. 

The  above  being  according  to  the  law  of  Great  Japan,  all  commanders  and  other  officers  shall  obey  the  same,  and  orden  ihall 
bo  given  to  the  crew  that  the  aforesaid  law  shall  not  be  broken. 

No  regulations  for  the  port  of  Hakodadi  have  yet  been  communicated. 


Of  the  Dateh  treaty,  all  wo  know  is  contained  in  the  following  newspaper  paragraph  : 

THE  DUTCH  TRE.'^TY  WITH  JAPAN. 

In  reference  to  the  treaty  between  the   Dutch  and   the  Empfror  of  Japan,  a   private  letter  from  Batavia    under  date  of 
December  5,  to  a  party  in  Boston,  «ayi :  "  The  Dutch  royal  coinmiasioners  have  returned  from  Japan,  and  Captain  Fnbins  is  off 


390  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

into  her  cheerless  and  nnprogressive  state  of  unnatural  isolation.  She  is  the  youngest  sister 
in  the  circle  of  commercial  nations  ;  let  those  who  are  older  kindly  take  her  by  the  hand,  and 
aid  her  tottering  steps,  until  she  has  reached  a  vigor  that  will  enable  her  to  walk  firmly  in 
her  own  strength.  Cautious  and  kindly  treatment  now  will  soon  lead  to  commercial  treaties 
as  liberal  as  can  be  desired.* 


with  this  steamer  to  take  the  treaty  overland.  By  favor  of  a  private  friend  I  have  seen  a  copy  of  it,  and  a  more  silly,  stupid 
document  I  have  never  read.  Things  remain  as  they  have  done  for  the  last  two  hundred  years,  only  the  Dutch  resident  of 
Decima  may  enter  and  circulate  freely  in  the  town  of  Nagasaki  without  tlie  usual  guard  of  honor.  The  ground  on  which  the  factory 
buildings  stand  and  the  buildings  themselves  become  the  property  of  the  Dutch  by  purchase.  No  concessions  are  to  be  made  by 
the  Japanese  to  other  nations  without  the  Dutch  participating  in  them.  The  only  clause  which  appears  distantly  to  hint  to  any 
future  change  is  wlien  the  opperhoofel,  (or  chief  agent  of  the  government,)  at  Decima,  is  appointed  and  recognised  as  repre- 
senting the  Dutch  government,  in  the  event  of  the  Japanese  seeing  fit,  at  any  time,  to  desire  to  treat  for  further  concessions. 
The  treaty  is  not,  I  believe,  to  be  published." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  all  other  powers  have  encountered  difficulties  similar  to  those  we  met,  and  none  have  made  a  treaty 
more  liberal  then  ours. 


•Note. — Scarcely  had  this  chapter  been  completed,  before  the  public  prints  of  the  country  brought  to  ournotice  the  results  of 
the  first  voyage  made  to  Hakodadi  after  the  signing  of  the  treaty.  The  facts  appear  to  be  substantially  as  follows:  On  the  13th 
of  February,  18.55,  the  .4merican  schooner  C.  E.  Foote  sailed  from  Honolulu  for  Japan,  via  the  Bonin  islands.  The  vessel  was 
fitted  out  by  Messrs.  Reed  and  Douffherty,  American  citizens,  and  was  loaded,  for  the  most  part,  with  articles  of  ship  chandlery, 
chains  and  anchors,  pork  and  beef;  sails,  tar,  cordage,  &,c.  The  purpose  of  the  voyage  was  to  fulfil  a  contract  "  to  establish  at 
Hakodadi  a  supply  depot  for  American  whale  ships,  so  that  they  may  winter  at  that  place  instead  of  Honolulu."  Among  the 
passengers  were  .Mr.  Heed  and  his  family,  and  Mr.  Doty  and  his  family.  These  families  included  three  American  ladies  and 
some  children.  On  the  l.'ith  of  March  the  vessel  arrived  at  Simoda.  She  there  found  some  of  the  officers  and  crew  of  the 
Russian  frigate  Diana,  which  had  been  wrecked  by  the  effects  of  an  earthquake  at  Smioda  in  the  previous  December.  The 
Foote  had  touched  at  Simoda  in  the  expectation  of  meeting  there  the  United  States  ships  Powhatan  and  Vandalia,  to  which  she 
carried  letters,  and  also  to  consume  the  time  that  had  to  elapse,  some  few  weeks,  before,  under  the  treaty,  the  port  of  Hakodadi 
would  be  open  to  our  vessels.  On  the  arrival  of  the  vessel,  guard  and  shore  boats  surrounded  her,  and  great  curiosity  was 
manifested  to  see  the  American  ladies.  Tlie  Russians  were  an.xious  to  get  away,  and  the  owners  of  the  American  vessel  at 
once  negotiated  with  them  to  take  them  to  Petropaulowski.  This  made  it  necessary  to  land  all  the  passengers  and  a  part  of  the 
cargo  at  Simoda.  The  schooner  having  been  chartered,  and  her  provisions  sold  to  the  Russians,  Mr.  Reed  and  Mr.  Duty,  with 
the  three  ladies  of  the  party  and  the  children,  landed,  and  were  assigned  a  residence  in  one  of  the  temples  named  in  the  treaty 
to  be  used  for  that  purpose  until  inns  should  be  built,  and  carpenters  were  employed  to  make  it  convenient.  The  Japanese 
were  very  curious  to  see  the  ladies  and  children ;  but  the  temple  and  grounds  were  considered  as  exclusively  the  Americans. 
No  Japanese,  Mr.  Reed  states,  in  a  communication  to  the  "  Alta  Californian,"  except  the  officers,  were  permitted  to  enter  but 
by  special  permission.  "  To  guard  against  intrusion,"  (thus  he  writes,)  "  four  officers  are  stationed  at  the  gate,  and  are  relieved 
every  few  hours.  The  watch  is  kept  up  day  and  night.  Near  the  gate  is  a  small  house  in  which  are  stationed  five  other  officers, 
who  transmit  all  messages  to  or  from  us,  introduce  to  us  all  who  are  allowed  to  enter,  and  make  for  us  all  the  purchases  we 
require."  The  list  of  articles  of  food  furnished  is  both  varied  and  extensive.  Nor  were  the  Americans  confined  to  the  temple. 
Mr.  Reed  thus  writes:  "  In  walking  into  the  coimtry,  we  found  that  pleasing  views  invited  us  from  one  point  to  anotlier,  from 
mountain  peak  to  mountain  peak,  as  we  admired  the  strangeness  and  richness  and  beauty,  until,  though  we  started  only  for  a 
morning  walk,  we  often  wandered  too  far  to  return  the  same  night."  The  amusements  of  the  party  were  not  disturbed  ;  for,  on 
the  evening  of  the  2Dd  of  March,  the  Americans  united  with  the  Russian  officers  in  celebrating,  in  the  temple,  by  music  and 
dancintr,  the  birthday  anniversary  of  one  of  their  number.  Nor  was  this  all :  the  time  of  the  sojourn  of  our  countrymen  was 
about  two  months  and  a  lialf;  and,  during  this  period,  as  appears  from  Mr.  Doty's  communication  to  the  "San  Francisco 
Herald,"  "  Mr.  Reed  spent  his  time  in  selecting  and  purchasing  a  cargo  of  Japan  goods  for  San  Francisco,  composed  of  lacquer 
ware,  rice,  silks,  fiC,  &c.,"  which  cargo,  the  California  papers  inform  us,  was  afterward  sold  at  San  Francisco  at  a  large  profit. 

It  would  appear,  therefore,  briefly  to  recapitulate,  that  our  countrymen  were  permitted  to  land  in  Japan,  were  furnished  with 
a  house  which  was  made  comfortable  for  their  residence,  were  permitted  to  store  part  of  the  cargo  of  their  vessel,  were 
plentifully  supplied  with  necessary  food,  were  permitted  to  walk  about  the  country,  were  not  molested  in  their  amusements, 
and  were  allowed  to  purchase  a  cargo  from  the  Japanese  and  take  it  away.  Now,  not  one  of  these  things  could  any  American 
have  done  but  for  the  treaty  made  by  Commodore  Perry. 

Mr.  Reed  further  writes,  in  the  columns  of  the  "  Alta  Californian  :"  "  The  Japanese  began  early  to  interrogate  us  upon  our 
intentions,  and  we  told  them  in  writing  that  we  came  there  to  live."  In  the  letter  of  Reed  and  Dougherty,  addressed  to  the 
governor  of  Simoda,  on  the  22d  of  A[)ril,  1855,  as  published  in  the  "  New  York  Herald"  of  the  15th  of  October,  1855,  they 
thus  state  their  intentions  :  "We  touched  hero,  expecting  to  meet  the  Powhatan  and  Vandalia,  to  which  we  h.ad  letters,  and 
also  to  consume  time,  knowing  that,  by  the  treaty,  we  could  not  go  to  that  place  (Hakodadi)  before  the  middle  or  last  of  thi" 
month." 

"We  found  the  officers  and  crew  of  the  wrecked  ship  Diana  here,  and  anxious  to  go  away,  and  we  at  once  negotiated  to 
transport  them  to  Petropaulowski.  On  this  account  it  became  necessary  for  us  to  come  on  shore,  and  also  to  land  part  of  our 
cargo  and  all  the  passengers." 

"  It  wan  not  nur  design  to  land  hero,  nor  ia  it  our  intention  now  to  remain  here  longer  than  till  our  vessel  returns,  which  we 


CASE  OF  THE  SCHOONER  FOOTE.  391 

now  expect  in  fifteen  or  twenty  days.     Should  our  schooner  be  lost  and  never  return,  our  plans  may  be  chang^ed  altogether  ;  and 
should  we  not  hear  trom  her  tor  two  months  to  come,  we  then  may  seek  other  means  of  convevance  from  this  place." 

"  Our  object  is  not  to  mingle  or  trade  with  the  Japanese,  but  to  trade  with  and  assist  our  own  people  and  ships  that  visi 
Japan." 

As  to  the  treaty,  the  letter  proceeds:  "  We  know  well  the  interpretation  and  meaning  given  to  it  by  our  government." 
"  We  shall  never  compromise  our  government  by  saying  that  we  have  no  right  to  remain  here  a  week,  a  month,  a  year,  or  even 
five  years,  for  we  know,  by  the  treaty,  we  have  a  perfect  right  so  to  do." 

Mr.  Doty,  in  his  letter  to  the  authorities  of  Simoda,  dated  the  23d  of  April,  as  published  in  the  "  New  York  Herald"  of 
October  15,  1855,  thus  writes  : 

**  I  give  you  in  writing  the  following  reason  for  my  sojourn  at  this  place  : 

"  I  arrived  in  this  port  on  the  15th  ult.,  on  board  the  American  vessel  C.  E.  Foote.  Soon  after  our  arrival,  I  was  informed 
that  the  vessel  would  sail  hence  to  Heda,  and  from  thence  to  a  foreign  port,  with  officers  and  men  of  the  late  Russian  frigate 
Diana.  Not  wishing  to  make  the  above  voyage  with  my  family,  I  came  on  shore,  and  now  must  necessarily  remain  here  until 
the  return  of  our  vessel,  when  it  is  my  intention  to  leave  Simoda. 

"  If  the  vessel  should  not  return  after  a  reasonable  time  for  making  the  voyage  has  elapsed,  I  shall  avail  myself  of  the  first 
opportunity  that  offers  to  sail  direct  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

"  In  answer  to  the  question  of  right  of  Americans  to  reside  here,  I  would  most  respectfully  beg  leave  to  represent  that,  in  my 
opinion,  it  is  a  matter  to  be  settled  by  our  respective  governments,  and,  therefore,  decline  making  any  further  communication 
upon  this  subject." 

A  proclamatiou  was  then  issued  by  the  authorities  of  Simoda,  as  follows  : 

"PROCLAMATION. 
"  To  TBE  American's  at  Yokcshec  Temple  : 

"  About  your  leaving  this  place,  your  intention  is  heard,  which  you  have  declared  that  staying  in  this  place  is  not  properly 
your  intention.  But  because  the  Russians  have  engaged  the  vessel  manned  by  you,  with  which  they  have  gone  home,  you 
have  been  compelled  to  stay  here,  and  that  vou  will,  on  the  return  of  the  vessel,  leave  this  place,  or  should  she  not  return  in 
the  intended  time,  to  await  the  arrival  of  a  vessel  that  sails  for  your  country,  and  with  that  vessel  to  leave  this  place. 

"  According  to  this  declaration,  you  must,  on  the  return  of  your  vessel,  leave  this  place;  or  should  she  uot  return  in  the 
declared  time,  then,  upon  the  arrival  of  an  American  ship,  you  must  leave  this  place,  without,  at  that  time,  e.xpressing  any 
excuse  to  delay  you. 

"  Your  present  stay  among  us  is  found  necessary,  but  it  cannot  in  future  be  taken  as  an  example. 

"  Never  let  it  be  asked  again  to  stay.  It  is  not  only  so  in  this  place,  but  also  at  Hakodadi,  which  you  and  all  Americans  are 
obliged  to  observe. 

"  The  foregoing  is  communicated  by  word  of  mouth  from  the  governor  of  Simoda." 

Soon  after  this.  Commander  Rogers,  of  the  United  States  surveying  expedition  to  the  North  Pacific,  arrived  at  Simoda  in  the 
Vincennes,  and  to  him  the  Americans  appealed.  This  officer,  taking  distinctly  the  ground  that  the  proper  interpretation  of  the 
treaty  was  not  confided  to  him,  but  could  be  settled  only  by  the  two  governments  of  Japan  and  the  United  States,  still 
endeavored,  by  a  temperate  and  judicious  letter  to  the  authorities  of  Simoda,  to  induce  them  to  put  a  ditferent  construction  from 
that  they  had  adopted  upon  the  "  temporary  residence"  allowed  to  Americans  under  the  treaty  ;  his  effort,  however,  was 
fruitless. 

But  the  object  of  Messrs.  Reed  and  Dougherty,  as  they  have  stated  it  in  the  "San  Francisco  Herald"  of  the  18th  of 
September,  1855,  was  to  transport  goods,  and  to  establish  themselves  in  Hakodadi  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  our  whale  ships 
that  designed  to  winter  there  instead  of  at  Honolulu.  In  other  words,  their  object  was  to  make  at  Hakodadi  a  permanent 
commercial  agency  and  supply  depot  for  whale  ships;  to  live  in  Japan  with  their  families,  just  as  they  would  live  in  any 
European  foreign  port  where  they  might  establish  a  storehouse.  They,  therefore,  while  yet  at  Simoda,  on  the  20th  of  May, 
addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  governor  of  Hakodadi,  and  forwarded  it  by  the  Vincennes,  that  was  about  to  sail  for 
Hakodadi : 

"To  His  Excellency  the  Governor  of  Hakodadi  : 

"  We  have  the  honor  to  communicate  with  you,  through  Commodore  Rodgers,  commanding  the  United  States  surveying 
expedition,  and  who  visits  your  place  to  meet  a  part  of  his  squadron,  and  also  to  survey  and  make  a  chart  of  your  harbor.  We 
are  merchants  on  our  way  to  your  place,  to  make  a  temporary  residence  there,  in  order  that  we  may  receive  and  supply  a 
certain  number  of  our  ships  that  are  daily  expected  there.  The  supplies  we  intend  to  furnish  are  necessary,  and  cannot  be 
furnished  by  the  Japanese,  for  they  have  them  not,  such  as  chains  and  anchors,  pork  and  beef,  sails,  tar  and  cordage,  and  ship, 
chandlery  generally.  We  have  our  families  with  us,  and  shall  require  or  want  a  house  for  them  to  live  in,  and  also  a  building 
to  store  our  goods,  for  which  we  expect  to  pay  a  reasonable  compensation  or  sum  of  money.  We  have  been  living  here  (at 
Simoda)  fur  the  past  three  months,  awaiting  the  return  of  our  vessel  to  take  us  to  your  place.  When  it  returns,  (and  we  expect 
it  every  day,)  we  shall  leave  this  place  for  Hakodadi.  On  our  arrival  there,  wo  trust  your  excellency,  in  the  absence  of  hotels 
and  inns,  will  have  selected  a  suitable  place  for  our  families  to  reside,  and  also  to  store  our  goods.  Sutler  us,  also,  to  ask  of 
your  honor  to  inform  any  of  our  ships  which  may  arrive  there  before  us  that  we  are  at  this  place,  and  expect  soon  o  be  at 
Hakodadi." 

To  this  an  answer  was  sent  throu^'h  Commander  Rodgers,  the  purport  of  which  will  be  seen  from  the  following  comniunicalion, 
sent  by  that  gentleniau  to  Messrs.  Reed  and  Dougherty: 

"  Unitid  States  Ship  Vimcejines,  Hakodadi,  June  19,  1855. 
"  Gentlemen  :    The  governor  of  flakodadi   has  replied   to  my  application   for  permission   for  you  to   reside  on  shore,  in 
ascordauce  with  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  of  Kanagawa,  that  tsniporary,  used  lu  ths  trsaty   msaus  a  short  tune — he  thinks 


392 


SXPfiDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


five  or  ten  days,  or,  at  the  utmost,  a  few  months.  Unless  I  will  consent  to  his  definition,  by  asking  for  some  short  definite 
period,  after  wlii.h  you  may  be  sent  away,  he  utterly  refuses  to  permit  you  to  sleep  on  shore  a  singlCnight.  1  have  replied  that 
I  dare  not  define  temporary  residence  in  other  than  the  usual  manner.  That  if  two  governments,  in  their  wisdom,  preferred  to 
give  you  permission  to  "  live  temporarily"  in  Hakodadi,  I  would  not  so  circumscrilie  the  meaning  of  the  treaty. 

•■  I  apprehend  no  difliculiy  in  obtaining  permission  for  you  to  live  for  a  few  months  in  Hakodadi ;  but  I  must  say  how  long  you 
may  remain.  After  the  time  expires,  the  Japanese  will  consider  that  you  cease  to  be  temporary  residents,  and  that  you 
commence  to  live  permanently.  If  permanent  residence  is  not  in  the  treaty,  they  will  then  have  a  right  to  send  you  away. 
1  have  been  officially  informed  of  the  fact,  and,  therefore,  say  to  you  offi  ially  that  the  government  of  Japan  will  not  sutfer  you 
to  sleep  a  night  on  shore  while  1  persist  in  claiming  ti'mporary  residence  to  mean  an  indefinite  period  of  time. 

"  If  the  government  of  the  United  States  decides  that  the  treaty  has  been  broken  to  your  prejudice,  I  believe  it  will  demand 
the  proper  redress  for  you.     Should  the  government  decide  that  the  Japanese  are  right,  your  coming  here  was  rash." 

Subsequently  Messrs.  Reed  and  Dougherty,  with  their  families,  left  Simoda  in  their  schooner,  and  proceeded  to  Hakodadi, 
arriving  at  that  port  eight  days  after  the  arrival  of  the  Vir.cenncs,  and  being  the  first  American  merchant  vessel  which  had 
entered  the  port  under  the  treaty.  In  fact  the  port  had  but  just  been  opened.  Mr.  Doty  states  that  they  "  were  refused 
permission  to  laud,  and  ordered  away." 

These  seem  to  be  substantially  the  facts  connected  with  the  voyage  of  the  Foote,  and  it  will  be  perceived,  that  the  question 
involved  in  them  is  one  of  interpretation  of  the  treaty  merely.  The  conduct  of  the  Japanese  at  Simoda  certainly  showed  no 
unwillingness  to  comply  with  the  treaty  stipulations,  for  everything  they  did  was  performed  by  reason  of  the  treaty,  and,  but 
for  its  existence,  would  not  have  been  performed  at  all.  The  only  question  raised  by  them  was  whether  the  treaty,  by 
''temporary  residence,"  meant  a  residence  which  might  be  made  "permanent"  by  continuance  for  an  indefinite  period- 
As  to  Hakodadi,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  port  is  at  a  long  distance  from  the  capital  on  the  island  of  Nippon,  being, 
in  truth,  on  another  island,  (Jesso,)  and  ordinarily  has  but  little  communication  with  its  more  populous  neighbor.  The 
authorities  at  Hakodadi  did  not  refuse  to  let  the  .A-mericans  land — for  under  the  treaty  they  had  a  right  to  do  this  for  "temporary 
residence  " — but  asked  them  to  name,  before  landing,  some  definite  period  which  should  be  considered  as  being  "  temporary  " 
in  the  sense  of  the  treaty.  They  did,  however,  object  to  .Americans  coming  on  shore,  with  their  wives  and  children,  to  lite  at 
Hakodadi  as  long  as  they  pleased,  just  as  a  Japanese  would  live  there ;  they  did  object  to  their  opening  a  warehouse  and  making 
a  permanent  depot  of  supply,  and  establishing  a  commercial  house  in  Japan,  as  our  merchants  do  in  China  ;  and  it  will  probably 
be  conceded,  after  reading  the  conferences  of  negotiation  which  we  have  detailed,  that  they  never  meant  to  bind  themselves  by 
the  treaty  to  the  concession  of  such  privileges.  If  they  did  not,  and  if,  as  at  Simoda,  they  carried  out  all  their  stipulations 
touchinor  the  temporary  sojourn  and  personal  comfort  of  our  countrymen,  then  it  would  seem  they  are  not  chargeable  with  any 
wilful  breach  of  faith.  Some  may  think  they  misinterpret  as  to  the  extent  of  what  they  did  concede  ;  but  this,  as  Commander 
Rogers  very  truly  said,  is  a  point  which  can  be  settled  only  by  the  two  governments.  One  thing  seems  very  certain  from  the 
records  of  the  negotiation,  that  both  Commodore  Perry  and  the  Japanese  commissioners  supposed  that  the  treaty  they  were 
makinc  was  but  "  a  beginning"  of  friendly  relations,  and  a  partial  agreement  for  trade;  but  neither  party  could  have  believed 
they  were  framing  a  general  "  commercial  treaty,"  inasmuch  as  the  Japanese  had,  in  the  beginning,  expressly  declined  to  enter 
into  such  a  compact.  It  is  understood,  though  we  know  not  that  the  fact  has  been  otficially  promulgated,  that  the  interpretation 
of  the  treaty  by  oar  government  agrees  with  that  of  the  Japanese. 


Y«do  aiid  Siuiodu  duga  pruduQtcd  to  Coinuiudure  M.  C.  Ftrrry  by  the  Jupaness  commisslonera. 


TEEATY     SENT     HOME. 


393 


CHAPTEU  XII. 


DF.PARTCBE    OF    COMMAKDER    ADAMS    FOR    THE    UNITED    STATES,    WITH    THE    TREATY. VISITS    OF    THE    COMMODORE    AND    OFFICERS 

ON    SHORE. IMPERTCRBABLE    COMPOSURE    OF    TENOSKE     WHEN     CHARGED     WITH     FALSEHOOD. CALL     UPON    THE    MAYOR    OF 

TOKU-HAMA. ^  THE      LADIES      OF     HIS      HOUSEHOLD. DISGUSTING      FASHION     OF    DYEING     THEIR     TEETH. USE     OF     ROUGE. 

ENTERTAIN5IENT  OF   THE  COMMODORE. THE  .MAVOr's   BABY  . THE    COMMON    PEOPLE    VERY    COMFORTABLE. FIELD    LABORS 

SHARED    BY    THE    WOMEN. STRAW    GREAT    COAT     FOR     RAINY    WEATHER. PAPER     UMBRELLAS. PEOPLE     NOT     INDISPOSED 

TO     INTERCOURSE     WITH     FOREIGNERS. RESPECTFUL    TREATMENT    OF    THE    FEMALE    SEX  .—  JAPANESE    CN-ORIENTAL    IN    THIS 

RESPECT. POLYGAMY    NOT    PRACTISED. JAPANESE    WOMEN    NATURALLY    GOOD-LOOKING. SOME  STRIKINGLY  HANDSOME  . 

GIRLS     HAVE     GREAT     VIVACITY,      TET     DIGNIFIED     AND     MODEST. SOCIAL      HABITS. VISITS. TEA      PARTIES. SQUADRON, 

AFTER    NOTICE    TO    THE    JAPANESE     AUTHORITIES,     PROCEEDS     UP     THE     BAY     WITH      SOME     OF      THE     OFFICIALS     ON     BOARD. 

POWHATAN    AND    MISSISSIPPI    GO    WITHIN    SIGHT    OF    THE    CAPITAL, ITS    IMMENSE    SIZE. SEA    FRONT    PROTECTED     BY     HIGH 

PALISADES. CHANGE     OF     JAPANESE     POLICY      ON     THE     SECOND     VISIT     TO      YEDO  . ALL     SHOW     OF     MILITARY     RESISTANCE 

STCDIODSLY    AVOIDED. THE     COMMODORE    ASSURES    THE    JAPANESE     OFFICIALS    THAT    HE    WILL    NOT    ANCHOR    THE    STEAMERS 

NEAR     THE     CITY,     AND,     AFTER     A     GLANCE,    AT    THEIR     REQUEST,     RETURNS. GREAT    JOY    OF    THE    OFFICIALS    THEREAT. 

PREPARATIONS      FOR     DEPARTURE. MACEDONIAN      ORDERED     TO      PEEL     ISLAND. SOUTHAMPTON,      SUPPLY,     VANDALIA,     AND 

LEXINGTON    SENT    TO    SIMODA. WEBSTER    ISLAND. DEPARTURE    OF    THE    COMMODORE     FOR      SIMODA  . HARBOR    EXAMINED. 

THE     TOWN    AND    ADJACENT    COUNTRY. SHOPS    AND    DWELLINGS. PUBLIC    BATHS. FOOD. MODE     OF     CULTIVATION. 

BODDHIST    TEMPLES. GRAVE     YARDS     AND     TOMBS. STATUES    OF    BUDDHA. OFFERINGS    OF    FLOWERS    ON    THE    GRAVES. 

EPITAPHS    OR    INSCRIPTIONS. CHARMS     FOR     KEEPING     AWAY      FROM     THE    DEAD     MALIGNANT      DEMONS. A    TEMPLE    APPRC- 

PRIATED    FOR    THE    OCCUPANCY    OF    OUR    OFFICERS. A    SINTOO    TEMPLE. MARINEr's    TEMPLE. SALUBRITY    OF    SIMODA. 

MADE    AN    IMPERIAL    CITY    SINCE    THE    TREATY. 


HE  treaty  having  been  signed  and  exchanged,  the  Commodore 
sent  it,  together  with  the  necessary  communications,  to  our 
government   at   Washington,   under  the   especial   charge   of 
Commander  H.  A.  Adams,   commissioned  as  hearer  of  dis- 
patches, who  left  in  the  Saratoga.    This  vessel  got  under  way 
on  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  April,  (1854,)  and  sailed  for  the 
Sandwich    Islands,    homeward    bound.       As    she    passed   the 
squadron  anchored  at  Kanagawa,  the  Saratoga  saluted  the 
flag  of  the  Commodore  with  thirteen  guns,  which  were  re- 
turned from  the  Powhatan.    The  wind  and  weather  prevented 
ler    however,  from  getting  out  of  tlie   bay,   and  she  was 
ibliged  to  anchor  at  the  "  American  anchorage  "  on  the  first 
night,  and  did  not  stand  out  for  sea  until  the  next  day. 
-     The  Japanese  interpreters  still  visited   the   ships  almost 
^  daily,  and  came  on  board  the  Powhatan  on  the  day  after  the 
departure  of  the  Saratoga,  bringing  with  them  a  number  of  trifling  presents  of  lacciuered  ware, 
porcelain?  and  other  articles  fur  several  of  the  subordinate  officers.     On  the  following  moruiug, 
50  J 


394 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


one  of  the  small  brass  howitzers  was  landed  from  the  Mississipjii  as  a  present  for  the  Emperor, 
as  well  as  several  boxes  of  tea  brought  from  China,  to  be  distributed  as  gifts  to  the  interpreters 
and  some  of  the  Japanese  dignitaries.  Soon  after,  the  Commodore  went  ashore,  accompanied 
by  several  of  his  officers,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  a  survey  of  the  country.  After  having  been 
entertained  at  the  treaty  house  with  the  usual  refreshments,  the  party  set  out  on  their  walk, 
attended  by  Moryama,  Yenoske,  the  chief  interpreter,  and  several  of  the  Japanesii  officials.  A 
circuit  embracing  some  tive  miles  was  the  extent  of  the  field  of  ob.servation,  but  this  gave  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  a  good  deal  of  the  country,  several  of  the  villages,  and  large  numbers  of 
the  people. 


Fiii'ni  Yard,  Yoku-hama 

The  early  spring  in  that  temperate  latitude  had  now  much  advanced,  and  the  weather, 
though  never  very  severe,  the  thermometer  having  varied  during  the  stay  of  the  squadron 
from  38°  to  64°,  had  become  more  warm  and  genial.  The  fields  and  terraced  gardens 
were  now  carpeted  witli  a  fresli  and  tender  verdure,  and  the  trees,  with  the  full  growth  of 
renewed  vegetation,  spread  their  shades  of  abounding  foliage  in  the  valleys  and  on  the  hill 
sides  of  the  surrounding  country.  The  camelias,  with  the  immense  growth  of  forty  feet  in 
height,  which  abound  everywhere  on  the  shores  of  the  bay  of  Yedo,  were  in  full  bloom,  with 
their  magnificent  red  and  white  blossoms,  which  displayed  a  purity  and  richness  of  color,  and  a 
perfection  of  development,  unrivalled  elsewhere.  As  soon  as  a  village  or  hamlet  was 
approached,  one  of  the  Ja])anese  attendants  would  hurry  in  advance  and  order  the  women  and 
the  rabble  to  keep  out  of  the  way.  This  did  not  suit  the  purposes  of  the  Commodore,  who  was 
desirous  of  seeing  as  much  as  possible  of  the  people,  and  learning  all  lie  could  of  their  jpanners, 


VISIT     TO      T  II  K      mayor's      IIOUSEIIOT,  n.  395 

habits,  and  customs.  He  accordingly  spoke  to  the  interpreter  and  took  him  to  task,  particularly 
for  dispersing  tlie  women.  Yenosko  protended  that  it  was  entirely  for  the  henefit  of  the  ladies 
themselves,  as  their  modesty  was  sueh  that  it  could  not  withstand  tlie  sight  of  a  stranger. 

The  Commodore  did  not  believe  a  word  of  this  intt'rpretation,  however  adroit,  and  plainly 
told  Yenoske  so.  The  imputation,  though  it  expressed  a  doubt  of  his  truthfulness,  did  not 
oft'end  the  interpreter  in  the  least,  but  was  rather  taken  as  a  coin])liment  to  his  duplicity,  which 
is  one  of  the  most  cherished  accomplishments  of  a  Japanese  official.  Finding  that  the  Commo- 
dore was  quite  alive  to  the  Japanese  cunning,  and  was  not  to  be  balked  of  any  of  his  privileges 
as  a  sight-seer,  Yenoske  promised  that  at  the  next  town,  where  some  refreshments  had  been 
ordered,  the  women  should  not  be  required  to  avoid  the  party.  Accordingly,  on  entering  this 
place,  every  one  crowded  out  to  see  the  strangers,  men,  women,  and  children. 

The  Commodore  and  his  officers  were  conducted  to  the  home  of  the  mayor  or  chief  magistrate 
of  the  town.  This  dignitary,  with  great  cordiality,  met  and  welcomed  them  to  the  hospitalities 
of  his  establishment.  The  interior  was  quite  unpretending,  consisting  of  a  large  room,  spread 
with  soft  mats,  lighted  with  oiled  paper  windows,  hung  with  rudely  executed  cartoons,  and 
furnished  with  the  usual  red-colored  benches.  The  wife  and  sister  of  the  town  official  soon 
entered  with  refreshments,  and  smiled  a  timid  welcome  to  the  visitors.  These  women  were 
bare  footed  and  bare  legged,  and  were  dressed  very  nearly  alike,  in  dark  colored  robes,  with 
much  of  the  undress  look  of  night  gowns,  secured  by  a  broad  band  passing  round  the  waist. 
Their  figures  were  fat  and  dumpy,  or  at  any  rate  appeared  so,  in  their  ungraceful  drapery,  but 
their  faces  were  not  wanting  in  expression,  for  which  they  were  very  much  indebted  to  their 
glistening  eyes,  which  were  black  as  well  as  their  hair ;  this  was  dressed  at  the  top  of  the  head, 
like  that  of  the  men,  although  not  shaved  in  front.  As  their  "  ruby"  lips  parted  in  smiling 
graciously,  they  displayed  a  row  of  black  teeth,  set  in  horribly  corroded  gums.  The  married 
women  of  Japan  enjoy  the  exclusive  privilege  of  dyeing  their  teeth,  which  is  done  with  a 
mixture  of  vile  ingredients,  including  filings  of  iron  and  sakee,  termed  Olia  gur  or  Camri. 
This  compound,  as  might  be  naturally  inferred  from  its  composition,  is  neither  pleasantly 
perfumed  nor  very  wholesome.  It  is  so  corrosive,  that  in  applying  it  to  the  teeth,  it  is 
necessary  to  protect  the  more  delicate  structure  of  the  gums  and  lips,  for  the  mere  touch  of 
the  odious  stuff"  to  the  flesh  burns  it  at  once  into  a  purple  gangrenous  spot.  In  spite  of  the 
utmost  care,  the  gums  become  tainted,  and  lose  their  ruddy  color  and  vitality.  We  should 
think  that  the  practice  was  hardly  conducive  to  connubial  felicity,  and  it  would  be  naturally 
inferred  that  all  the  kissing  must  be  expended  in  the  extacy  of  court.ship.  This  compensa- 
tion, however,  is  occasionally  lost  to  the  prospective  bridegroom,  for  it  is  not  uncommon  for 
some  of  the  young  ladies  to  inaugurate  the  habit  of  blacking  the  teeth  upon  the  popping  of  the 
question. 

The  effects  of  this  disgusting  habit  are  more  apparent  from  another  practice  which  prevails 
with  the  Japanese,  as  with  our  would-be  civilized  dames,  that  of  painting  the  lips  with  rouge. 
The  ruddy  glow  of  the  mouth  brings  out  in  greater  contrast  the  blackness  of  the  gums  and 
teeth.  The  rouge  of  the  Japanese  toilet,  called  bing,  is  made  of  the  carthamus  tindonus,  and  is 
prepared  in  cups  of  porcelain.  When  a  sliglit  coat  is  applied,  it  gives  a  lively  red  color,  but 
when  it  is  put  on  thick,  a  deep  violet  hue,  which  is  the  most  prized,  is  the  result.* 

•  Thunberg. 


396  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

The  worthy  mayor  had  some  refreshments  prepared  for  his  guests,  consisting  of  tea,  cakes, 
confectionary,  and  the  never  absent  saki.  With  the  latter  was  served  a  kind  of  hot  waffle, 
made  apparently  of  rice  flour.  The  civic  dignitary  himself  was  very  active  in  dispensing  these 
offerings,  and  he  was  ably  seconded  by  his  wife  and  sister,  who  always  remained  on  their  knees 
in  presence  of  the  strangers.  This  awkward  position  of  the  women  did  not  seem  to  interfere 
with  their  activity,  for  they  kept  running  about  very  briskly  with  the  silver  saki  kettle,  the 
services  of  which,  in  consequence  of  the  smallness  of  the  cups,  were  in  constant  requisition. 
The  two  ladies  were  unceasingly  courteous,  and  kept  bowing  their  heads,  like  a  bobbing  toy 
mandarin.  The  smiles  with  which  they  perseveringly  greeted  the  guests  might  have  been 
better  dispensed  with,  as  every  movement  of  tlieir  lips  exposed  their  horrid  black  teeth  and 
decayed  gums.  The  mayoress  was  uncommonly  polite,  and  was  good  natured  enough  to  bring 
in  her  baby,  which  her  guests  felt  bound  to  make  the  most  of,  though  its  dirty  face  and  general 
untidy  appearance  made  it  quite  a  painful  effort  to  bestow  the  necessary  caresses.  A  bit  of 
confectionary  was  presented  to  the  infant,  when  it  was  directed  to  bow  its  shaven  head,  which 
it  did  with  a  degree  of  precocious  politeness,  that  called  forth  the  greatest  apparent  pride  and 
admiration  on  the  part  of  its  mother  and  all  the  ladies  present. 

On  preparing  to  depart,  the  Commodore  proposed  the  health,  in  a  cup  of  saki,  of  the  whole 
household,  which  brought  into  the  room,  from  a  neighboring  apartment,  the  mayor's  mother. 
She  was  an  ancient  dame,  and  as  soon  as  she  came  in  she  squatted  herself  in  one  corner,  and 
bowed  her  thanks  for  the  compliments  paid  to  the  family,  of  which  she  was  the  oldest  member. 

As  the  Japanese  officials  no  longer  interfered  with  the  curiosity  of  the  people,  there  was  a 
good  opportunity  of  observing  them,  though  hurriedly,  as  the  Commodore  and  his  party  were 
forced  to  return  early  to  the  ships.  The  people,  in  the  small  towns,  appeared  to  be  divided  into 
three  principal  classes, — the  officials,  the  traders,  and  laborers.  The  inferior  j^eople,  almost 
without  exception,  seemed  thriving  and  contented,  and  not  overworked.  There  were  signs  of 
poverty,  but  no  evidence  of  public  beggary.  The  women,  in  common  with  many  in  various 
parts  of  over-populated  Europe,  were  frequently  seen  engaged  in  field  labors,  showing  the 
general  industry  and  the  necessity  of  keeping  every  hand  busy  in  the  populous  Empire.  The 
lowest  classes  even  were  comfortably  clad,  being  dressed  in  coarse  cotton  garments,  of  the  same 
form,  though  shorter  than  those  of  their  superiors,  being  a  loose  robe,  just  covering  the  hips. 
They  were,  for  the  most  part,  bareheaded  and  barefooted.  The  women  were  dressed  very  much 
like  the  men,  although  their  heads  were  not  shaved  like  those  of  the  males,  and  their  long  hair 
was  drawn  uj)  and  fastened  upon  the  top,  in  a  knot,  or  under  a  pad.  The  costume  of  the  upper 
classes  and  the  dignitaries  has  been  already  described.  In  rainy  weather,  the  Japanese  wear  a 
covering  made  of  straw,  which  being  fastened  together  at  the  top,  is  suspended  from  the  neck, 
and  falls  over  the  shoulders  and  person  like  a  thatched  roof.  Some  of  the  higher  classes  cover 
their  robes  with  an  oiled  paper  cloak,  which  is  impermeable  to  the  wet.  The  umbrella,  like 
that  of  the  Chinese,  is  almost  a  constant  companion,  and  serves  both  to  shade  from  the  rays  of 
the  sun,  and  keep  ofi"  the  effects  of  a  shower.  The  men  of  all  classes  were  exceedingly 
courteous,  and  although  inquisitive  about  the  strangers,  never  became  offensively  intrusive. 
The  lower  people  were  evidently  in  great  dread  of  their  superiors,  and  were  more  reserved  in 
their  presence,  than  they  would  have  been  if  they  had  been  left  to  their  natural  instincts.  The 
rigid  exclusiveness  in  regard  to  foreigners  is  a  law  merely  enacted  by  tlie  government  from 
motives  of  poli<;y,  and  not  a  sentiment  of  the  Japanese  people.     Their  habits  are  social  among 


SQUADRON  PROCEEDS  TO  YEUO. 


397 


themselves,  and  they  frequently  intermingle  in  friendly  intercourse.  There  is  one  feature  in  the 
society  of  Japan,  by  which  tlie  superiority  of  the  people,  to  all  otlier  oriental  nations,  is  clearly 
manifest.  Woman  is  recognised  as  a  companion,  and  not  merely  treated  as  a  slare.  Her 
position  is  certainly  not  as  elevated  as  in  those  countries  under  the  influence  of  the  Christian 
dispensation,  hut  the  mother,  wife,  and  daughter  of  Japan,  are  neither  the  chattels  and 
household  drudges  of  China,  nor  the  purchased  objects  of  the  cajiricious  lust  of  the  harems  of 
Tarkey.  The  fact  of  the  non-existence  of  polygamy,  is  a  distinctive  feature,  which  pre-eminently 
c'aaracterizes  the  Japanese,  as  the  most  moral  and  refined  of  all  eastern  nations.  Tlie  absence 
of  this  degrading  practice  shows  itself,  not  only  in  the  superior  character  of  tlie  women,  but  in 
the  natural  consequence  of  the  greater  prevalence  of  the  domestic  virtues. 


•  Japanese  Womiu — Simoda. 

The  Japanese  women,  always  excepting  tlie  disgu Siting  l)lack  t(  eth  of  those  who  are  married,  are 
not  ill-looking.  The  young  girls  are  well  formed  and  rather  pretty,  and  liave  much  of  that  vivacity 
and  self-reliance  in  manners,  which  come  from  a  consciousness  of  dignity,  derived  from  the 
comparatively  high  regard  in  wliich  they  are  held.  In  the  ordinary  mutual  intercourse  of  friends 
and  families  the  women  have  their  share,  and  rounds  of  visiting  and  tea  parties  are  kept  up 
as  briskly   in    Ja2)an    as   in   tlie  United   States.     The  attitude   assuiiieil    by   the  women,   who 


39S  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

prostrated  themselves  in  tlie  presence  of  the  Commodore  and  his  party,  should  he  considered 
rather  as  a  mark  of  their  reverence  for  the  strangers  than  as  an  evidence  of  their  subordination. 
That  in  the  large  towns  and  cities  of  Jajian  there  is  great  licentiousness,  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose,  for  such  seems,  unhappily,  a  universal  law  in  all  great  communities  ;  hut  it  must  he 
said  to  the  credit  of  the  Japanese  women,  that  during  all  the  time  of  the  presence  of  the 
squadron  in  the  bay  of  Yedo,  there  was  none  of  the  usual  indication  of  wantonness  and  license 
on  tlie  part  of  the  female  sex  in  their  occasional  relations  with  the  miscellaneous  sliips'  people. 

On  the  9th  of  April,  notwithstanding  a  note  received  from  the  commissioners,  in  vrliich  they 
urgently  remonstrated  against  the  movement,  the  Commodore  sent  word  that  he  would  on  the 
following  day  approach  with  the  steamers  as  near  to  Yedo  as  the  depth  of  water  would  allow. 
Accordingly,  on  the  next  morning,  the  whole  squadron  got  under  way  from  the  anchorage  at 
Kanagawa,  and  moved  up  the  bay.  The  Japanese  interpreters  came  on  board  the  Powhatan 
just  as  she  started,  and  were  evidently  in  great  dismay.  They  earnestly  begged  the  Commodore 
to  desist  from  his  purpose,  urging  that  the  safety  of  the  Empire,  perhaps,  and  certainly  that  of 
their  own  lives,  depended  upon  the  issue.  Not  being  able  to  dissuade  the  Commodore,  the 
Japanese  remained  on  board  to  mark  his  movements.  The  steamers  Powhatan  and  Mississippi 
advanced  beyond  the  other  vessels  and  doubled  the  jjoint  near  Sinagawa,  the  southern  suburb  of 
the  capital,  and  came  so  close  to  the  far-famed  Yedo  that,  if  it  had  not,  unfortunately,  been  for 
a  fog,  so  common  on  that  coast,  the  capital  would  have  been  distinctly  visible.  The  general 
outline  .of  the  city  could,  however,  be  made  out,  showing  an  immense  and  thickly  crowded 
number  of  houses  and  buildings  covering  a  large  surface.  Though  there  was  every  indication 
of  the  great  size  of  the  town,  there  was  a  general  similarity  in  the  low  peaked  houses  and  the 
terraced  gardens  to  the  other  populous  settlements  on  the  bay.  Upon  the  heights  and  projecting 
points  commanding  the  capital  there  were  the  usual  forts,  with  canvas  outworks,  and  other 
fortified  places.  The  Buddhist  temples,  however,  which  are  generally  the  highest  and  most 
conspicuous  buildings  in  these  Japanese  towns,  may  possibly,  from  the  prevailing  haze  which 
confined  the  view,  have  been  mistaken  for  fortifications. 

Along  the  whole  sea  front  of  the  city  there  appeared  to  be  a  row  of  high  jialisadcs,  with 
occasional  openings  for  the  admission  of  boats  or  small  junks.  Whether  these  were  arranged 
to  protect  the  landing  places  from  the  washing  of  the  sea,  or  to  defend  the  city  from  an  attack, 
it  was  impossible  to  decide.  It  was  quite  probable,  however,  that  they  had  been  put  up  in 
consequence  of  the  visit  of  the  squadron,  to  prevent  the  approach  of  the  armed  boats  in  case  of 
an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Americans  to  land  by  force.  One  thing,  however,  seems  quite 
certain,  that  the  city  of  Yedo  can  be  destroyed  by  a  few  steamers  of  very  light  draught  of  water 
and  with  guns  of  the  heaviest  calibre. 

Considerable  preparation  had  evidently  been  made  at  first  by  the  Japanese  to  impress  the 
Americans  with  a  great  idea  of  their  military  power.  New  works  of  defence  were  commenced, 
and  large  numbers  of  troops  paraded  ostentatiously  within  sight  of  the  squadron,  during  the 
first  visit  to  Yedo  bay,  and  it  is  probable  that  it  had  been  seriously  discussed  in  the  Japanese 
councils  whether  or  not  to  resist  by  force  all  intercourse  with  the  Americans.  On  the  second 
visit  there  was  evidently  a  change  of  policy,  and  a  studious  avoidance  of  all  show  of  military 
resistance.  An  extensive  fortified  work  that  had  been  begun  in  the  neighborhood  of  Yedo  was 
discontinued,  and  a  fire  which  destroyed  it  and  the  large  wooden  shed  which  had  been  built  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  numerous  workmen,  was  suspected  to  have  been  applied  at  the 


D  E  P  A  R  T  r  R  E     F  0  R     S  I  M  O  I)  A .  399 

instigation  of  the  authorities,  in  order  to  efface  every  vestige  of  an  erection,  which  inij;ht 
provoke  by  its  show  of  hostility  an  unfriendly  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  formidable  visitors. 

In  consequence  of  the  strong  ebb  tide,  the  boats  which  were  jjulling  ahead,  en"-ao-ed  in 
sounding  the  channel  towards  the  city,  made  but  little  headway,  and  the  steamers  with  difficulty 
stemming  the  current  could  not  be  kept  under  safe  steerage.  The  sailing  ships  had  already 
anchored  some  distance  astern.  The  Commodore  having  promised  the  commissioners,  in  o.dtr 
to  allay,  their  apprehensions,  that  he  would  not  anchor  the  steamers  near  the  capital,  but  on  y 
advance  them  sufliciently  to  take  a  glance  at  it,  felt  himself  bound  to  return.  The  men  in  the 
boats  were  exhausted  with  hard  pulling,  and  as  it  was  not  safe  to  keep  the  steamers  where  they 
were  without  dropping  anchor,  the  surveying  party  were  accordingly  summoned  back,  and  the 
ship's  head  pointed  down  the  bay  again.  The  fears  of  the  commissioners,  as  they  stated,  and 
as  the  interpreters  who  were  present  never  failed  to  continue  to  suggest,  were  founded  upon  the 
supposition  that  if  the  squadron  should  anchor  near  to,  and  in  full  view  of  the  capital,  its 
immense  populace  would  become  greatly  excited.  Tliis,  they  declared,  might  result  in  tjie 
most  disastrous  consequences  ;  and  though  they  did  not  particularly  name  the  Emperor  and  his 
household,  they  evidently  felt  deeply  concerned  about  their  safety.  In  consequence,  therefore, 
of  the  very  courteous  and  friendly  conduct  of  the  princes  and  their  coadjutors,  and  trusting  to 
their  asseverations  that  they  would  be  held  personally  responsible  for  any  catastrophe  that 
might  ensue  from  anchoring  the  steamers  off  the  city  and  saluting  the  palace,  as  was  the 
original  intention,  the  Commodore  determined  to  yield  to  their  remonstrances.  A  direct  appeal 
was  also  made  by  the  commissioners  to  the  generosity  of  the  Commodore  in  the  statement  that 
having,  in  the  treaty,  conceded  more  than  had  been  originally  designed,  and  thus  shown  their 
coniidence  and  friendship,  they  hoped  the  Commodore  would  not  subject  them  to  a  possible 
injury  and  probable  death.  The  Commodore  yielded  at  once.  He  thought  it  was  better  not  to 
bring  about  an  issue  that  might  endanger  the  very  friendly  iwsition  in  which  he  had  placed 
himself  in  relation  to  the  Japanese.  It  would  have  been  a  source  of  endless  regret,  too,  if  to 
gratify  a  profitless  curiosity  misfortune  should  have  been  brought  upon  the  commissioners 
whose  friendly  conduct  deserved  every  kind  return  that  might  be  given  in  consonance  with  dutv. 
The  squadron,  therefore,  now  returned  and  anchored  at  the  '"American  anchorage."  The 
anxiety  of  the  Japanese  interpreters,  who  remained  on  board  during  the  whole  trip,  was  thus 
much  relieved,  and  they  participated  with  the  greatest  conviviality  in  a  collation  which  was 
spread  for  their  entertainment  in  the  Commodore's  cabin. 

There  being  no  further  reason  for  the  detention  of  the  squadron  in  the  upper  bay  of  Tedo 
the  Commodore  prepared  to  depart.  He  accordingly  dispatched  in  advance  the  Macedonian  for 
Peel  island,  on  the  llth  of  April;  the  shij)8  Southampton  and  Supply  on  the  iburteenth,  and 
the  Vandalia  and  Lexington  on  the  sixteenth,  for  Simoda.  During  the  two  days  preceding  his 
own  departure,  the  Commodore  took  the  opportunity  of  inspecting  the  island  near  the 
"American  anchorage,"  which  had  been  called  by  him  Webster,  and  the  neighboring  shores. 
The  beauty  of  the  country,  now  developed  in  all  its  picturesque  charms  of  rich  verdure,  shaded 
groves,  fertile  fields,  and  cultivated  gardens,  was  a  source  of  never-ending  pleasure,  and  as  the 
time  approached  for  taking  leave  of  the  attractive  shores  of  the  upj)er  bay  of  Yedo,  there  was 
no  little  feeling  of  regret.  The  scenery  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  American  anchorage  was 
now  very  familiar  to  all  on  board  ship,  and  had  a  double  interest,  as  well  that  of  association 
from  long  residence  as  from  its  intrinsic  beauties.  Webster  island  is  a  charming  spot,  shaded 
with  the  thickest  groves  of  green  growth,  and  varied  with  hill  and  dale,  wild  mountain  top  and 


400 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


cultivated  slope.  Between  it  and  its  neigclil'oring  isle,  called  by  the  surveyors  Perry,  after  the 
Commodore,  is  a  little  bay,  upon  the  inland  shores  of  which  there  is  a  considerable  quarry  of 
stone  that  the  Japanese  have  extensively  worked.  Large  blocks  were  lying  about,  and  the 
rocky  precipices  of  the  shore  were  hewn  into  good  walls  of  a  smooth  surface,  from  wliich  the 
masses  of  stone  had  been  cut  with  a  regularity  that  showed  much  skill.  There  were  other 
evidences  about  of  the  busy  industry  of  the  Japanese ;  there  were  various  boat  building  yards, 
■with  junks  dragged  ashore  for  repairs,  with  workmen  actively  at  work  over  their  hulls,  and 
various  docks  and  landing  places  constructed  of  stone,  and  showing  the  careful  industry  and  no 
little  skill  of  the  people. 


Mia  or  fiojul  Siiic  (.■ii..|)Ll,  ut  Vuku-haina. 

At  four  o'clock  in  tlie  morning  of  the  18th  of  April  the  Commodore  finally  got  under   way 
for  Simoda,  in  the  Powhatan,  accompanied  by  the  Mississippi,  and  anchored  in  that  port  at  ten 
„;„„*„„  .,„„.  *!,..,.„  ;..  .1,,.  „ft r  n,. i..„       'p.,,.   Mis.sissippi   dn>piu<d   her  ancb.ir  off 


minutes  past  three  in  the  aftcniiMHi  of  tlic  same  day 


A  R  R  I  V  A  I,      AT      S  I  M  0  n  A . 


401 


the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  but  soon  after  took  her  position  within,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Powhatan.  The  Vaudalia,  Southampton,  Supply,  and  Lexington,  were  found  anchored  there. 
The  Commodore  had  i)urposely  dispatched  the  several  ships  in  succession,  in  order  to  enable 
those  which  arrived  tirst,  time  for  examining  the  harbor  and  selecting  convenient  anchoring 
places  for  their  consorts  which  were  to  follow.  This  turned  out  to  be  a  well-timed  precaution, 
as  the  Southampton,  in  warping  into  the  inner  harbor,  came  upon  a  rock  lying  in  the  middle 
of  the  channel,  with  only  twelve  feet  of  water  upon  it  at  low  water,  a  danger  which  had  escaped 
the  hasty  examination  of  the  surveyors.  If  it  had  not  been  for  this  timely  discovery,  one  or 
both  the  steamers  would  have  probably  struck  upon  the  rock,  as  it  lies  directly  in  the  way,  and 
is  all  the  more  dangerous  from  its  being  only  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  and  cone-like  in  shape. 
Lieutenant  Commandant  Boyle  had  very  prudently  placed  a  buoy  upon  it,  which  enabled  the 
steamers  to  avoid  the  danger,  and  pass  in  without  inconvenience,  although  the  channel  at  that 
point  is  only  six  hundred  yards  wide.  Both  steamers  found  sufScient  room  to  moor  without 
interfering  with  the  Southampton  and  Supply,  already  in  the  inner  harbor.  The  Lexington 
subsequently  came  in  also  and  anchored,  but  Captain  Pope  preferred  a  position  further  out  for 
his  ship^  the  Vaudalia. 


Simwlii  from  the  Crt-ck. 

There  can  be  no  better  harbor  than  that  of  Simoda  for  a  limited  number  of  vessels  ;  "  when 
its  contiguity  to  the  sea,  its  easy  and  safe  approach,  its  convenience  of  ingress  and  egress  are 
considered,  I  do  not  see,"  says  Commodore  Perry,  "  how  a  more  desirable  port  could  have  been 
selected  to  answer  all  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  wanted." 

The  town  of  Simoda,  or  Shimoda,  is  on  the  island  of  Nippon,  near  the  mouth  of  the  lower 
bay  or  gulf  of  Yeilo  ;  latitude  34°  39'  49"  north  ;  longitude  l38°  57'  50"  east.  It  is  withiu  the 
51  J 


402 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN, 


prefecture  of  Kamo,  one  of  the  eight,  into  which  Idzu  is  divided,  and  occupies  the  southern 
termination  of  that  principality.  Tlie  town  is  situated  at  the  western  end  of  the  harhor,  on  a 
plain  at  the  opening  of  a  fertile  A-alley.  Its  name  is  probahly  derived  from  its  low  position, 
Simoda,  meaning  Low  field.  Through  the  valley  a  small  stream,  called  Inodzu-Gawa, 
flows,  and  empties  at  the  town  into  the  harhor.  This  river  is  navigable  for  the  flat  bottomed 
boats,  which  are  used  by  the  inhabitants  for  transporting  stone,  timber,  grain,  and  other 
produce. 

The  country  surrounding  the  town  is  extremely  picturesque  and  varied.  Undulating  hills, 
covered  with  trees  and  verdure,  rise  from  the  water's  edge  and  extend  back  into  the  lofty  moun- 
tains, roclc-ribbed  and  bare. 

Valleys  divide  the  mountain  ranges,  with  their  richly  cultivated  fields  and  gardens,  stretching 
up  to  the  very  summit  of  the  hill  sides.  Streams  of  water,  shaded  with  groves,  wind  through 
the  level  bottoms,  and  beautify  and  enrich  the  land.  The  snow-capped  Fusi  is  visible  in  the 
distance,  pointing  its  cone-like  summit  high  into  the  clouds,  and  far  above  the  elevation  of  the 
blue  mountains  which  surround  it.  On  entering  the  harbor,  the  town,  with  its  groups  of  low 
houses,  does  not  j^resent  a  very  imposing  apj^earance,  but,  with  its  back  ground  of  hills,  wooded 
■with  spreading  pines  and  yew  trees,  and  the  verdant  valleys  wliich  open  between  them,  it  has 
an  air  of  sheltered  repose,  and  an  appearance  of  secluded  rusticity  which  are  quite  attractive. 


L.indin^  Place  at  Simoda. 


Simoda  is  said  to  be  the  largest  town  in  the  principality  of  Idzu,  and  was  at  one  time  a  mart 
of  considerable  importance.  It  was  founded  centuries  ago,  and  some  two  hundred  years  since, 
was  the  port  of  entry  fur  vessels  bound  to  the  capital,  but  Uraga,  further  up  the  bay,  having 


S  I  M  0  D  A . 


403 


siicceedod  to  this  important  function,  Simoda  has  declined  and  become  comparatively  a  poverty 
stricken  place.  There  is  not  much  appearance  of  commercial  activity  in  the  port,  but  there 
still  is  some  inconsiderable  business  carried  on  through  it,  between  the  interior  of  the  country 
and  various  places  on  the  Japanese  coast.  In  front  of  the  town  there  is  a  depot  for  .small  junks 
and  boats,  artificially  constructed  by  means  of  dykes  and  a  breakwater.  This  is  connected 
with  the  river,  which  flows  through  the  valley,  that  extends  into  the  interior,  and  the  boats 
are  thus  enabled  when  the  tide,  which  rises  about  five  feet,  is  at  its  height,  to  iloat  in,  and  sail 
up  the  stream.  Rude  docks  exist  for  building  and  launching  vessels,  and  these  show  some 
evidence  of  activity  in  the  numbers  of  junks,  about  wliich  there  are  always  numerous  laborers, 
more  or  less  busy  at  work,  constructing  and  repairing.  Kear  these  docks,  picturesquely 
bordered  by  a  row  of  stately  pine  trees,  in  the  shade  of  which  stands  a  small  shrine,  there  is 
a  landing  jjlace  which,  however,  is  not  very  easily  reached  by  ships  boats  when  the  tide  is  low. 
The  town  of  Simoda  is  compactly  built,  and  regularly  laid  out.  The  streets  intersect  each 
other  at  right  angles,  and  most  of  them  are  guarded  by  light  wooden  gates,  with  the  names  of 
the  streets  marked  ujion  their  hollow  posts,  within  which  are  the  stations  of  the  watclimeu. 
Through  the  town  a  small  stream  passes,  tlie  sides  of  which  are  walled  with  stone,  and  across 
it  are  thrown  four  small  wooden  bridges,  which  connect  the  opposite  banks.  The  streets  are 
about  twenty  feet  in  width,  and  are  partly  macadamized  and  partly  paved.     Simoda  shows  an 


Street  and  Entiuucc  lo  Cincf  Xciiiiiie,  StuioiJii. 


advanced  state  of  civilization,  much  beyond  our  own  boasted  progress  in  the  attention  of  its 
constructors  to  the  cleanliness  and  healthfulness  of  the  place.  Tliere  are  not  only  gutters, 
but  sewers,  which  drain  the  refuse  water  and  filth  directly  into  the  sea  or  the  small  stream 
which  divides  the  town. 


401  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

The  shops  and  dwelling  houses  are  but  slightly  built,  many  of  them  being  merely  thatched 
hnts.  A  few  of  the  houses  of  the  better  classes  are  of  stone,  but  most  are  constructed  of  a 
framework  of  bamboo  or  laths,  and  then  covered  witli  a  tenacious  mud.  This  latter,  when  dry, 
is  again  covered  with  a  coat  of  pilaster,  which  is  eitlier  painted  or  becomes  black  by  exposure. 
Mouldings  are  afterwards  arranged  in  diagonal  lines  over  the  surface  of  the  Imildiiig,  and  these 
being  painted  white  and  contrasting  with  the  dark  ground  behind,  give  the  houses  a  curious 
pie-bald  look.  The  roofs  are  often  of  tiles  colored  alternately  black  and  white,  and  their  eaves 
extend  low  down  in  front  of  the  walls,  and  jjrotect  the  inmates  from  the  sun,  and  the  oiled 
paper  windows  from  the  effects  of  the  rain.  On  the  tops  of  some  of  the  houses  wires  are 
stretched  in  various  directions  to  keep  off  the  crows,  it  is  said  ;  but  whether  on  account  of  their 
being  birds  of  ill  omen,  or  only  in  consequence  of  their  bad  habits,  was  not  very  apparent. 
These  houses  have  no  chimneys,  and  there  being  occasional  fires  for  cooking  and  other  purposes, 
the  smoke  is  left  to  force  its  way  through  the  various  crannies  and  cracks  which  may  chance  to 
exist,  unless,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  there  are  certain  holes  in  the  upper  part  of  the  walls 
prudently  left  for  the  purpose.  The  buildings  are  generally  but  a  single  story  in  height, 
though  many  of  the  houses  and  shops  have  attics  for  the  storage  of  goods  and  refuse  articles. 

Some  of  the  residences  stand  back  from  the  front  of  the  streets,  with  yards  before  them, 
although  generally  the  latter  are  in  tlie  rear,  and  are  variously  appropriated,  some  for  kitchen 
gardens  and  others  for  pleasure  grounds,  with  flowering  shrubs,  ponds  for  gold  fish,  and  other 
ornamental  ajiidiances.  There  are  a  few  buildings  fronted  with  stone,  while  the  main  structure 
is  of  dried  mud  or  adobe,  these  are  used  for  the  storage  of  valuable  goods,  as  they  are  supposed 
to  be  better  protected  against  fire.  The  fronts  of  the  shops  and  houses  have  movable  shutters, 
which  at  night  are  fastened  to  the  posts  which  support  the  projecting  roofs.  Behind  these  are 
sliding  panels  of  oiled  paper,  which  are  closed  when  privacy  is  sought,  and  opened  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  in  the  houses  what  may  be  passing,  or  displaying  the  goods  in  the  inside  of 
the  shops.  In  lieu  of  the  paper  windows  there  are  occasional  lattices  of  bamboo.  The  title  of 
the  shop  is  displayed  over  the  door  or  window,  generally  in  some  fanciful  device,  significant  of 
the  kind  of  business  carried  on.  There  are  but  few  signs  distinctly  recording  the  trade  or 
occupation,  although  there  was  one  shop  which  bore  on  its  front,  in  the  Dutch  language,  the 
name  in  full  of  a  Dutch  nostrum,  which  seemed  to  be  a  popular  remedy  in  Japan,  for  the  same 
was  observed  in  Kanagawa.  The  finer  goods  were  generally  kept  secluded  from  view  in  boxes 
and  drawers,  and  seemed  to  be  of  a  kind  which  indicated  no  great  afiluence  on  the  part  of  the 
comnmnity. 

The  internal  arrangements  of  the  houses  and  shops  of  Simoda  is  simple  and  uniform,  though 
somewhat  modified  according  to  the  position  and  business  of  the  inmates.  The  door  is  on  the 
right  or  left  side,  and  is  protected  by  the  overhanging  roof,  under  wliich  the  coarser  goods  are 
sheltered,  and  the  customers  when  driving  a  bargain.  From  the  front  door  a  pathway  leads 
directly  to  the  rear,  where  there  are  various  dwelling  and  out-houses,  among  which  there  is 
often  the  shrine  for  private  worship.  In  the  shops  this  passage  way  is  crowded  with  baskets, 
stands,  and  trays,  laden  with  various  merchandise  ;  and  the  walls  on  either  side  are  provided 
with  shelves,  upon  which  goods  are  also  heaped.  In  the  best  establishments  articles  for  sale 
are  seldom  displayed  beyond  turning  the  opened  ends  of  the  boxes  wliich  contain  them  towards 
the  street. 

In  the  interior  of  the  houses  there  is  a  large  frame  work,  raised  two  feet  above  the  ground. 


SI  MO  DA.  405 

It  is  spread  witli  stuffed  mats,  and  is  divided  into  several  compartments  by  means  of  sliding 
panels.  This  house  within  a  house  may  be  applied  to  all  the  various  purposes  of  trading,  eating, 
sleeping,  and  receiving  company,  according  to  the  pleasure  or  necessities  of  the  proprietors. 
This  cage  or  platform  is  used  as  the  workshop  by  some  of  the  various  handicraftsmen,  as,  for 
example,  the  carpenters  and  lacquer  varnishers  ;  tlie  blacksmiths  and  stonecutters,  however, 
perform  their  heavier  work  upon  the  ground. 

The  houses  intended  for  lodgers  are  generally  clean  and  neatly  spread  with  the  usual  soft  and 
thick  mats,  which  serve  the  double  purpose  of  seats  by  day  and  beds  by  night.  The  names  of 
the  guests  are  recorded  as  with  us,  but  somewhat  more  publicly  as  they  are  affixed  to  tlie  door 
posts  on  the  street.  The  aristocratic  gentry  have  their  coats  of  arms  emblazoned  in  full 
and  displayed  upon  wide  banners,  stretched  in  front  of  their  stopping  jjlaces.  The  interiors  of 
these  hotels  are  by  no  means  very  magnificent  in  appearance  or  complete  in  appointment.  The 
entire  absence  of  tables,  chairs,  sofas,  lamps,  and  other  essentials  to  comfort,  interfere  very 
seriously  with  a  guest  taking  his  ease  at  his  Japanese  inn.  Moreover,  the  want  of  pictures, 
looking-glasses,  and  other  pleasing  appeals  to  the  eye,  gives  to  the  establishment  a  very  naked, 
cold  look  to  a  traveller  who  has  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  warm  snugness  of  an  English  inn  or 
the  luxurious  completeness  of  an  American  hotel. 

The  whole  number  of  houses  in  Simoda  is  estimated  at  about  a  thousand,  and  the  inhabitants 
are  supposed  to  amount  to  nearly  seven  thousand,  one-fifth  of  whom  are  shopkeepers  and 
artisans.  There  are  in  the  town,  as  elsewhere  in  Japan,  a  disproportionate  amount  of  officials, 
soldiers,  and  retainers,  of  the  various  princes  and  dignitaries,  who  add  nothing  to  the  productive 
resources  of  the  country,  but  are  great  consumers  of  the  results  of  the  labor  of  the  lower  classes^ 
who  are  forced  to  do  much  work  and  are'allowed  to  enjoy  but  little  of  the  profit.  The  people 
have,  notwithstanding,  a  tolerably  thriving  appearance,  and  it  is  seldom  that  a  beggar  is  seen. 
The  streets,  with  the  exception  of  the  few  shops  which  do  but  little  business,  show  no  signs  of 
trading  activity.  There  is  no  public  market  place,  and  all  the  daily  transactions  of  buying  and 
selling  are  conducted  so  privately  and  quietly  that,  to  a  passing  stranger,  Simoda  would  appear 
as  a  place  singularly  devoid  of  any  regard  to  the  concerns  of  this  world. 

The  people  have  all  the  characteristic  courtesy  and  reserved  but  pleasing  manners  of  the 
Japanese.  A  scene  at  one  of  the  public  baths,  where  the  sexes  mingled  indiscriminately, 
unconscious  of  their  nudity,  was  not  calculated  to  impress  the  Americans  with  a  very  favorable 
opinion  of  the  morals  of  the  inhabitants.  This  may  not  be  a  universal  practice  throughout 
Japan,  and  indeed  is  said  by  the  Japanese  near  us  not  to  be  ;  but  the  Japanese  people  of  the 
inferior  ranks  are  undoubtedly,  notwithstanding  their  moral  superiority  to  most  oriental  nations, 
a  lewd  people.  Apart  from  the  bathing  scenes,  there  was  enough  in  the  popular  literature, 
with  its  obscene  pictorial  illustrations,  to  prove  a  licentiousness  of  taste  and  practice  among  a 
certain  class  of  the  population  that  was  not  only  disgustingly  intrusive,  but  disgracefully 
indicative  of  foul  corruption. 

The  chief  diet  of  the  inhabitants  of  Simoda  consists  of  fish  and  vegetable  food.  There  are 
poultry,  chickens,  geese  and  ducks,  and  some  few  cattle,  but  the  latter  are  used  only  for  beasts 
of  burden,  and  their  flesh  is  never  eaten.  Rice,  wheat,  barley,  and  sweet  potatoes  are  the  chief 
articles  raised  in  and  about  Simoda,  although  Irish  potatoes,  buckwheat,  Indian  corn,  taro, 
beans,  cabbages,  cresses,  and  egg  plants  are  produced  to  some  extent.  The  wheat  and  barley  are 
reaped  in  May,  and  the  rice,  which  is  first  sown  and  then  transplanted,  as  in  Lew  Chew,  is 


406  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

ready  for  tlie  latter  operation  in  the  middle  of  Juno,  and  these  crops  succeed  each  other  year 
after  year.  During  the  winter,  part  of  the  rice  fields,  that  which  lies  low,  is  left  fallow,  while 
the  terraces  are  turned  into  wheat  fields.  In  preparing  the  fields  for  the  rece])tion  of  the  young 
shoots  of  rice,  they  are  overflown  with  water,  and  then  reduced  by  ploughing  and  harrowing 
into  a  soft  well  mixed  mud.  Subsequently,  a  substratum  of  grass  and  small  bushes  is  trodden 
down  below  the  surface  by  the  feet.  The  laborer  putting  on  a  couple  of  broad  pieces  of  wood, 
like  a  pair  of  snow  shoes,  goes  tramping  over  the  grass  and  bushes,  laboring  until  they  all 
disappear  below  the  surface  of  the  mud.  This  operation  over,  the  small  plants  are  transferred 
from  the  plot  where  they  have  been  sown,  to  the  fields,  where  they  are  allowed  to  remain  until 
maturity.  The  rice  crop  is  ready  for  harvesting  in  the  latter  part  of  September  or  early  in  tlie 
ensuing  month.  Oxen  and  horses  are  occasionally  used  in  agricultural  operations,  but  the  labor 
is  mostly  performed  by  hand. 

Wliatever  may  be  the  moral  character  of  the  inhabitants  of  Simoda,  it  might  be  supposed, 
from  the  great  number  of  places  of  worship,  that  they  are  a  highly  devotional  people.  Though 
the  peculiar  religions  of  the  Japanese  seem  to  be  sustained  in  a  flourishing  condition,  the 
people  are  rather  remarkable  for  their  toleration  of  all  kinds  of  worship,  except  that  of  the 
Christian,  for  which,  in  consequence  of  the  political  intrigues  of  the  Koman  priesthood, 
centuries  ago,  they  have  an  intense  hatred,  careful!)'  inculcated  by  those  in  authority,  who  keep 
alive  the  traditional  enmity  engendered  at  the  epoch  when  the  Portuguese  were  expelled  the 
Empire.  The  Buddhist  and  Sintoo  worships  are  those  most  prevalent  in  Japan,  and  the  lower 
classes  are  strict  but  formal  devotees,  while  it  is  suspected  that  the  higher  and  better  educated 
are  indifferent  to  all  religions,  and  entertain  various  speculative  opinions,  or  seek  refuge  in  a 
broad  skepticism. 

There  are  no  less  than  nine  Buddhist  temples,  one  large  Mia,  or  Sintoo  temple,  and  a  great 
number  of  smaller  shrines.  Those  devoted  to  the  worship  of  Buddha  have  strange  fiinciful 
titles:  the  largest  is  called  Eio-shen-zhi,  or  Buddha's  obedient  monastery  ;  and  there  are  Dai- 
an-zhi,  or  great  peace  monastery ;  the  Hon-gaku-zhi,  or  source  of  knowledge  monastery ;  the 
Too-den-zhi,  or  rice  field  monasteiy  ;  the  Fuku-zhen-zhi,  or  foxmtain  of  happiness  monastery  ; 
the  Chio-raku-zhi,  or  continual  joy  monastery  ;  the  Ri-gen-zhi,  or  source  of  reason  monastery  ; 
and  lastly,  the  Chio-me-zhi,  or  long  life  monastery.  Twenty-five  priests  and  a  few  acolytes  are 
attached  to  these  temples,  and  arc  supported  by  fees  bestowed  by  devotees  for  burial  services, 
and  the  various  offices  peculiar  to  Buddhism.  The  buildings  are  of  wood,  and  although 
generally  kept  in  tolerable  repair,  show  the  efl'ects  of  weather  upon  the  unpainted  surface.  The 
roofs  are  tiled  and  project,  as  in  the  houses,  beyond  the  walls.  The  posts  which  support  the 
superstrucliu-e  are,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  wood  work,  covered  with  the  famous  Japanese 
lacquer.  The  floors,  which  are  raised  four  or  five  feet  above  the  ground,  are  neatly  covered 
■with  matting.  At  the  door  of  the  main  apartment  there  is  a  drum  on  the  left  and  a  bell  on  the 
right,  the  former  of  which  is  beaten,  and  the  latter  tingled,  at  the  commencement  of  worship, 
to  awaken  the  attention  of  the  iuols  to  the  prayers  of  the  devout.  Between  the  door  and  the 
central  shrine  there  are  several  low  lecterns,  or  reading  desks,  near  each  of  which  there  is 
conveniently  placed  a  piece  of  wood  carved  in  the  shape  of  a  fish,  wliich  is  used  to  beat  time 
dur  ng  the  chanting,  which  forms  an  important  part  of  the  religious  services. 

The  shrine,  in  which  are  arranged  tlie  ancestral  tablets,  in  niches,  seems  to  be  an  object  of 
particular  attention,  for  it  was  kept  always  in  perfect  order,  and  the  monuments  and  idols  were 


S  I  >I  0  D  A . 


407 


uot  allowed  to  suffer  from  want  of  repair  or  of  a  decent  regard  to  cleanliness.  The  sculpture 
of  the  various  images  was  no  Letter  in  art  or  more  imposing  in  appearance  than  the  ordinary 
figures  of  Joss  in  the  Chinese  temples.  An  occasional  picture  is  hung  up  as  a  votive  offering 
upon  the  v\'alls,  representing,  rather  rudely,  some  event  in  the  life  of  the  worshipper,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  had  reason,  as  he  piously  believed,  to  be  grateful  for  the  services  of  Buddha 
or  some  of  his  numerous  progeny  o^  subordinate  deities.  Certain  boxes,  distributed  about  the 
temple,  remind  the  Christian  visitor  of  the  duties  of  charity,  and  he  thinks  with  a  pious 
recollection  of  the  claims  of  the  poor,  which  are  suggested  by  a  practice  similar  to  that  in  the 
old  churches  of  his  own  faith.  His  charitable  feelings,  however,  are  suddenly  repelled  when  he 
learns  the  object  of  the  boxes,  for  the  label  upon  them  reads  :  "For  feeding  hungry  demons," 
and  the  promise  which  follows  that,  "his  merit  will  be  consolidated,"  is  hardly  inducement 
enough  to  contribute  toward  the  necessities  of  the  devil,  or  any  of  his  voracious  legion.  In  front 
of  some  of  the  temples  pillars  are  found,  upon  which  are  inscribed  an  edict  forbidding  any 
liquors  or  meats  to  be  carried  within  the  sacred  precincts. 

Connected  with  each  monastery  is  a  grave-yard,  in  which  there  is  a  great  variety  of  monuments 
and  tombstones.  They  are  generally  made  of  a  greenstone  found  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Simoda,  and  have  the  various  forms  of  simple  slabs,  raised  tombs,  ana  obelisks.     Among  the 


Grave-yard  and  Temple  at  Simoda. 

monuments  are  distributed  statues  of  Buddha,  varying  in  size  from  the  largeness  of  life  to  that 
of  only  a  foot  or  less.  They  are  represented  in  various  attitudes,  some  erect  and  others  in 
a  sitting  posture,  while  many  are  carved  in  relief  upon  slabs  of  stone,  wnere  Buddha  is  seen 


408  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

issuing  from  an  opening  shell,  and  is  figured  sometimes  with  his  hands  clasped,  or  holding  a 
lotus  flower,  a  fly-trap,  or  some  other  symbol.  A  pleasant  feature  in  the  aspect  of  the  otherwise 
gloomy  burial  places,  disfigured  by  the  coarse  and  grotesqiie  art  of  a  corrupt  superstition,  is  the 
abundance  of  flowers  which  are  plentifully  distributed  about.  These  are  placed,  freshly  culled 
from  dav  to  day,  in  cups  and  troughs  of  water,  which  are  deposited  before  the  tombs  and  idols. 
Offerings  of  other  kinds  are  also  frequently  found  near  the  various  statues  of  Buddha  and  his 
kindred  deities. 

The  tombs  and  monuments,  as  with  us,  are  inscribed  with  epitaphs  ;  but  such  is  the  moisture 
of  the  climate,  that  they  are  soon  covered  with  moss  and  rendered  illegible.  Some  of  the  fresher 
ones,  however,  could  be  deciphered,  and  it  was  observed  that,  as  in  our  own  practice,  the  rank, 
merits,  and  date  of  death  of  deceased,  were  usually  recorded.  That  the  good  deeds  of  the 
departed  may  live  after  them,  there  is  often  a  summary  of  their  meritorious  works  during  life, 
among  which  we  read  that  some  have  recited  one  thousand,  two  thousand,  and  even  three 
thousand  volumes  of  the  canonical  books,  an  amount  of  pious  performance  which  entitles  them, 
say  the  eulogistic  Japanese  epitaphs,  to  heavenly  felicity.  An  invocation,  "  Oh,  wonderful 
Buddha  !"  generally  prefaces  the  inscriptions.  In  the  grave-yard  of  the  Kio-shen-zhi,  there  is 
a  sort  of  pantomimic  record  of  the  deceased,  where,  in  a  fenced  enclosure  of  bamboo,  there  is  a 
sepulchre  of  two  personages  of  rank.  Their  statues  and  those  of  their  families  and  servants 
are  represented  as  if  holding  an  audience,  which  indicates  the  rank  of  the  deceased. 

Near  the  recent  graves  and  tombs  narrow  boards  or  wooden  posts  are  placed,  on  which 
extracts  from  the  canonical  books  are  written,  exhorting  the  living  to  add  to  their  stock  of  good 
works  by  diligently  repeating  the  pages  of  those  excellent  volumes,  or  vicariously  performing 
that  necessary  duty,  by  getting  the  priests  to  do  it  for  them,  and  not  neglecting  to  pay  the 
customary  charges.  The  canonical  books  supply  many  of  the  other  inscriptions  with-  various 
quotations,  aptly  chosen  to  extol  the  felicity  of  the  departed,  or  to  inculcate  the  shortness  of  life 
and  the  vanity  of  this  world  ;  one  of  the  latter,  when  translated,  read  thus : 

"  What  permanency  is  there  to  the  glory  of  the  world? 
Jt  goes  from  the  sight  like  hoar-frost  before  the  sun. 
If  men  wish  to  enter  the  joys  of  heavenly  light 
Lei  them  smell  a  little  of  the  fragrance  of  Buddiia's  canons." 

Another  was  this  :  "  Whoever  wishes  to  have  his  merit  reach  even  to  the  al)ode  of  the  demons, 
let  him  with  us,  and  all  living,  become  perfect  in  the  doctrine."  And  again  :  "  The  wise  will 
make  our  halls  illustrious  and  the  monuments  endure  for  long  ages."  To  them  all  was  added 
a  significant  hint,  that  these  hoijes  and  aspirations  were  to  be  secured  in  their  objects  by  the 
j)rompt  payment  of  the  contributions  levied  on  the  living.  At  Yoku-haina,  in  addition  to  these 
various  Japanese  inscriptions,  there  were  boards  upon  which  were  written  charms  in  the 
Thibetan  or  complicated  Chinese  characters,  the  purport  of  which  the  writers  themselves  do  not 
profess  to  understand,  but  all  appeared  to  believe  they  were  effectual  in  warding  off  malignant 
demons  from  disturbing  the  dead. 

The  nine  Buddhist  temples  are  all  situated  in  the  suburbs,  back  of  the  town  ;  and  on  the 
acclivities  or  summits  of  the  hills,  which  bound  them  in  the  rear,  there  are  shrines  and 
pavilions  erected  within  groves  of  trees,  which  are  approached  by  a  flight  of  stone  steps.  In 
the  interior  of  these  pavilions  and  shrines  are  rude  images,  or  merely  inscriptions,  dedicated  to 
the  tutelary  deities  of  tlie  spot.     Their  jjurpose  is  to  afford  facility  to  tliose  living  near,  or  to 


SI  MOD  A.  409 

the  passer  by,  of  appeasing  and  imploring  the  good  and  evil  spirits  which  are  supposed  to 
frequent  the  neighborhood.  At  tlic  doors  and  before  tlie  shrines  there  are  always  bits  of  paper, 
some  rags,  copper  cash,  bouquets  of  flowers  and  other  articles,  which  have  been  placed  there  us 
propitiatory  offerings  by  different  devotees. 

The  Rio-shen-zhi,  tlie  largest  of  the  nine  Buddhist  temples,  was  set  apart  by  the  government 
authorities  for  the  temporary  use  of  the  Commodore  during  the  stay  of  the  squadron.  It  is 
situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  town,  and  has  quite  a  picturesque  aspect,  with  a  precipitous 
rock  of  over  a  hundred  feet  on  one  side,  and  a  burial  ground  on  the  other,  extending  up  the 
acclivity  of  a  thickly  wooded  hill.  Connected  with  the  temple  is  a  kitchen  garden,  which 
supplies  the  priests  with  vegetables,  and  pleasure  grounds  with  beds  of  flowers,  tanks  containing 
gold  fish,  and  various  plants  and  trees.  A  small  bridge,  neatly  constructed,  leads  from  the 
gardens  to  a  flight  of  steps,  by  which  the  hill  in  the  rear  is  ascended.  Adjoining  the  ecclesi- 
astical part  of  the  establishment  there  is  a  room  used  for  lodgers,  which  is  so  constructed  with 
sliding  doors  that  it  may  be  separated  into  several  rooms  for  the  accommodation  of  many 
persons,  or  left  as  one  large  ajiartment.  The  officers  of  the  squadron  were  comfortably  provided 
for  in  another  building,  and  with  an  abundant  supply  of  mats  to  sleep  upon,  good  wholesome 
rice  and  vegetables  to  eat,  plenty  of  attendants,  and  everything  clean,  there  was  very  little 
reason  for  complaint  on  the  score  of  the  material  necessities  of  life. 

The  large  Mia,  or  Sintoo  temple,  is  situated  in  the  same  part  of  the  town  as  the  Buddhist 
establishments.  A  wide  street,  the  broadest  in  Simoda,  leads  to  an  avenue  of  fir  and  juniper 
trees,  the  vista  through  which  is  closed  by  the  temple.  As  the  visitor  approaches  he  comes  to 
a  bridge  which  is  thrown  over  an  artificial  fish  pond,  which  breaks  the  continuity  of  the  street, 
and  as  he  enters  the  shaded  avenue  he  passes  over  another  miniature  bridge  beautifully 
constructed  of  finely  carved  greenstone.  Two  grim  statues  of  armed  men,  whose  fierce  asjiect  is 
heightened  by  the  covering  of  moss  and  lichen  which,  with  their  irregular  growth,  roughen 
the  rude  sculpture,  and,  by  their  mottled  color,  give  an  increased  savageness  to  its  look,  stand, 
one  on  either  side,  as  guardians  of  the  temple.  Several  pairs  of  candelabras  in  stone  are 
arranged  near  by,  towards  the  termination  of  the  avenue,  and  on  their  right  is  a  square  belfry 
of  open  woodwork  resting  upon  a  high  foundation  of  masonry.  From  the  roof  swings  a  beam, 
which  is  used  to  strike  the  bell  which  hangs  within.  To  the  left  is  a  low  shed  covering  six 
small  stone  images  of  deified  heroes,  the  flowers  and  coins  lying  before  which  indicate  the 
worship  of  devotees.  As  the  visitor  advances  he  passes  under  a  pavilion  built  over  the  pathway, 
and^finds  within  various  offerings,  some  paintings,  coarsely  executed,  of  junks,  and  shipwrecks, 
a  bow  or  two,  and  scores  of  queues,  cut  off  by  shipwrecked  sailors,  and  hung  up  as  testimonials 
of  gratitude  for  the  preservation  of  their  lives. 

Leaving  the  pavilion  the  visitor  reaches  a  flight  of  stone  steps  beyond,  which  lead  to  the 
principal  hall,  which  is  elevated  some  six  feet  above  the  ground.  Two  stone  lions,  whoso  small 
heads  and  enormous  ungainly  bodies  show  that  the  artist  was  equally  unacquainted  with  the 
grace  of  art  and  the  truth  of  nature,  guard  the  entrance.  Tiie  porch  is  sustained  by  posts 
which  are  carved  with  grotesque  representations  of  tigers  and  elephants'  heads,  and  other 
adornments,  showing  neither  skill  of  hand  nor  beauty  of  design.  The  temple  itself  is  con- 
structed of  wood,  with  a  covering  of  thatch.  The  interior  is  not,  like  the  Buddhist  monasteries, 
supplied  with  sliding  panels,  but  contains  two  compartments — the  main  hall  and  an  inner 
shrine,  partitioned  by  a  latticed  bamboo  screen.  Within  the  latter  is  the  image  of  Ilachiman, 
52  J 


410  EXPEDITION     TOJAP  AN. 

the  deified  hero  to  whom  the  temple  is  dedicated.  Standing  in  a  niche,  on  either  side,  is  the 
figure  of  an  attendant  dressed  in  ancient  Japanese  ofl'jial  costume,  armed  with  a  how,  as  if 
awaiting  tlie  orders,  as  in  life,  of  tlieir  superior.  Before  the  god-like  Hachiman  there  is  the 
usual  Tariety  of  devotional  oiferings.  A  large  number  of  paintings  of  no  great  artistic  skill,  a 
frame  containing  the  representation  of  a  pagoda  constructed  of  copper  cash,  a  sword,  bow  and 
arrows,  and  a  subscription  list  of  at  least  tliirty  feet  in  length,  hung  from  the  walls  of  the 
shrine.  This  gigantic  subscription  list  contains  the  names  and  donation  of  the  contributors 
towards  the  expenses  of  the  temple  services.  The  Japanese  priests  find,  we  suppose,  as  we  fear 
it  is  sometimes  found  elsewhere,  that  an  imposing  display  of  the  munificence  of  their  benefactors 
is  a  useful  reminder  of  duty  to  the  benevolent,  and  a  great  encouragement  of  generosity.  The 
idol  of  Hachiman  is  honored  annually  with  a  festival,  termed  matzouri,  which  occurs  on  the 
fifteenth  day  of  the  eighth  month,  when  the  subscribers  are  expected  to  pay  up  the  amount  of 
their  contributions,  for  which  their  names  are  down  upon  the  enormous  list.  Before  the  image 
there  is  a  box  provided  for  the  alms  of  those  who  are  too  modest  to  publish  their  names,  or 
whose  donations  are  too  small  to  make  much  of  a  figure  on  jiaper. 

As  the  Japanese  structures  are  unpainted,  the  wood  work  soon  turns  brown  and  decays, 
requiring  frequent  repair  and  removal.  There  is  always  a  sort  of  guardian  or  superintendent 
living  on  the  premises,  whose  duty  it  is  to  keep  in  order  the  temple  and  grounds,  and  most  of 
them  are  creditable  evidences  of  the  care  of  the  overseers.  There  are,  however,  some  of  these 
establishments  which  show  either  a  careless  superintendence  or  a  low  state  of  the  exchequer,  for 
several  show  signs  of  ruin  and  neglect. 

In  addition  to  the  one  great  Sintoo  temple,  there  are  various  smaller  shrines  of  the  same  faith 
dedicated  to  certain  deified  heroes,  whose  services  are  called  into  requisition  by  those  of  some 
particular  occupation,  or  on  the  occasion  of  a  special  emergency.  The  sites  of  these  humbler 
places  of  worship  have  been  picturesquely  selected  on  the  acclivities,  or  the  summits  of  the 
wooded  hills  which  boimd  the  town  of  Simoda  landward.  The  pathways  which  lead  to  them 
are  handsomely  constructed,  often  with  causeways,  bridges  of  a  single  Roman  arch,  and 
flights  of  steps,  all  of  stone,  carefully  scnljjtured  and  substantially  built.  Various  gateways, 
guarded  by  stone  statues  of  lions,  or  sometimes  merely  by  pillars,  upon  which  an  inscription 
warns  off  intruders,  divide  at  intervals  the  approach,  while  the  sides  of  the  avenues  are  shaded 
with  fine  trees  of  vigorous  growth  and  abundant  foliage.  Some  of  the  temples  are  so  embosomed 
in  groves,  that  they  are  completely  hidden  from  the  sight,  until  their  shaded  thresholds  are 
reached  imexpectedly  by  the  stranger.  One  of  these  was  especially  noticed  for  the  beauty  of  its 
position  and  the  perfection  of  its  structure.  It  was  particularly  devoted  to  a  patron  saint  of  the 
sailors,  and  was  called  by  the  Americans  "the  mariners'  temple,"  and  those  engaged  in 
occupations  connected  with  the  sea  constantly  resort  there,  to  invoke  the  aid  of,  or  to  return 
thanks  to  the  enshrined  deity.  Groups  of  fishermen,  with  their  baskets  laden  with  the 
successful  hauls  of  the  day,  gathered  within  the  precincts  of  the  sacred  place,  and  gratefully 
symbolized,  according  to  prescribed  form,  the  gratitude  of  their  liearts.  Shipwrecked  mariners 
prostrated  themselves  before  the  idol,  and  fulfilled  their  vows  by  the  sacrifice  of  their  queues, 
and  other  exercises  of  self-imposed  penance,  which  they  had  pledged  for  their  lives  in  the  agony 
of  impending  danger.  Witliin  the  sliade  of  the  grove  boatmen  and  fishermen  were  busy 
repairing  their  nets,  and  surrounded  with  their  long  oars,  tlieir  baskets,  and  all  the  para])hernalia 
of  their  business,  seemed  to  be  invoking  a  blessing  upon  their  labors,  and  propitiating  the  deity 


ST  MO  DA.  411 

for  good  luck  to  the  next  day's  fishing.  Tlie  mariners'  temple  is  one  of  the  handsomest 
structures  in  Simoda.  A  solid  stone  causeway,  leading  over  an  arched  hridgc,  with  a  low,  well- 
constructed  wall  on  either  side,  leads  to  the  steps  of  the  building.  Tlie  temple  is  built  in  the 
usual  style,  with  a  projecting  roof  of  tiles  ornamentally  arranged  in  cornices  of  flowers  and 
graceful  scrolls,'  and  supported  by  lacquered  pillars.  Over  the  door-way  there  is  a  fine 
specimen  of  carved  wood  work,  representing  the  sacred  crane,  on  the  wing,  symbolizing  as  it 
were  the  unsettled  life  of  the  mariner.  The  body  of  the  building  is  closed  partly  witli  wall  and 
partly  with  oiled  paper  casements.  The  usual  stone  lantern  is  found  on  the  left,  and  from  the 
door  hangs  a  straw  rope,  -which,  being  connected  with  a  bell  inside,  is  pulled  by  the  devotee  to 
ring  up  the  deity,  that  he  may  be  aware  of  the  call,  and  be  wide  awake  to  the  spiritual  necessities 
of  his  visitor. 

The  expense  of  these  numerous  religious  establishments  must  be  very  great,  and  the  tax  upon 
the  people  of  Simoda  proportionately  burdensome,  but  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  any  very 
exact  data  in  regard  to  the  amount.  As  the  voluntary  system  prevails  to  a  great  extent,  and 
ecclesiastical  prosperity  depends  chiefly  upon  the  generosity  of  the  pious,  the  priests  are 
very  naturally  stimulated  into  a  very  vigorous  exercise  of  their  functions,  and  are  undouljtcdly 
indefatigable  laborers  in  their  peculiar  field. 

The  country  about  Simoda  is  beautifully  varied  with  hill  and  dale.  There  are  the  usual  signs 
of  elaborate  Japanese  culture,  although  from  the  more  sparse  population  of  the  neighborhood 
there  is  more  land  left  in  a  comparatively  barren  condition  than  further  up  the  bay  towards  the 
capital.  The  bottoms  and  sides  of  the  valleys  are  covered  with  gardens  and  fields,  which  are 
well  watered  by  the  streamlets  wliich  flow  through  every  valley,  and  which,  by  artificial 
arrangement,  are  diverted  from  their  course,  and  pour  their  fertilizing  waters  over  the  land  from 
terrace  to  terrace.  There  are  four  principal  villages  near  Simoda.  Kaki-zaki,  or  Persimmon 
point,  lies  at  the  end  of  the  harbor  and  contains  barely  two  hundred  lioiises.  One  of  its 
monasteries,  known  by  the  name  of  Goku-zhen-zhi,  was  set  apart,  like  the  Rio-zhen-zhi  in 
Simoda,  as  a  place  of  resort  for  the  foreigners  ;  and  within  the  ground  attached  is  the  burial 
place  appropriated  to  Americans.  There  is  a  good  anchorage  at  Kaki-zaki  for  junks,  and  many 
of  them  take  in  their  cargoes  there  rather  than  at  Simoda. 

Passing  over  the  hills  in  a  southeasterly  direction,  we  come  to  the  village  of  Susaki,  wliich, 
with  its  two  hundred  houses  or  so,  hangs  upon  the  acclivity  o^  a  wooded  hill  side,  with  its  front 
extending  down  to  the  beach  and  facing  the  waters  of  the  inlet.  Its  inhabitants  are  generally 
fishermen,  and  their  boats,  and  even  larger  vessels,  can  approach  the  shore  at  all  states  of  the 
tide.  From  Susaki  a  good  road  leads  in  a  northeasterly  direction  to  the  village  of  Sotowra, 
a  small  hamlet,  also  situated  on  the  seaside,  but  with  a  pleasing  landscape  inland,  varied  by 
cultivated  fields  and  an  undergrowth  of  dwarf  oaks.  A  larger  place,  the  town  of  Sliira-hama, 
or  White  Beach,  extends  its  houses  along  a  sandy  beach  some  three  miles  distant  from  Sotowra, 
and  is  comparatively  a  flourishing  settlement.  Several  quarries  of  trachyte,  or  greenstone,  are 
worked  in  the  neighborhood,  and  large  quantities  of  charcoal  are  prepared  on  the  forest-crowned 
hills  in  the  rear. 

Turning  westwardly  and  ascending  the  hill  beyond  Shira-hama,  the  highest  summit  within  five 
miles  of  Simoda  is  reached,  from  which  the  whole  southern  area  and  breadth  of  the  peninsula 
of  Idzu  can  be  seen  at  one  glance.  Barren  peaks  rise  to  the  view  out  of  thickly  wooded  hills, 
whoso  sides  open  into  valleys,  down  which  the  wild  vegetation  throngs  until  checked  by  the 


412 


KXPEDITION       rO      JAPAN. 


culture  of  tlie  fields  that  siurouml  the  busy  hamlets  at  the  bottom.  Where  the  beholder  stands 
on  the  summit  of  the  hill  there  is  a  small  wooden  shrine,  almost  hidden  in  a  grove  of  pines. 
The  numerous  pictures,  flowers,  rags,  copper  cash,  and  decapitated  queues  found  within,  attest 
the  popularity  of  the  Zhi-zo-bozats,  the  deity  of  tlie  place. 


Valley  above  Simoiia. 

Descending  the  hill  by  its  northwestern  slope,  the  largest  valley  of  the  country  round  is 
entered.  The  river  Inodzu-gama,  which  flows  into  the  harbor  of  Simoda,  passes  througli  this, 
irrigating  the  cultivated  banks  and  sustaining  the  commerce  of  the  various  villages  and  towns 
in  the  interior.  TIio  liamlet  of  Hongo,  containing  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  liouses,  is 
situated  on  the  river,  which  has  been  dammed  at  that  spot,  and  turns  five  undershot  mills  for 
cleaning  rice.  This  operation  is  performed  by  a  very  simple  machine,  which  consists  of  a 
projecting  piece  of  wood  or  stone  attached  at  riglit  angles  to  the  end  of  a  long  lever,  Avhich 
plays  upon  a  horizontal  axis,  and  is  moved  up  and  down,  like  a  pestle  working  in  a  mortar. 

This  rude  machinery  is  occasionally  worked  by  water^  as  at  Hongo,  but  more  frequently  by  a 
man,  who  steps  alternately  off  and  on,  the  long  end  of  the  beam.  The  river  at  Hongo  is 
navigable  for  flat  bottomed  boats,  wliicb  frequent  tlie  i)lace  for  cliarcoal,  grain,  stone,  and  other 
products.  The  country  about  is  beautifully  diversified,  and  the  culture  of  the  land  is  carried  on 
to  an  extent  that  woulil  liardly  be  believed  by  one  wlio  was  not  familiar  witli  tlie  populous 
countries  of  the  east.  Every  hill  is  but  a  succession  of  terraces,  rising  one  above  the  other,  from 
the  bas((  to  the  summit,   and   greon   with   the  growth  of  rice,  barley,  wheat,  and  other  grain. 


S  I  M  0  D  A , 


413 


At  the  opening  of  a  smaller  valley,  which  branches  off  from  the  main  one  near  Hongo,  is  a 
small  village,  called  Kendai-zhi,  from  the  Lotus  terrace  monastery  near  by. 


— ^^^'-^ 


Japanese  Rice  Cleaner  and  Spade. 


From  Hongo  the  valley  widens  more  and  more  until  it  reaches  Simoda,  where  it  forms  an 
<>pen  expanse,  like  an  alluvial  plain.  Along  the  base  of  the  range  of  hills,  and  up  their  slopes, 
in  the  direction  of  the  harbor,  the  numerous  farm  houses  and  abounding  granaries,  many  of 
them  of  stone,  and  with  substantial  walls  of  the  same  material,  exhibit  a  cheerful  prospect  of 
thrift  and  comfort.  Nor  are  there  wanting  evidences  of  luxuriant  enjoyment  in  the  handsome 
structure  of  the  dwelling  houses,  with  their  pleasure  grounds  adorned  with  pastures  of  varie- 
gated flowers,  artificial  ponds  of  gold  fish,  and  fancy  dwarf  shade  and  fruit  trees.  West  of 
Simoda  the  villages  are  smaller,  and  the  hills  which  flank  them  of  less  height.  In  that 
direction  there  are  no  villages  of  a  shorter  distance  than  five  miles  from  the  town  of  Simoda. 
Near  two  seaside  settlements,  towards  the  southwest,  the  inhabitants  have  excavated  large 
chambers  in  the  clifi"s,  some  hundred  feet  above  the  shore,  in  which  they  store  the  sea  weed, 
which  is  a  favorite  article  for  chewing,  as  tobacco  is  used  with  us,  and  where  the  fishermen  occa- 
sionally resort  for  shelter.  The  lower  hills  in  every  direction  are  covered  with  wood,  from 
which  large  supplies  of  charcoal  are  made,  which  is  extensively  used  as  fuel  for  domestic  and 
manufacturing  purposes. 

The  topographical  characteristics  of  Simoda  are  such  as  to  indicate  a  healthful  climate.  Its 
situation  on  the  extremity  of  a  peninsula,  looking  seaward,  and  the  elevated  ground  which 
surrounds  the  town,  secure  the  fresh  breezes  of  the  sea  and  a  freedom  from  miasmatic  influences. 
Simoda  itself  lies  low,  but  the  soil  is  dry,  and  the  stream  which  passes  through  it  flows  rapidly 
and  with  a  clear  current  of  pure  water.  It  cannot  be  very  cold,  as  Simoda  is  at  the  level  of  the 
sea,  by  the  equable  temperature  of  which  the  winter  season  is  necessarily  tempered.  The  hills 
from  under  which  the  town  snugly  reposes  protect  it  from  the  full  severity  of  the  blasts  from 
the  snowy  summits  of  the  distant  mountains.  The  climate  is  more  or  less  variable  in  the 
winter  and  spring.  The  presence  of  snow  upon  the  lofty  peaks,  althougli  there  is  seldom  frost 
or  snow  at  Simoda  itself,  and  the  not  unfrequent  rains  with  the  ever  recurring  fogs,  give  an 
occasional  humidity  and  rawness  to  the  atmosphere,  which  are  chilling  to  the  senses,  and  must 
be  productive  of  occasional  inflammatory  diseases,  such  as  are  frequent  in  the  spring  and  winter 
with  us.     The  change  of  the  wind  alternates  often  between  the  warm  sea  breezes   from  the 


414 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


Bouth,  and  the  cold  blasts  from  the  snow-capped  mountains  inland,  and  produces  the  usual 
effects,  doubtless,  of  such  variations.  In  the  summer  it  is  occasionally  very  hot  in  the  day  time, 
but  the  nights  are  refreshed  by  the  sea  breezes.  From  April  19th  to  May  13th,  a  record  of  the 
thermometer  gives  72°  as  the  highest,  and  58°  as  the  lowest  point,  and  of  the  barometer  29.38 
and  30.00.  As  the  season  advances  the  mercury  rises,  no  doubt,  much  higher,  reaching  probably 
85°  of  Fahrenheit,  or  more.  Simoda  is  liable  to  the  ordinary  affections  of  temperate  climates, 
but  there  seems  no  reason  to  suspect  that  it  has  a  special  tendency  to  any  epidemic  diseases. 

Since  the  treaty  of  Kanagawa,  by  which  the  port  was  opened  to  intercourse  with  the 
Americans,  Simoda  has  been  separated  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  principality  of  Idzu,  and 
constituted  an  imperial  city,  the  authorities  of  which  are  appointed  directly  by  the  government 
at  Yedo.  There  is  a  governor  or  general  superintendent  of  the  municipal  and  commercial 
affairs  of  the  place,  with  a  fiscal  assistant  or  treasurer,  whose  particular  function  has  regard  to 
the  revenues.  Subordinate  to  these  two  officials,  there  are  the  same  number  of  prefects  or  bugio, 
who  again  have  under  them  various  collectors  and  interpreters,  whose  business  is  the  practical 
administration  of  affairs  in  the  various  departments  of  government  and  trade.  The  limit  of 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  imjierial  ofScers  is  marked  by  six  guard  stations,  neither  of  which  is  more 
than  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  town,  placed  on  all  the  principal  roads  leading  to  Simoda. 
Beyond  these,  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  are  amenable  as  before  to  their  own  local 
government,  while  within  them  all  persons  are  under  the  newly  appointed  authorities. 


Qonga  and  Musical  lustrumcnU  fur  Wursliip. 


U  A  U  D  0  U     OF     S I M  O  D  A . 


415 


CHAPTER   XXII. 


SCKVET    AND    DESCRIPTION    OF    THE    HARBOR   OF    SIMODA. — DISCIPLINE    IK   THE    SQDADRON. — INTERCOURSE  WITH    THE  AUTHORITIES 
OF    SIMODA. — KCRA-KAWA-KAHEI,    THE    PREFECT. — HIS   DISPOSITION    TO    PRODUCE    TROUBLE. — TREATMENT    OF    THE    AMERICAN 

OFFICERS. REMONSTRANCES   OF  THE  COMMODORE. EQUIVOCATION  OF  THE  PREFECT. HE  IS  FRIGHTENED  INTO   PROPRIETY. 

EFFORTS     OF    TWO    JAPANESE     GENTLEMEN    CLANDESTINELY    TO    LEAVE     THEIR     COUNTRY     IN    THE     SQUADRON. COMMODORe's 

CONDUCT. — BUDDHIST     TEMPLES     AT     SIMODA. — PREFECT    AGAIN     SHOWS     HIS     PETTY     HOSTILITY. — HIS     PREVARICATIONS    AND 

FALSEHOODS. FUNERAL    OF    AN    AMERICAN    ON     SHORE. INSULT    OFFERED     TO    AMERICAN    OFFICERS    ON     SHORE. PREFECt's 

FURTHER  FALSEHOODS. COMPELLED  TO  APOLOGIZE,  AND  INFORMED  THAT  HIS  INSOLENCE  WOULD  NOT  BE  BORNE  IN  FUTURE. 

FRIENDLY     INTERCOURSE     WITH     THE    PEOPLE. DEPARTURE     FOR    HAKODADl. VOLCANO     OF    OHO-SIMA. THE    KURO-SIWO,    OR 

JAPANESE    "gulf    STREAM." STRAITS    OF    SANGAR. — FOGS. — HARBOR    OF    HAKODADl. — DIRECTIONS    FOR    ENTERING. 

N  THE  Commodore's  arrival  at  the  port  of  SImoda,  he 
immediately  organized  a  surveying  party  for  the  complete 
examination  of  the  harhor,  and,  during  his  stay,  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  thorough  knowledge  of  all  the  points  of 
nautical  interest  to  the  navigator.  The  harbor  of  Simoda 
is  near  the  southeastern  extremity  of  the  peninsula  of  Idzu, 
which  terminates  at  the  cape  of  that  name,  and  bears  S.  W. 
by  W. ,  at  a  distance  of  forty-five  miles  from  Cape  Sagami, 
at  the  entrance  of  the  lower  bay  or  gulf  of  Yedo.  To  the 
northward  of  the  harbor,  a  high  ridge  of  mountains  intersects 
the  jjcninsula,  and  south  of  this,  all  the  way  to  the  cape, 
tlie  land  is  broken  by  innumerable  peaks  of  less  elevation. 
There  are  several  islands  and  prominent  rocks,  which  are 
picturesi{ue  features  in  the  view,  and  important  indications, 
which  require  to  be  carefully  considered  by  those  approaching 
Simoda  from  the  sea.  Kock  island,  in  latitude  34°  33'  50" 
N.,  longitude  138°  57'  16"  E.,  is  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  high,  and  a  third  of  a  milo 
long,  with  precipitous  shores,  and  a  surface  of  irregular  outline.  Covering  the  top  there  is  a 
thick  growth  of  slirubs,  grass,  weeds,  and  moss.  From  tlie  summit  of  tliis  island  overfalls 
were  seen,  bearing  N.  ^  W.,  distant  a  mile  or  a  mile  and  a  half,  which  may  have  been  caused 
by  rocks  or  reefs.  An  effort  was  made  to  investigate  the  cause,  but  without  success,  in 
consequence  of  the  strong  current  and  the  fresh  winds.  The  Japanese  fishermen,  however, 
deny  that  there  is  any  danger  to  navigation  in  tliat  direction.  Nortli  by  west  from  Rock  island, 
distant  two  miles,  are  the  Ukona  rocks,  which  are  really  two  in  number,  thougli  at  a  distance 


416  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

they  generally  appear  as  one.  The  larger  reaches  a  height  of  seventy  feet.  Between  these 
rocks  and  Rock  island  there  is  a  current  setting  east  noitheastwardly,  and  running  at  a  rate  of 
quite  four  miles  an  hour.  From  Rock,  Centre  island,  so  called  from  its  being  the  point  from 
■which  the  treaty  limits  are  measured,  bears  N.  ^  E.,  at  a  distance  of  fire  and  a  half  miles,  and 
from  the  two  Ukona  rocks,  N.  by  E.  ^  E.,  distant  three  and  a  half  miles.  Centre  island  is 
high,  conical  in  shape,  and  is  covered  with  a  full  growth  of  trees,  while  through  its  base  passes, 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  a  natural  cave.  Its  latitude  was  found,  by  careful  observation,  to  be 
34°  39'  49"  N.,  and  its  longitude  138°  67'  50"  E.,  with  a  variation  of  52'  westwardly.  High 
water,  full  and  change,  five  hours.  The  extreme  rise  of  the  tide  is  five  feet  seven  inches  upon 
the  shores  of  the  island,  and  the  mean  rise  three  feet.  Buisako  is  the  name  of  an  islet  which, 
covered  with  trees  and  shrubs,  and  about  forty  feet  in  height,  lies  N.N.E.  from  Centre  island. 
Off  the  village  of  Susaki,  at  a  distance  of  one-third  of  a  mile  from  the  shore,  is  a  ledge  of  rocks 
upon  which  the  swell  is  always  breaking. 

Vessels  bound  to  the  harbor  of  Simoda  from  the  southward  and  westward  should  make  Cape 
Idzu,  latitude  34°  32'  N.,  longitude  138°  51'  E.,  from  which  Rock  island  bears  E.S.E.  ^  E., 
distant  about  six  miles.  If  the  weather  is  at  all  clear,  the  chain  of  islands  at  the  entrance  of  the 
lower  bay  or  gulf  of  Yedo  will,  at  the  same  time,  be  plainly  visible.  Between  Rock  island  and 
the  main  land  there  are  a  number  of  rocks  projecting  above  water,  among  which  the  Japanese 
junks  freely  pass  ;  but  a  ship  should  not  attempt  the  passage  inside  the  island,  unless  in  case 
of  urgent  necessity,  as  the  northeasterly  current,  which  sweeps  along  this  coast,  seems  to  be  at 
this  point  capricious  both  in  direction  and  velocity.  Giving  Rock  island  the  berth  of  a  mile, 
the  harbor  of  Simoda  will  be  in  full  view,  bearing  N.  ^  W.,  distant  five  miles.  Vandalia  bluff, 
on  the  east  side  of  the  entrance,  may  be  recognized  by  a  grove  of  pines  on  its  summit,  and 
the  village  of  Susaki,  which  is  situated  about  one-third  of  the  way  between  the  bluff  and  a 
sharp  point  called  Cape  Diamond,  making  out  to  the  eastward  of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor.  A 
vessel  standing  in  from  Rock  island  will  probably  pass  through  a  number  of  tide-rips,  but 
soundings  will  not  be  obtained  by  the  hand-lead  until  near  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  when 
the  navigator  will  find  himself  in  from  seventeen  to  twenty-four  fathoms.  Should  the  wind  be 
from  the  northward  and  fresh,  it  would  be  expedient  to  anchor  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  imtil 
it  lulls  or  shifts,  or  until  the  vessel  can  be  conveniently  warped  in,  as  the  breezes  usually  blow 
in  flaws  and  are  always  baffling. 

Approaching  from  the  northward  and  eastward,  a  vessel  can  pass  on  either  side  of  the  island 
of  Oho-sima,  from  the  centre  of  which  Cape  Diamond  bears  W.S.W.  f  W.,  distant  about 
twenty  miles.  The  navigator  approaching  from  the  east  will  not  find  the  harbor  opening  until 
he  is  well  inside  of  Cape  Diamond.  Between  Oho-sima  and  Simoda  no  dangers  arc  known  to 
exist,  but  the  northeasterly  current  must  be  borne  constantly  in  mind,  particularly  at  night 
and  in  thick  weather.  Its  general  strength  is  from  two  to  three  miles  per  hour;  but  as  this,  as 
well  as  its  direction,  is  much  influenced  by  the  local  winds,  headlands,  islands,  rocks,  and  other 
causes,  neither  can  be  relied  on. 

Should  Oho-sima  be  obscured  by  thick  weather  before  reaching  Cape  Diamond,  the  pilot  should 
endeavor  to  sight  Rock  island,  for  there  are  no  very  conspicuous  objects  on  the  main  land  by 
which  the  stranger  can  recognize  the  harbor  at  a  distance,  and  the  shore  appears  as  one 
unbroken  line.  To  the  northward  of  Cape  Diamond  is  the  bay  of  Sira-hama,  which  is  quite 
deep,  and  as  it  has  several   sand  beaches   it  may  be  taken  for  Simoda ;  but  as  this  bay  is 


DISCIPLINEONBOARD.  417 

approached,  Cape  Diamond  ■will  shut  in  the  Ulcona  rocks  and  Rock  island  to  the  southward, 
while  in  the  Simoda  roads  they  are  both  visible  from  all  points.  To  the  westward  of  the  harbor 
there  are  several  beaches  and  banks  of  sand,  which,  as  they  can  be  plainly  discerned  at  the 
distance  of  six  or  eight  miles,  will  serve  as  good  land  marks. 

A  vessel  from  the  southward  and  eastward  should  pass  to  the  west  of  the  island  of  Meac-sima, 
which  may  be  known  by  a  remarkable  snow-white  cliff  on  its  western  side,  and  a  patch  on  the 
summit  toward  the  north.  To  the  southward  and  westward  of  the  island  there  are  two  groups 
of  dangerous  rocks,  some  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high,  which  were  called  by  the  Commodore, 
Redfield,  after  the  well-known  scientific  investigator  of  that  name.  One  set  is  in  latitude  33° 
56'  13"  N.,  and  longitude  138°  48'  31"  E. ;  the  other  in  latitude  33°  51'  31"  N.,  and  in  longitude 
138°  49'  13"  E. 

There  are  but  two  hidden  dangers  in  the  harbor.  The  first  is  the  Southampton  rock,  so  called 
from  the  ship  which  touched  upon  it,  and  lying  in  mid-channel,  bearing  N.  ^  W.  from  Vandalia 
bluff,  between  which  and  Centre  island  it  is  situated  about  three-fourths  of  the  way.  The  rock 
is  estimated  to  be  about  twenty-five  feet  in  diameter,  and  has  two  fathoms  of  water  covering  it. 
It  was  marked  by  the  surveyors  with  a  white  spar-buoy.  The  other  concealed  danger  is  the 
Supply  rock,  which  bears  S.  by  W.,  at  a  short  distance  from  Buisako  islet,  aud  has  a  sharp  edge 
with  eleven  feet  of  water  upon  it.     A  red  spar-buoy  indicates  its  position. 

The  general  discipline  of  the  squadron  had  been  excellent  during  the  whole  expedition,  and 
under  circumstances  calculated  to  test,  with  some  degree  of  severity,  the  government  of  the 
officers  and  the  obedience  of  the  men.  From  the  necessity  of  conciliating  the  strange  people  of 
Japan,  and  conforming,  in  some  respects,  to  their  habits  of  non-intercourse  with  foreigners,  it 
required  great  tact,  on  the  part  of  those  having  authority  on  board  ship,  to  reconcile  the  natural 
desire  of  occasional  liberty  on  the  part  of  the  sailors  with  the  rigid  reserve  of  the  Japanese. 
This  was,  however,  accomplished  with  general  success,  and  there  was  but  little  occasion  for  any 
but  the  ordinary  exercise  of  the  rules  of  discipline  to  secure  the  preservation  of  that  good  order 
which  was  the  characteristic  of  all  the  ships  of  the  squadron.  Neglect  of  duty  and  small 
offences  were  promptly  rebuked  and  punished  by  the  usual  penalties,  and  great  severity  was 
rarely  called  for.  On  the  19th  of  April,  however,  it  was  found  necessary  to  convene  a  general 
court  martial  on  board  the  Mississippi  for  the  trial  of  several  seamen,  and  the  result  was  the 
finding  of  two  of  the  men  guilty  of  desertion.  It  was,  however,  but  technical  desertion, 
consisting  in  what  Jack  calls  "French,"  meaning  "  taking  French  leave,"  by  wandering  off 
from  a  boat  ashore,  without  permission,  to  look  for  drink.  The  laws  of  the  service,  however, 
properly  enough,  deem  such  conduct  desertion.  The  sentence  was  duly  read  in  all  tlie  ships  of - 
the  squadron,  and  the  delinquents  suffered  the  usual  penalty  of  confinement  for  a  time  and 
stoppage  of  pay. 

On  the  third  day  after  reaching  Simoda,  April  21st,  the  Commodore,  accompanied  by  a  small 
suite  of  officers,  landed,  and  paid  an  official  visit  to  Kura-Kawa-Kahei,  the  ])refect.  The  party 
was  received  with  the  usual  formal  courtesies  by  the  Japanese  official  and  JMoryama  Yenoske, 
who  had  come  to  Simoda  to  exercise  his  functions  as  an  interpreter,  and  to  aid,  by  his  experience 
in  carrying  out  the  conditions  of  the  treaty  just  negotiated  at  Kanagawa.  The  Commodore,  after 
partaking  of  refresliments,  walked  through  tlie  town  to  take  a  general  survey,  aud  entered 
various  temples,  which  are  tlie  chief  objects  of  interest  to  the  stranger  at  Simoda.  On  hia 
53  J 


418 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


return  to  the  ship  he  was  accompanied  by  several  of  the  Japanese  officials,  who  proposed  to  make 
some  arrangement  I'or  the  supply  of  such  provisions  as  might  be  required  by  the  squadron. 

Presuming  upon  the  privileges  secured  by  the  treaty,  the  officers  began  now  to  frequent  the 
shore  and  stroll  freely  about  the  streets  of  the  town  and  the  neighboring  country.  The  common 
people,  as  had  been  elsewhere  observed,  seemed  very  much  disposed  to  welcome  the  strangers 
and  engage  in  friendly  converse  with  them.  They  exhibited  their  usual  curiosity,  and  thronged 
about  the  Americans,  examining  their  dress,  and,  with  almost  childish  eagerness  and  delight, 
fingered  the  officers'  buttons,  swords,  and  gay  accoutrements,  and,  pointing  to  them,  would  ask, 
in  their  pantomimic  way,  the  English  names  for  each  article  which  struck  their  fancy.  It  was 
soon  discovered,  however,  that  the  Japanese  authorities  were  not  disposed  to  allow  of  this  free 
intermingling  of  the  peoi^le  with  the  Americans,  and  no  sooner  was  it  observed  than  various 
armed  soldiers  or  policemen  came  up  and  dispersed  their  countrymen.  Not  satisfied  with  the 
exercise  of  this  severe  discipline  upon  the  poor  Japanese,  the  officials  seemed  determined  to 
practice  their  authority  upon  the  American  officers.  It  was  found  that,  wherever  the  latter 
went,  they  were  followed  by  a  squad  of  soldiers,  who  watched  every  movement,  and  dogged 


rfi/— 


Group  of  Japanese  Women — Stmoda. 

their  steps  with  the  pertinacity  of  a  pack  of  hounds.  The  people,  imder  the  orders  of  the  local 
authorities,  fled,  and  the  town,  with  its  shops  closed  and  its  streets  deserted,  was  as  sad  as  if  it 
had  been  devastated  by  the  plague.  Even  in  their  strolls  into  the  country,  the  American 
officers  found  that  they  could  not  divest  themselves  of  the  perpetual  presence  and  jealous 
watchfulness  of  the  Japanese  spies,  who  were  evidently  resolved  to  restrict  tlie  freedom  of  their 
visitors,  and  put  them  under  the  most  rigid  surveillance. 


TWO     JAPANESE     GENTLEMEN.  419 

The  CV>mmo(lore,  upon  being  made  aware  of  this  treatment  of  his  officers,  felt  greatly  indignant, 
as  it  was  in  violation  of  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty,  and  he  determined  to  bring  the  authorities 
of  Simoda,  whom  he  held  responsible,  to  account.  He  accordingly  dispatched  his  flag  lieutenant 
and  his  two  interpreters  on  shore,  to  call  upon  the  prefect  and  lay  before  him  certain  complaints, 
which  were  specified  in  a  memorandum  in  which  the  Commodore  expressed  his  dissatisfaction  at 
the  manner  in  which  his  officers  were  treated  on  going  ashore,  and  protested  against  their 
being  followed  by  soldiers,  the  dispersion  of  the  people,  and  the  closing  of  the  shops.  These,  he 
declared,  were  at  variance  with  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty;  and  threatened,  if  the  annoyances 
should  continue,  that  he  would  sail  to  Yedo  with  his  whole  squadron  and  demand  an  explanation. 
The  Commodore  also  took  occasion  to  insist  upon  a  suitable  place  being  set  apart  on  shore  for  a 
resort  for  himself  and  officers  ;  and  as  he  proposed  a  visit  to  the  island  of  Oho-sima,  requested 
that  proper  provisions  should  be  made  for  the  journey,  a  junk  be  provided,  and  certain  Japanese 
officials  selected  to  accompany  the  American  expedition. 

The  prefect,  upon  hearing  this  protest  of  the  Commodore,  replied,  that  the  Dutch  at  Nagasak 
were  always  followed  by  twelve  or  fourteen  Japanese  soldiers,  and  seemed  to  think  that  such  a 
precedent  should  be  a  rule  of  conduct  for  the  Americans.  He  was,  however,  told,  that  the 
treatment  of  the  Dutch  was  not  to  be  taken  far  a  moment  as  a  criterion  by  which  the  Japanese 
authorities  were  to  judge  of  what  was  proper  in  their  relations  with  the  Americans,  who  had  a 
"  treaty  of  amity  and  intercourse"  with  Japan  ;  and  coming,  as  they  did,  to  Simoda  as  friends, 
they  would  insist  upon  being  treated  as  such,  and  suffer  no  infringement  of  privileges  which 
had  been  guarantied  by  a  solemn  comiiact.  The  prefect,  moreover,  was  told  that  the  Americans 
intended  no  harm  to  the  people,  but,  on  the  contrary,  desired  the  most  friendly  relations  with 
them,  and  the  freest  intercourse,  without  being  watched  and  restrained  by  soldiers,  acting  under 
the  orders  of  their  superiors.  Such  a  surveillance  as  had  hitherto  been  practised  was  what 
Americans  were  not  accustomed  to,  and  particularly  as  it  would  seem  to  indicate  that  they  were 
intent  upon  the  commission  of  some  outrage. 

This  resolute  language  produced  its  desired  eifect  upon  the  prefect,  who  excused  his  conduct 
upon  the  plea  that  he  had  left  Yoku-hama  before  the  signing  of  the  treaty,  and  had,  in 
consequence,  not  been  aware  that  it  contained  the  clause  "free  intcrcoiu'se."  He  would  be 
obliged,  he  continued,  to  refer  to  his  superiors  at  Yedo  for  instructions  on  this  point,  and 
ascertain  how  they  construed  that  article  ;  but,  in  the  meanwhile,  he  would  give  orders  that  the 
houses  should  not  be  closed,  and  try  the  experiment  of  allowing  the  officers  to  visit  the  shore 
without  being  followed  by  soldiers. 

The  prefect  then  readily  acceded  to  the  Commodore's  demands  in  regard  to  a  jdace  of  resort 
and  the  visit  to  Oho-sima,  saying  that  any  of  the  temples  were  at  his  disposition,  where  the 
best  accommodation  Simoda  affijrded  would  be  prepared  for  him,  and  that  a  junk,  two  boats, 
and  certain  Japanese  attendants  would  be  immediately  provided  for  those  persons  of  the 
squadron  the  Commodore  wished  to  send  to  Oho-sima.  After  an  expression  from  the  ])refect  of 
courtesy,  and  the  hojie  that  trifles  would  not  be  permitted  to  interrupt  tlie  friendly  feelin<'- 
subsisting  between  the  Americans  and  the  Jajianese,  the  interview  closed. 

The  various  officers  of  the  squadron  now  visited  the  shore  daily,  and  for  a  time  there  was 
apparently  less  disposition  to  interfere  with  their  movements,  or  watch  their  proceedings.  On 
one  of  these  occasions  a  party  had  passed  out  into  the  country  beyond  the  suburbs,  when  they 
found  two  Japanese  following  them  ;  but,  as  they  were  supposed  to  be  a  couple  of  spies  on  tlic 


420  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN, 

watch,  little  notice  was  at  first  taken  of  them.  Observing,  however,  that  they  seemed  to  be 
approaching  as  if  stealthily,  and  as  though  desirous  of  seeking  an  opportunity  of  speaking,  the 
American  officers  awaited  their  coming  up.  On  being  accosted,  the  Japanese  were  observed  to 
be  men  of  some  position  and  rank,  as  each  wore  the  two  swords  characteristic  of  distinction, 
and  were  dressed  in  the  wide  but  short  trowsers  of  rich  silk  brocade.  Their  manner  showed 
the  usual  courtly  refinement  of  the  better  classes,  but  they  exhibited  the  embarrassment  of  men 
who  evidently  were  not  perfectly  at  their  ease,  and  were  about  doing  something  of  dubious 
propriety.  They  cast  their  eyes  stealthily  about  as  if  to  assure  themselves  that  none  of  their 
countrymen  were  at  hand  to  observe  their  proceedings,  and  then  approaching  one  of  the  officers 
and  jiretending  to  admire  his  watch-chain,  slijiped  within  the  breast  of  his  coat  a  folded  paper.* 
They  now  significantly,  with  tlie  finger  upon  the  lips,  entreated  secresy,  and  rapidly  made  off. 

During  the  succeeding  night,  about  two  o'clock,  a.  m.,  (April  2r)th,)  the  officer  of  the  mid- 
watch,  on  board  the  steamer  Mississippi,  was  aroused  by  a  voice  from  a  boat  alongside, 
and  upon  proceeding  to  the  gangway,  found  a  couple  of  Japanese,  wlio  had  mounted  the  ladder 
at  the  ship's  side,  and  upon  biding  accosted,  made  signs  expressive  of  a  desire  to  be  admitted  on 
board. 

They  seemed  very  eager  to  be  allowed  to  remain,  and  showed  a  very  evident  determination 

"Tliig  paper  proved  to  be  a  letter  in  Japanese,  of  which  the  following  is  a  literal  translation  by  Mr.  Williams,  the  interpreter 
of  the  squadron  : 

"  Two  scholars  from  Yedo,  in  Japan,  present  this  letter  for  the  inspection  of '  the  high  officers  and  those  who  manage  affairs.' 
Our  attainments  are  few  and  trifling,  as  we  ourselves  are  small  and  unimportant,  so  that  we  are  abashed  in  coming  before  you  ; 
we  are  neither  skilled  in  the  use  of  arms,  nor  are  we  able  to  discourse  upon  the  rules  of  strategy  and  military  discipline  ;  in 
trifling  pursuits  and  idle  pastimes  our  years  and  months  have  slipped  away.  We  have,  however,  read  in  books,  and  learned  a 
little  bv  hearsay,  what  are  the  customs  and  education  in  Europe  and  America,  and  we  have  been  for  many  years  desirous  of 
going  over  the  '  five  great  continents,'  but  the  laws  of  our  country  in  all  maritime  points  are  very  strict ;  for  foreigners  to  come 
into  the  country,  and  for  natives  to  go  abroad,  are  both  immutably  forbidden.  Our  wish  to  visit  other  regions  has  consequently 
only  '  gone  to  and  fro  in  our  own  breasts  in  continual  agitation,'  like  one's  breathing  being  impeded  or  his  walking  cramped. 
Happily,  the  arrival  of  .so  many  of  your  ships  in  these  waters,  and  stay  for  so  many  days,  which  has  given  us  opportunity  to 
make  a  pleasing  acquaintance  and  careful  examination,  so  that  we  are  fully  assured  of  the  kindness  and  liberality  of  your 
e.xcellcncies,  and  your  regard  for  others,  has  also  revived  the  thoughts  of  many  years,  and  they  are  urgent  for  an  e.\it. 

"  This,  then,  is  the  time  to  carry  the  plan  into  execution,  and  we  now  secretly  send  you  this  private  request,  that  you  will 
take  us  on  board  your  ships  as  they  go  out  to  sea  ;  we  can  thus  visit  around  in  the  five  great  continents,  even  if  we  do  in  this, 
slight  the  prohibitions  of  our  own  country.  Lest  those  who  have  the  management  of  affairs  may  feel  some  chagrin  at  this,  in 
order  to  effect  our  desire,  we  are  willing  to  serve  in  any  way  we  can  on  board  of  the  ships,  and  obey  the  orders  given  us.  For 
doubtless  it  is,  that  when  a  lame  man  sees  others  walking  he  wishes  to  walk  too  ;  but  how  shall  the  pedestrian  gratify  his 
desires  when  he  sees  another  one  riding.'  We  have  all  our  hves  been  going  hither  to  you,  unable  to  get  more  than  thirty 
degrees  east  and  west,  or  twenty-five  degrees  north  and  south  ;  but  now  when  wo  see  how  you  sail  on  the  tempests  iuid  cleave 
the  hufe  billows,  going  lightning  speed  tliousands  and  myriads  of  miles,  skirting  along  the  five  great  continents,  can  it  not  be 
likened  to  the  lame  finding  a  plan  for  walking,  and  the  pedestrian  seeing  a  mode  by  which  ho  can  ride?  If  you  who  manage 
affairs  will  give  our  request  your  consideration,  we  will  retain  the  sense  of  the  favor  ;  but  the  i)rohibitions  of  our  country 
are  still  existent,  and  if  this  matter  should  become  known  we  should  uselessly  see  ourselves  pursued  and  l)rought  back  for 
immediate  execution  without  fail,  and  such  a  result  would  greatly  grieve  the  deep  humanity  and  kindness  you  all  bear  towards 
others.  If  you  are  willing  to  accede  to  this  request,  keep  '  wrapped  in  silence  our  error  in  making  it  '  until  you  are  about  to 
leave,  in  order  to  avoid  all  risk  of  such  serious  danger  to  life  ;  for  when,  by-and-bye,  we  come  back,  our  countrymen  will  never 
think  it  worth  while  to  investigate  bygone  doings.  Although  our  words  have  only  loosely  let  our  thoughts  leak  out,  yet  truly 
they  are  sincere  ;  and  if  your  excellencies  are  pleased  to  regard  them  kindly,  do  not  doubt  tlicm  nor  oppose  our  wishes.  Wo 
together  pay  our  respects  in  handing  this  in.     April  11." 

A  small  note  was  enclosed,  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation  :  "The  enclosed  letter  contains  the  earnest  request  wo 
have  had  for  many  days,  and  which  we  tried  in  many  ways  to  get  off  to  you  at  Yoku-hama,  in  a  fishing  boat,  by  night;  but 
the  cruisers  were  too  thick,  and  none  others  were  allowed  to  come  alongside,  so  that  we  were  in  great  uncertainty  how  to  act. 
Hearing  that  the  ships  were  coming  to  Simoda  we  have  come  to  take  our  chance,  intending  to  get  a  small  boat  and  go  off  to 
the  ships,  but  have  not  succeeded.  Trustmg  your  worships  will  agree,  we  will,  to-morrow  night,  after  all  is  quiet,  bo  at 
Kakizaki  in  a  small  boat,  near  the  shore,  where  there  are  no  houses.  There  wo  greatly  hope  you  to  meet  us  and  take  us  away, 
and  thus  bring  our  hopes  to  fruition.     April  25." 


CONSEQUENCES     OF     TUE     VISIT     OF      TUE     TWO     GENTLEMEN.       421 

not  to  return  to  the  shore,  hy  the  desire  they  expressed  of  casting  off  their  boat,  utterly 
regardless  of  its  fate.  The  captain  of  the  Mississijipi  directed  them  to  the  flag-ship,  to  which, 
on  retiring  to  their  boat,  they  iralled  off  at  once.  Having  reached  her  with  some  difficulty, 
in  consequence  of  the  heavy  swell  in  the  harbor,  they  had  hardly  got  upon  the  ladder  and 
mounted  to  the  gangway,  when  their  boat  got  adrift,  either  by  accident,  or  from  being  let  go 
intentionally.  On  their  reaching  the  deck,  the  officer  informed  the  Commodore  of  their  presence, 
who  sent  his  interpreter  to  confer  with  them  and  learn  the  purpose  of  their  untimely  visit. 
They  frankly  confessed  that  their  object  was  to  be  taken  to  the  United  States,  where  they  might 
gratifj'  their  desire  of  travelling,  and  seeing  the  world.  They  were  now  recognised  as  the  two  men 
who  had  met  the  officers  on  shore  and  given  one  of  them  the  letter.  They  seemed  much  fatigued 
by  their  boating  excursion,  and  their  clothes  showed  signs  of  being  travel  worn,  although  they 
proved  to  be  Japanese  gentlemen  of  good  position.  They  both  were  entitled  to  wear  the  two 
swords,  and  one  still  retained  a  single  one,  but  they  had  left  the  other  three  in  the  boat  which 
had  gone  adrift  with  them.  They  were  educated  men,  and  wrote  the  mandarin  Chinese 
with  fluency  and  apparent  elegance,  and  their  manners  were  courteous  and  highly  refined. 
The  Commodore,  on  learning  the  purpose  of  their  visit,  sent  word  that  he  regretted  that  he  was 
unable  to  receive  them,  as  he  would  like  very  much  to  take  some  Japanese  to  America  with  him. 
He,  however,  was  compelled  to  refuse  them  until  they  received  permission  from  their  government, 
for  seeking  which  they  would  have  ample  opportunity,  as  the  squadron  would  remain  in  the 
harbor  of  Simoda  for  some  time  longer.  They  were  greatly  disturbed  by  this  answer  of  the 
Commodore,  and  declaring  that  if  they  returned  to  the  land  they  would  lose  their  heads,  earnestly 
implored  to  be  allowed  to  remain.  The  prayer  was  firmly  but  kindly  refused.  A  long 
discussion  ensued,  in  the  course  of  which  they  urged  every  possible  argument  in  their  favor, 
and  continued  to  appeal  to  the  humanity  of  the  Americans.  A  boat  was  now  lowered,  and 
after  some  mild  resistance  on  their  part  to  being  sent  off',  they  descended  the  gangway  piteously 
deploring  their  fate,  and  were  landed  at  a  si^ot  near  where  it  was  supposed  their  boat  might 
have  drifted. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day,  Tenoske,  the  chief  interpreter,  who  had  come  to  Simoda 
from  Ycdo  for  the  express  purpose  of  requesting  the  postponement  of  the  expedition  to  Oho-sima, 
w^hich  was  conditionally  granted  by  the  Commodore,  came  on  board  the  Powhatan,  and  requested 
to  see  the  flag-lieutenant,  to  whom  he  stated,  that  "  last  night  a  couple  of  demented  Japanese 
had  gone  off  to  one  of  the  American  vessels,"  and  wished  to  know  if  it  had  been  the  flag-ship ; 
and  if  so,  whether  the  men  had  been  guilty  of  any  impropriety.  The  flag-lieutenant  replied, 
that  it  was  difficult  to  retain  any  very  precise  recollection  of  those  who  visited  the  sliips,  as  so 
many  were  constantly  coming  from  the  shore  in  the  watering  boats  and  on  business,  but  he 
assured  the  interpreter  that  no  misdemeanor  coidd  have  been  committed,  or  he  would  have  been 
aware  of  the  fact.  The  interpreter  was  then  asked,  whether  the  Japanese  he  referred  to  had 
reached  the  shore  in  safety,  to  which  the  very  satisfactory  answer  that  ''they  had"  was  received. 

The  Commodore,  upon  hearing  of  the  visit  of  the  interpreter  and  tlie  apparent  anxiety  of  the 
Japanese  authorities  in  regard  to  the  conduct  of  the  two  strange  visitors  to  the  ships,  sent  an 
officer  on  shore  in  order  to  quiet  the  excitement  which  had  been  created,  and  to  interpose  as  far 
as  possible  in  behalf  of  the  poor  fellows,  who  it  was  certain  would  be  pursued  with  the  utmost 
rigor  of  Japanese  law.  The  authorities  were  thanked  for  the  solicitude  tlicy  liad  expressed 
lest  the  Americans  should  have  been  inconvenienced  by  any  of  their  people,  and  assured  that 


422  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

they  need  not  trouble  themselves  for  a  moment  with  the  thought  that  so  slight  a  matter  had 
been  considered  otherwise  than  a  mere  trivial  occurrence  unworthy  of  any  investigation.  The 
Japanese  were  further  informed  that  they  need  give  themselves  no  anxiety  for  the  future,  as 
none  of  their  countrymen  should  be  received  on  board  the  American  ships  without  the  consent 
of  the  authorities,  as  the  Commodore  and  his  officers  were  not  disposed  to  take  advantage  of 
their  confidence  or  act  in  any  way  that  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  treaty.  If 
the  Commodore  had  felt  himself  at  liberty  to  indulge  his  feelings,  he  would  have  gladly  given 
a  refuge  on  board  his  ship  to  the  poor  Japanese,  who  apparently  sought  to  escape  from  the 
country  from  the  desire  of  gratifying  a  liberal  curiosity,  which  had  been  stimulated  by  the 
presence  of  the  Americans  in  Japan.  There  were  other  considerations  which,  however,  had 
higher  claims  than  an  equivocal  humanity.  To  connive  at  the  flight  of  one  of  the  people  was 
to  disobey  the  laws  of  the  Empire,  and  it  was  the  only  true  policy  to  conform,  in  all  possible 
regards,  to  the  institutions  of  a  country  by  which  so  many  important  concessions  had  already 
been  reluctantly  granted.  The  Empire  of  Japan  forbids  the  departure  of  any  of  its  subjects 
for  a  foreign  country  under  the  penalty  of  death,  and  the  two  men  who  had  fled  on  board  the 
ships  were  criminals  in  the  eye  of  their  own  laws,  however  innocent  they  might  have  appeared 
to  the  Americans.  Moreover,  although  there  was  no  reason  to  doubt  the  account  the  two 
Jaijanese  gave  of  themselves,  it  was  possible  they  were  influenced  by  other  and  less  worthy 
motives  than  those  they  professed.  It  might  have  been  a  stratagem  to  test  American  honor,  and 
some  believed  it  so  to  be.  The  Commodore,  by  his  careful  efi'orts  to  impress  upon  the  authori- 
ties how  trifling  he  esteemed  the  offence,  hoped  to  mitigate  the  pvmishment  to  which  it  was 
amenable.  The  event  was  full  of  interest,  as  indicative  of  the  intense  desire  for  information  on 
the  part  of  two  educated  Jajmnese,  who  were  ready  to  brave  the  rigid  laws  of  the  country,  and 
to  risk  even  death  for  the  sake  of  adding  to  their  knowledge.  The  Japanese  are  undoubtedly 
an  inquiring  people,  and  woiild  gladly  welcome  an  oj^portunity  for  the  expansion  of  their  moral 
and  intellectual  faculties.  The  conduct  of  the  unfortunate  two  was,  it  is  believed,  characteristic 
of  their  countrymen,  and  nothing  can  better  represent  the  intense  curiosity  of  the  people,  while 
its  exercise  is  only  prevented  by  the  most  rigid  laws  and  ceaseless  watchfulness  lest  they  should 
be  disobeyed.  In  this  disposition  of  the  people  of  Japan,  what  a  field  of  speculation,  and,  it 
may  be  added,  what  a  prospect  full  of  hope  opens  for  the  future  of  that  interesting  country  ! 

Some  days  subsequently,  as  a  i^arty  of  officers  were  strolling  in  the  suburbs,  they  came  upon 
the  prison  of  the  town,  where  they  recognized  the  two  unfortunate  Japanese  immured  in  one  of 
the  usual  places  of  confinement,  a  kind  of  cage,  barred  in  front  and  very  restricted  in  capacity. 
The  i)oor  fellows  had  been  immediately  pursued  upon  its  being  discovered  that  they  had  visited 
tlie  ships,  and  after  a  few  days  they  were  pounced  upon  and  lodged  in  prison.  Thoy  seemed  to 
bear  their  misfortune  with  great  equanimity,  and  were  greatly  pleased  apparently  with  the  visit 
of  the  American  officers,  in  whose  eyes  they  evidently  were  desirous  of  appearing  to  advantage. 
On  one  of  the  visitors  approaching  the  cage,  the  Japanese  wrote  on  a  piece  of  board  that  was 
lianded  to  them  the  following,  which,  as  a  remarkable  specimen  of  philosophical  resignation 
under  circumstances  which  would  have  tried  the  stoicism  of  Cato,  deserves  a  record  : 

"  When  a  hero  fails  in  his  purpose,  his  acts  are  then  regarded  as  those  of  a  villain  and  robber. 
In  public  have  we  been  seized  and  pinioned  and  caged  for  many  days.  The  village  elders  and 
head  men  treat  us  disdainfully,  their  oppressions  being  grievous  indeed.  Therefore,  looking  up 
wliilr  yet  we  have  nothing  wherewith  to  reproach  ourselves,  it  nuist  now  be  seen  whether  a  hero 


TEMPLE     OF     RIO-Sn  EN-ZHI,     SI  MOD  A.  423 

will  prove  himself  to  be  one  indeed.  Eegarding  the  liberty  of  going  through  the  sixty  States 
as  not  enough  for  our  desires,  we  wished  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  five  great  continents.  This 
was  our  hearts'  wish  for  a  long  time.  Suddenly  our  plans  are  defeated,  and  we  find  ourselves 
in  a  half  sized  house,  where  eating,  resting,  sitting,  and  sleeping  are  difficult ;  how  can  we  find 
our  exit  from  this  place  ?  Weeping,  we  seem  as  fools  ;  laughing,  as  rogues.  Alas  !  for  us  ; 
silent  we  can  only  be.  "  ISAGI  KOODA, 

"KWANSUCHI  MANJI." 

The  Commodore,  on  being  informed  of  the  imprisonment  of  the  two  Japanese,  sent  his  flag 
lieutenant  on  shore  to  ascertain  unofficially  whether  they  were  the  same  who  had  visited  the 
ships.  The  cage  was  found  as  described,  but  empty,  and  the  guards  of  the  prison  declared  that 
the  men  had  been  sent  that  morning  to  Tedo,  in  obedience  to  an  order  from  the  capital.  They 
had  been  confined,  it  was  stated,  for  going  off  to  the  American  ships,  and  as  the  prefect  had  no 
authority  to  act  in  the  matter,  he  had  at  once  reported  the  case  to  the  imperial  government, 
which  had  sent  for  the  prisoners,  and  then  held  them  under  its  jurisdiction.  The  fate  of  the 
poor  fellows  was  never  ascertained,  but  it  is  hoped  that  the  authorities  were  more  merciful  than 
to  have  awarded  the  severest  penalty,  which  was  the  loss  of  their  heads,  for  what  appears  to  us 
only  liberal  and  a  highly  commendable  curiosity,  however  great  the  crime  according  to  the 
eccentric  and  sanguinary  code  of  Japanese  law.  It  is  a  comfort  to  be  able  to  add,  that  the 
Commodore  received  an  assurance  from  the  authorities,  upon  questioning  them,  that  he  need 
not  apprehend  a  serious  termination. 

The  large  Buddhist  temple,  the  Kio-shen-zhi,  or  great  peace  monastery,  was  the  place  appro- 
priated by  the  authorities,  in  accordance  with  the  demands  of  the  Commodore,  for  his  use,  and 
another  was  provided  for  that  of  his  officers.  Most  of  the  Japanese  temples  have  apartments 
separate  from  the  ecclesiastical  part  of  the  establishment,  which  are  used  for  lodging  and  enter- 
taining strangers  and  distinguished  visitors.  They  are  also  employed  occasionally  for  various 
public  gatherings,  on  festival  and  market  days  ;  and  bazaars,  for  buying  and  selling,  are  not 
unfrecjuently  opened  ;  thus  converting  the  temple  into  a  place  for  the  free  exercise  of  all  the  roguery 
of  trade,  if  not  literally  into  a  "den  of  thieves."  As  the  supply  of  furniture  was  scant  in  the 
lodging  department  of  the  Kio-shen-zhi,  chairs  and  other  appliances  of  comfort  were  brought  from 
the  ships,  and  the  quarters  were  made  tolerably  luxurious.  In  order  to  fiimiliarize  tlie  Japanese 
people  with  their  presence,  the  Commodore  and  his  officers  frequently  resorted  to  their  apartments 
on  shore,  and  found  a  walk  in  the  pleasure  grounds  which  surrounded  tliem,  and  on  the  wooded 
hills  at  the  back,  a  pleasant  diversion  from  the  routine  of  ship's  duty. 

There  was,  notwithstanding  the  promise  of  the  prefect,  very  little  improvement  in  the  conduct 
of  the  authorities,  and  the  Americans  still  found  their  liberty  much  restricted,  and  their  privacy 
interrupted  by  the  jealous  watchfulness  and  intrusive  officiousness  of  the  soldiers  and  spies. 
The  Commodore  himself,  on  one  occasion,  when  proceeding  through  th,e  town  in  company  with 
several  of  his  officers,  found  that  he  was  constantly  preceded  by  two  Japanese  functionaries,  who 
ordered  all  the  people  they  met  to  retire  within  their  houses  and  close  the  doors.  The  shopmen 
were  evidently  forbidden  to  sell  their  wares  to  the  strangers,  for  the  most  trifling  articles  which 
they  might  desire  to  purchase  could  not  be  obtained  on  any  terms.  The  Commodore  found  it 
necessary  again  to  protest  against  this  illiberal  treatment,  and  sent  his  flag-lieutenant  to  the 
prefect  to  lay  before  him  certain  complaints  and  to  insist  upon  their  causes  being  immediately 
removed.     The  prefect  was  accordingly  called  upon,  and  informed  that  it  appeared  that  lie  was 


424  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

determined  to  evade  the  full  execution  of  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty,  since,  by  allowing  his 
spies  or  soldiers  to  follow  the  Americans,  and  by  ordering  the  people  to  withdraw  from  the 
streets  and  to  close  their  houses,  he  was  placing  every  obstruction  in  the  way  of  that  friendly 
intercourse  with  the  Japanese  which  was  guarantied  by  the  compact  solemnly  entered  into 
between  Japan  and  the  United  States.  The  prefect  was  then  assured,  that  if  these  annoyances 
should  continue,  the  Commodore  would  stop  all  relations  with  the  town  and  return  to  Yedo,  as, 
although  he  had  been  eight  days  at  Simoda,  there  had  been  very  little  improvement  in  the 
conduct  of  the  authorities,  and  his  patience  was  exhausted. 

The  prefect  excused  himself  by  averring  that  the  Commodore  was  mistaken  in  his  allegations, 
and  that  the  soldiers  were  present  for  the  protection  of  the  visitors,  and  were  engaged,  not,  as 
was  supposed,  in  ordering  the  people  to  withdraw  and  close  their  houses,  but  in  directing  them 
to  welcome  the  Americans,  and  open  their  doors  to  them.  Upon  the  flag-lieutenant,  however, 
urging  that  his  personal  experience  proved  the  contrary,  the  prefect  said  then  that  his  orders 
had  been  misunderstood,  and  he  would  renew  them  and  see  that  they  were  executed,  that  the 
Commodore  might  have  no  reason  to  complain  thereafter.  In  regard  to  trading  with  the 
Americans,  the  prefect  declared  that  he  had  received  no  instructions  to  allow  of  it  until  the 
opening  of  a  bazaar.  He  was  then  answered  that  the  officers  merely  wanted  some  small 
articles  for  their  own  use,  and  any  purchases  they  might  make  could  not  be  considered  as 
coming  within  the  technical  understanding  of  the  term  "trade."  It  was  then  agreed,  after 
some  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  prefect  and  a  long  discussion,  that  whenever  an  American 
wished  to  buy  any  article  he  should  give  an  order  for  it  to  the  shopman,  who  would  be  directed 
to  take  the  order  and  the  purchase  to  the  interpreter,  by  whom  the  article  would  be  sent  to  the 
ships.  The  prefect  then  referred  to  the  case  of  the  two  Japanese  who  had  clandestinely  visited 
the  steamers,  and  seemed  solicitous  of  obtaining  some  information  in  regard  to  their  conduct, 
but  his  enquiries  were  abruptly  checked  by  the  answer  that  the  Commodore  was  not  to  be 
questioned  by  any  of  the  subordinates  of  the  government. 

As  the  Americans,  subsequent  to  this  last  interview  with  the  prefect,  began  to  frequent  the 
shops  and  select  articles  for  purchase,  it  was  found  necessary  to  establish  some  temporary 
currency.  It  was  accordingly  arranged,  since  the  Japanese  money,  from  the  strict  laws  which 
governed  its  circulation,  could  not  be  used  in  dealings  with  foreigners,  that  United  States  coins 
should  be  received  by  the  shopmen  at  Simoda.  The  value  of  these  was  estimated  comparatively 
with  the  Chinese  copper  cash,  with  which  the  Japanese  were  familiar,  at  the  rate  of  1,G00 
Chinese  cash  to  one  silver  dollar.  This  the  Japanese  readily  assented  to,  and  became  soon  as 
eao-er  as  any  other  trading  people  to  become  possessed  of  the  money  of  the  Americans. 

On  the  2d  of  May  the  Macedonian  arrived  from  the  Benin  Islands  with  a  very  welcome  supply 
of  fine  turtles,  which  were  distributed  among  the  several  ships  of  the  squadron  and  greatly 
enjoyed.  The  market  of  Simoda  was  not  well  supplied  with  fresh  meats,  for,  in  consequence  of 
the  prevailing  Buddhism  and  the  simple  habits  of  the  people,  there  were  but  few  animals  which 
could  be  obtained  for  food.  The  poultry  were  very  scarce,  and  the  few  cattle  in  the  place  were 
too  much  valued  as  beasts  of  burden  to  be  readily  offered  for  sacrifice  to  the  carnivorous 
propensities  of  strangers  ;  so  the  arrival  of  the  turtles  was  very  gratefully  welcomed  by  those 
on  board  ship  who,  with  the  exception  of  a  supply  of  fish  and  vegetables,  had  been  so  long 
confined  to  a  sea-diet  of  biscuit  and  salt  junk. 

Twn  days  subsequent  to  the  arrival  of  the  Macedonian  the  Lexington  was  dispatched  for  Lew 


F  D  N  K  R  A  L     OF     AN     AMERICAN.  425 

Cliew,   antl  on  the  Gth  of  May  tlie  Macedonian,   Vandalia,   and   Southampton  preceded  the 
steamers  and  sailed  for  Hakodadi. 

One  of  the  sailors  on  board  the  Powhatan  having  unfortunately  Mien  from  aloft  and  died 
soon  after,  it  became  necessary  to  make  some  provision  for  liis  burial. 

The  Japanese  authorities  readily  assented  to  the  request  tliat  he  should  be  buried  ashore.  A 
place  of  interment  was  accordingly  selected  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  village  of  Kaki-zaki, 
and  thenceforward  appropriated  as  the  burial  j^lace  for  Americans.  On  the  day  of  the  funeral 
several  Japanese  officials  came  on  board  ship,  and  saying  that  their  laws  required  it,  asked  to 
inspect  the  body.  They,  however,  politely  prefaced  their  demands  with  the  remark  that  it  was 
a  formality  about  which  the  prefect  and  they  themselves  could  exercise  no  discretion,  but  that 
they  had  no  doubt  it  might  be  dispensed  with  for  the  future,  on  a  requisition  being  made  to  the 
commissioners.  As  the  coffin  was  still  unnailed,  and  there  seemed  no  good  reason  for  refusing 
to  grant  the  request  of  the  Japanese  officials,  they  were  allowed  to  see  the  body.  The  burial 
then  took  place,  according  to  the  usual  Christian  ceremonies,  in  the  place  on  shore  which  liad 
been  appropriated  for  the  purpose. 

Everything  seemed  now  to  be  on  the  most  friendly  footing,  and  it  was  with  no  little  surprise 
and  vexation  that  the  Commodore  heard,  from  the  reports  of  some  of  his  officers,  of  an  outrage 
which  called  for  a  prompt  rebuke^  and  the  demand  for  an  apology  from  the  local  authorities. 
The  Commodore's  first  impulse,  in  fact,  was  to  dispatch  a  guard  of  marines  on  shore  to  arrest 
the  Japanese  officials  who  had  been  guilty,  but,  upon  reflection,  he  determined  to  send  his 
lieutenant  to  call  upon  the  prefect  and  to  lay  before  him  the  facts  of  the  outrage,  and  to  insist 
upon  the  fullest  explanation  and  apology.    The  occurrence  was  simply  this  :  three  of  the  officers 
went  ashore  to  amuse  themselves  in  the  neighborhood  of  Simoda  with  their  fowling-pieces,  and, 
after  a  day's  shooting,  which  was  prolonged  to  a  late  hour,  they  betook  themselves  to  one  of  the 
temples  as  a  resting  place.     As  the  evening  was  too  far  advanced  to  think  of  returning  to  the 
ships,  it  was  proposed  that  the  sportsmen  should  spend  their  night  in  the  lodging  apartment 
connected  with  the  monastery.     With  a  view  courteously  to  avoid  any  misunderstanding,  the 
officers  first  informed  Tabroske,  the  interpreter,  of  their  intention,  which  was  supposed  to  be  in 
perfect  conformity  with  the  understanding  with  the  authorities,  who  had  specifically  declared 
that  either  of  the  temples  was  at  the  disposition  of  the  Commodore  and  his  officers  for  a  resting 
place.    The  three  gentlemen  had  hardly,  however^  entered  and  prepared  themselves  for  a  night's 
rest  upon  the  soft  mats  of  the  apartment,  when  a  great  noise  at  the  entrance  and  the  subsequent 
thronging  in  of  a  troop  of  soldiers,  led  by  Tatsnoske  and  a  number  of  Japanese  officials, 
disturbed  their  prospect  of  repose,  and  greatly  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  officers.     The 
Japanese  intruded  themselves  unceremoniously  into  the  sleeping  apartment,  and  rudely  insisted 
on  the  Americans  leaving  on  the  instant  and  returning  to  the  ships. 

Tatsnoske  and  another  official,  finding  that  their  urgent  appeals  were  unheeded,  loft  with 
the  intention,  as  they  said,  of  going  to  see  the  Commodore  in  reference  to  the  matter.  In  their 
absence,  the  remaining  officials  and  soldiers  became  still  more  rude  and  insolent,  but  were  soon 
brought  to  a  civil  silence  and  driven  in  fright  from  the  ai)artment  by  the  formidable  attitude  of 
the  three  officers,  who  stood  to  their  arms,  and  significantly  cocked  their  revolvers.  There  was 
no  further  interruption  to  the  tranquillity  of  the  officers,  but  a  guard  was  stationed  in  anotlier 
part  of  the  temple,  where  they  remained  during  the  whole  night. 
The  prefect  was  disposed  at  first  to  justify  the  conduct  of  his  subordinates  when  the  case  was 
54  J 


4-i6  E  X  P  E  D  1  T  1  0  N      T  O      J  A  r  A  N . 

laid  before  liiin.  He  declared  that  the  American  officers  were  in  the  wrong  for  not  having  given 
previous  notice  of  their  intention  to  stay  on  shore,  and  because  they  had  gone  to  a  temple  wliich 
had  not  been  especially  designated  for  their  use. 

When  the  prefect  was  set  right  in  regard  to  these  false  countercharges,  he  shifted  his  ground 
and  urged  that,  as  the  treaty  had  not  yet  gone  into  effect,  the  Americans  could  not  yet  claim 
the  advantages  it  was  supposed  to  secure.  This  view  was,  of  course,  emphatically  objected  to, 
and  the  prefect,  moreover,  informed  that  the  Commodore  was  not  willing  to  discuss  with  him 
the  subject  of  the  interpretation  of  the  treaty,  as  it  did  not  concern  him.  It  was  then  proposed 
by  the  prefect  that  the  matter  complained  of  should  be  submitted  to  the  commissioners  for  their 
arbitration.  This  was  peremptorily  declined,  and  an  immediate  apology  for  the  outrage,  or  a 
categorical  refusal,  insisted  upon.  The  Japanese  official  was  not  yet  willing  to  come  directly  to 
the  point,  and  lingered  in  the  discussion  of  the  minor  details  of  the  question,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  stated  that  it  was  a  Japanese  custom  to  appoint  guards  for  the  protection  of  strangers. 
He  was  then  indignantly  told  that  the  Americans  required  no  such  protection,  as  they  were  well 
able  to  protect  themselves  on  all  occasions,  and  that  one  of  the  articles  of  the  treaty  was  framed 
for  the  express  purpose  of  securing  freedom  from  that  very  surveillance  alluded  to.  The  prefect 
was  then  emphatically  assured  that  the  Americans  would  never  submit  with  impunity  to  such 
treatment,  as  it  was  not  only  an  infringement  of  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty,  but  a  violation 
of  the  laws  of  hospitality  and  an  outrage.  The  prefect  now  disavowed  the  whole  proceeding, 
saying  that  his  subordinates  had  acted  upon  their  own  responsibility  and  without  his  knowledge, 
and  that  he  regretted  its  occurrence.  This  apology  was,  of  course,  accepted,  with  a  reminder, 
however,  that  for  the  future  the  Commodore  could  make  no  distinction  between  the  prefect's 
own  acts  and  those  of  his  subordinates,  but  tliat  the  former  would  be  held  responsible  in  all 
cases. 

The  prefect  then  expressed  a  desire  to  restrict  the  stay  of  officers  during  the  night  on  shore 
to  cases  of  necessity,  but  any  such  qualification  of  the  privilege  was  positively  denied  ;  and  as 
the  Japanese  "  could  not,  of  course,  judge  of  the  necessity  which  might  require  the  American 
officers  to  remain  on  shore,  they  must  decide  that  for  themselves." 

All  difficulty  now  being  removed,  there  was  no  further  interruption  to  the  friendh*  intercourse 
between  the  people  of  Simoda  and  their  American  visitors.  There  were  daily  and  most  intimate 
relations  with  the  authorities,  who  seemed  anxious  to  facilitate  the  views  of  the  Commodore, 
and  superintend  the  supplying  of  his  vessels  with  water,  and  all  the  provisions  their  scant 
resources  afforded.  As  the  day  was  now  approaching  the  9th  of  May,  which  had  been  appointed 
for  meeting  the  Japanese  officials  at  Hakodadi,  the  Commodore  took  his  departure  for  tliut  place 
in  his  flag-ship,  the  Powhatan,  accompanied  by  the  steamer  Mississippi.  The  Macedonian, 
Vandalia,  and  Southampton  had  sailed  previously  for  the  same  port.  The  store-ship  Supply 
was  left  at  Simoda.  Previous  to  the  Commodore's  departure,  he  had  offered  a  passage  to  the 
interpreter  Tatsnoske,  or  any  other  Japanese  personage  whoso  presence  might  be  required  at 
Hakodadi ;  this  offer,  however,  was  declined,  as,  with  their  usual  ceremonious  obedience  to  their 
superiors,  they  were  fearful  of  taking  any  step,  however  trifling  in  itself,  without  being  fortified 
by  the  authority  of  the  imperial  government.  The  Commodore  had  now  been  twenty-five  days 
in  the  harbor  of  Simoda,  and  as  much  of  his  time  had  been  spent  in  tedious  negotiation  with 
the  local  authorities,  who  pertinaciously  disputed  at  every  step  what  had  been  previously  con- 
ceded by  their  superiors,  he  was  glad  to  vary  the  dull  business  in  which  he  had  been  necessarily 


DEPARTURE      FOR      11  A  K  0  D  A  D  1 .  427 

involved  by  the  disputatiousness  of  tlic  prefect  of  Simoda  and  his  satellites.  He  had,  however, 
succeeded  in  making  a  thorough  survey  of  the  harbor,  had  acquired  a  considerable  knowledge 
of  the  place  and  its  resources,  and,  above  all,  impressed  the  people  with  a  just  idea  of  the 
friendly  relations  he  wished  to  establish  with  them,  and  taught  the  authorities  that  no  infringe- 
ment, in  the  slightest  degree,  of  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  of  Yoku-hama  would  be  allowed 
to  pass  with  impunity. 

On  leaving  the  outer  harbor,  Oho-sima  and  other  islands  of  the  cluster,  lying  at  the  entrance 
of  the  Gulf  of  Yedo,  came  into  full  siglit.  For  the  sake  of  examining  the  former,  and  observing 
more  closely  the  volcano  on  it,  the  steamers  were  steered  so  as  to  pass  near  its  southern  end. 
The  volcano  was  in  a  state  of  active  eruption,  and  there  seemed  to  be  either  several  craters,  or 
one  of  great  extent,  as  the  vapor  and  smoke  could  be  seen  rising  at  short  intervals  and  at 
diflerent  places  along  the  crest  of  a  ridge  of  mountains  which  extended  to  a  distance  of  four  or 
five  miles.  After  passing  Oho-sima,  the  steamers  hauled  up  for  Cape  King,  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  the  position  of  that  important  headland  by  the  meridian  observations.  Up  to  the 
southern  end  of  Oho-sima  there  was  but  little  current  discovered,  but  after  reaching  the  channel 
between  that  island  and  Cape  King  it  was  observed  to  run  with  considerable  rapidity  in  a 
direction  nearly  east,  and  on  doubling  the  Capes  its  velocity  increased  still  more. 

In  running  along  the  coast  between  Capes  Susaki,  Serofama,.and  Firatatsi,  or  as  the  last  is 
most  generally  called,  Cape  King,  the  three  prominent  southern  headlands  of  the  promontory  of 
Awa,  there  was  a  good  view  of  the  land,  and  every  one  was  struck  with  the  extraordinary  extent 
and  perfection  of  its  cultivation.  Every  portion  of  earth,  from  the  base  to  the  very  summits  of 
the  mountains  was  terraced  and  planted  with  grain,  and  innumerable  towns  and  villages  were 
seen  crowding,  in  all  directions,  the  hill  sides  and  the  valleys. 

Cape  King,  Firatatsi,  the  southeastern  extremity  of  the  island  of  Nippon,  and  included  within 
the  district  of  Awa,  is  in  latitude  34°  53'  15"  north,  and  in  longitude  140°  18'  50"  east,  according 
to  the  observations  taken  on  board  the  steamers  Powhatan  and  Mississippi  during  the  voyage. 
The  headland,  which  forms  the  cape,  runs  off  in  an  easterly  direction  to  a  low  point  that  rises 
gradually  inland,  and  about  two  miles  from  the  extremity  of  this  point  is  a  cone-shaped  elevation 
crowned  by  a  tuft  of  trees.  A  little  more  than  half  way  between  Capo  King  and  Cape  Sirofama, 
near  the  shore,  is  another  conical  hill,  also  topped  with  trees,  which  offers  a  good  land-mark. 
A  strange  navigator,  first  making  this  part  of  the  Japanese  coast,  might  mistake  Cape  King  for 
an  island.  Vessels  bound  to  Simoda  from  the  east  should  endeavor  to  make  Cape  King,  and 
after  getting  it  to  bear  north,  at  a  distance  of  six  miles,  should  steer  for  the  southern  end  of 
Oho-sima,  which  can  be  seen,  in  this  position,  in  clear  weather.  After  passing  the  southern 
end  of  Oho-sima,  the  navigator  should  steer  west  for  the  harbor.  No  specific  account  is  here 
given  of  the  currents,  which  are  rapid  and  irregular  throughout  tlie  Gulf  of  Tedo.  The  only 
sure  guides,  therefore,  are  the  charts,  the  cross-bearings  of  tlie  more  prominent  islands,  and  a 
good  look-out.  Along  this  part  of  the  coast,  the  influence  of  the  stream,  called  by  the 
Japanese,  Kurosiwo,  was  quite  perceptible.  It  never  ceases  to  run  in  a  northeasterly 
direction. 

On  this  current  the  observations  of  our  officers  are  particularly  interesting.  A  detailed 
report  thereon,  made  by  Lieutenant  Bent,  will  be  found  in  the  Nautical  Appendix.  We  will 
therefore  here  present  merely  the  general  results  attained  by  the  gentlemen  of  the  expedition. 
They  found  on  the  coast  of  Japan  a  stream  analogous,  in  many  respects,  to  the  "  gulf  stream  " 
on  our  Atlantic  coast. 


428  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

This  commences  on  tlie  south  end  of  the  island  of  Formosa,  and  is  undoubtedly  part  of  the 
great  equatorial  current  of  the  Pacific.  The  larger  portion  of  this  current,  when  it  reaches  the 
point  just  named,  passes  off  into  the  China  sea ;  while  the  other  part  is  deflected  to  the 
northward,  passing  along  the  eastern  coast  of  Formosa,  where  its  strength  and  character  are 
uneipiivocally  shown,  and  extending  itself,  at  times,  as  far  to  the  eastward  as  the  Lew  Chew 
islands,  where  the  increased  temperature  of  the  water  shows  the  presence  of  a  torrid  current. 
Its  northwardly  course,  however,  continues  as  far  as  the  parallel  of  26°,  when  it  hears  off  to  the 
nortliward  and  eastward,  washing  the  whole  southeastern  coast  of  Japan  as  far  as  the  Straits  of 
San"-ar,  and  increasing  in  strength  as  it  advances.  At  the  chain  of  islands  south  of  the  Gulf  of 
Yedo,  about  the  meridian  of  140°  E.,  its  maximum  strength  on  one  occasion  was  observed  to  be 
seventy-two,  seventy-four,  and  eighty  miles  per  diem,  respectively,  on  three  successive  days. 
From  the  south  end  of  Formosa  to  the  Straits  of  Sangar,  its  average  velocity  was  found  to  be 
from  tliirty-live  to  Ibrty  miles  per  day,  at  all  seasons  when  our  ships  traversed  it.  Its  precise 
width  south  of  the  Gulf  of  Yedo  was  not  satisfactorily  ascertained,  but  enough  was  discovered 
to  make  it  certain  that  it  reaches  to  the  southward  of  Fatsicio,  and  it  extends  perhaps  even  to 
the  Bonin  Islands  in  latitude  26°  N. 

In  the  latitude  of  40°  N.  and  to  the  eastward  of  the  meridian  143°  E.  the  stream  turns  more 
to  the  eastward,  and  thus  allows  a  cold  counter-current  to  intervene  between  it  and  the  southern 
coast  of  the  island  of  Yesso.  Our  hydrographers  could  not  positively  ascertain  the  fact,  but 
they  believed  that  this  hyperborean  current,  found  on  the  coast  of  Yesso,  passes  to  the  westward 
through  the  Straits  of  Sangar  down  through  the  Japan  sea,  between  Corea  and  the  Japanese 
islands,  finding  an  outlet  through  the  Formosa  channel  into  the  China  sea.  The  data  they 
had,  together  with  the  known  fact  that  a  strong  southwardly  current  prevails  between  Formosa 
and  the  coast  of  China,  particularly  during  the  northeast  monsoon,  when  the  northwardly 
current  along  tlie  east  coast  of  Formosa  continues  unimpeded,  would  seem  to  give  probability  to 
this  conjecture  of  the  gentlemen.  The  southwest  monsoon  may  possibly  aflect  this  counter- 
current,  and  force  it  to  mingle  its  waters  with  those  of  the  Kuro-siwo,  or  "Japanese  gulf 
stream,"  between  the  north  end  of  Formosa  and  the  southwest  extremity  of  Japan.  The 
Vandalia  was  ordered  from  Hakodadi,  to  pass  westward  through  the  Straits  of  Sangar  and 
proceed  to  China,  on  the  western  side  of  Japan.  One  object  of  this  was  to  make  observations  on 
current  and  temperature ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  Commodore  left  China  before  the  report  was 
made,  and  it  has  never  reached  him. 

The  existence  of  this  counter-current,  however,  is  so  well  known  by  vessels  trading  on  the 
coast  of  China,  that  they  seldom  attempt  to  heat  to  the  northward  through  the  Formosa  channel, 
but  usually  make  the  passage  to  the  eastward  of  Formosa  during  adverse  winds,  even  though 
such  winds  may  be  stronger  on  the  cast  side  of  the  island  than  in  the  Formosa  channel. 
Lieutenant  Bent  traced  also  some  striking  analogies  between  this  Kuro-siwo  (great  stream)  of 
Japan,  and  our  gulf  stream.  His  observations  were  strikingly  confirmatory  of  the  views  that 
have  been  expressed  both  by  Mr.  Eedficld  and  Lieutenant  M.  F.  Maury,  as  to  the  cause  of  the 
deflection  of  the  Atlantic  gulf  stream  to  the  eastward,  and  the  cold  counter-current  below  or 
between  it  and  the  shore.  The  first  is  not  caused  by  the  water  impinging  on  land,  and  being 
thereby  turned  to  the  east,  but  by  the  greater  rotative  velocity  of  the  latitudes  at  and  near  the 
equator,  which  throw  the  gulf  stream  eastward  ;  and  the  second  is  produced  by  tlie  tardy 
rotation  of  tlie  high  latitudes  operating  on  the  cold  counter- cuirent  setting  southward  from  the 


KURO-SIWO,     ANALOGOUS     TO     ATLANTIC    GULF    STREAM.  429 

pole  and  tlirowinj^  it  to  the  west,  along  the  shores  and  soundings  of  our  Atlantic  coast.  The 
Grand  Bank  itself,  Mr.  Eedfield  thinks,  is  less  a  cause  than  an  effect.  Now  there  are  precisely 
similar  currents,  warm  and  cold,  with  the  same  relative  position  too,  on  the  coast  of  Japan.  It 
may  be  that  the  first  northioard  direction  of  both  currents  may  be  produced  by  the  configuration 
of  the  eastern  sides  of  America  and  Asia  respectively,  but  their  turn  to  the  eastward  afterwards 
is  probably  not  influenced  by  any  agency  of  the  land  in  its  shape  or  position. 

There  are  other  analogies  which  Mr.  Bent  remarked.  These  are  found  in  the  strata  of  cold 
water  in  the  gulf  stream,  marked  by  Professor  Bache  on  the  charts  of  the  coast  survey  in  the 
report  of  1853,  and  corresponding  strata,  derived  entirely  from  the  observations  made  on  our 
Japan  expedition.  A  comparison  of  temperatures  of  the  two  streams  (Atlantic  and  Pacific) 
showed  a  striking  coincidence.  The  maximum  was  the  same  ;  but  in  the  Kuro-siwo,  the  differ- 
ence between  its  temperature  and  that  of  the  ocean,  proper  to  the  latitude  where  taken,  was 
somewhat  greater  than  in  the  gulf  stream. 

There  is  also  a  sea-weed  floating  in  the  Kuro-siwo,  similar  in  appearance  to  the  fiicus  natans 
of  the  gulf  stream ;  specimens  of  it  were  collected,  but  unfortunately  lost  before  reaching  the 
hands  of  the  scientific  botanists  to  whom  it  was  to  be  submitted.  We  cannot  therefore  say  it 
was  the  same  plant  in  the  classifications  of  science ;  but  to  a  sailor's  eye  there  was  no  difference 
between  it  and  the  weed  of  the  gulf  stream.  Lieutenant  M.  F.  Maury  is  of  opinion  that  this 
current  in  the  Pacific  has  its  origin  in  the  Indian  ocean,  where  the  temperature  is  much  greater 
than  in  the  Caribbean  sea,  and  where  the  waters,  obstructed  on  the  north  by  tropical  lands, 
must  somewhere  make  a  current  by  which  to  escape,  but  this  supposition  appears  to  us  c[ues- 
tionable. 

While  steering  along  the  shore  to  the  northward  the  steamers,  being  about  six  miles  from  the 
land,  and  off  Isomura,  approached  a  fleet  of  fishing-boats,  where  there  was  noticed  a  discolora- 
tion of  the  water  and  an  unusual  drift  of  sea-weed.  Soundings  were  then  taken  with  the  deep- 
sea-lead,  and  seventy-four,  and  then  eighty  fathoms,  with  a  bottom  of  fine  black  sand,  were 
foimd.  The  vessels  still  continuing  to  run  along  the  shore  within  five  or  six  miles,  and 
Dai-ho-saki  or  White  Cape  being  made,  another  cluster  of  fishing-boats  was  noticed  under  sail, 
apparently  trailing  for  fish.  About  them  the  water  was  observed  broken  and  discolored,  and 
when  the  steamers  had  reached  within  a  mile  of  the  spot,  their  engines  were  stoj)ped,  and  the 
lead  again  thrown,  when  soundings  were  obtained  in  thirty  fathoms,  coral  bottom.  The  sliips' 
course  being  changed  from  northeast  by  east  to  southeast,  and  running  slowly  and  cautiously, 
they  came  suddenly  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  broken  water  into  twenty-one  fathoms,  with  what 
is  called  overfalls,  and  a  bottom  of  coral  as  before.  There  seemed  every  reason  to  believe,  from 
these  indications,  that  there  was  a  dangerous  ledge  lying  directly  in  the  way  ahmg  the  coast,  at 
a  distance  from  the  land  where  such  a  danger  would  be  hardly  looked  for.  Tlie  Commodore 
would  have  anchored  and  examined  this  ledge  had  it  not  been  for  the  near  approacli  of  niglit ; 
and  as  for  waiting  until  next  day,  the  necessity  of  being  at  Uakodadi  on  the  I'Jth  of  May,  made 
it  advisable  not  to  lose  any  time  by  delay.  It  is  true,  with  good  weather,  there  was  every  reason 
to  expect  that  the  voyage  might  be  accomplished  in  a  day  or  two  before  the  time  appointed,  but 
with  the  fref|uency  of  fogs  about  the  Straits  of  Sangar,  and  the  experience  of  the  vexatious 
detentions  caused  by  those  annoyances,  there  could  be  no  certainty  in  tlie  calculation. 

During  the  day  time  the  course  was  kept  along  the  coast,  althougli  at  night  the  ships  were 
hauled  a  little  off.     On  the  loth  of  May^  Cape  Kurosaki  aime  into  sight,  with  its  elevated 


430  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

peaks  in  the  interior  covered  witli  snow.  Tlic  atmosphere  was  fresh  and  invigorating,  the  mean 
temperature  of  the  air  being  59°  of  Fahrenheit,  and  that  of  the  water  55°.  The  water  was 
perfectly  smooth,  with  an  oily  aspect  from  the  surface,  being  covered  with  a  substance  which 
was  supposed  to  be  the  excrement  of  wliales,  of  wliicli  large  numbers  of  various  kinds,  as  well 
as  of  porpoises,  were  seen.  At  daylight,  on  the  16th,  the  course  was  shaped  at  an  angle 
approaching  the  coast,  and  although  the  land  had  been  for  awhile  out  of  sight,  it  was  now  again 
made  and  traced  along  until  the  ships  reached  the  northeastern  extremity  of  Nijjpon,  called  by 
the  Japanese  Sirija  Saki.  The  southern  and  eastern  coast  of  Japan  from  Cape  Sirofama,  as  far 
as  was  observed,  is  not  so  high  as  that  on  the  western  side  of  the  Gulf  of  Yedo.  It  is,  however, 
of  sufficient  height  to  be  observed,  in  tolerably  clear  weather,  at  a  distance  of  forty  miles.  On 
getting  abreast  of  Cape  Sirija  Saki,  the  Strait  of  Sangar,  which  separates  Nippon  from  Yesso, 
was  full  in  view,  with  the  high  land  of  the  latter  island  distinctly  visible  ahead.  The  course 
was  now  steered  directly  for  Hakodadi,  but  on  getting  into  the  middle  of  the  strait  a  current  or 
tide  was  encountered,  which  probably  accelerated  the  eastern  one,  until  the  two  reached  a 
combined  velocity  of  six  knots.  This  powerful  current  prevented  the  steamers  from  reaching 
port  that  night,  and  it  was  thought  advisable  to  put  the  heads  of  the  steamers  seaward.  This 
would  not  have  been  necessary  if  any  reliance  could  have  been  placed  upon  the  continuance  of 
clear  weather.  The  engines  were  so  managed  as  to  expend  little  coal,  and  still  to  retain  the 
position  of  the  vessels ;  conser|uently,  on  taking  the  cross-bearings  at  daylight,  it  was  found, 
notwithstanding  the  current,  that  the  ships  had  not  shifted  their  places  a  mile  from  where  they 
had  been  when  night  set  in. 

Scarcely,  however,  had  the  steamers  stood  again  for  their  destined  port  when  a  dense  fog 
came  on  and  obscured  every  object  from  sight,  so  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  head  the 
steamers  towards  the  east.  The  sun,  however,  on  approaching  the  zenith,  cleared  away  the  fog, 
and  fortunately  bearings  were  distinguished  which  served  as  a  guide  to  the  port.  As  the  cape, 
called  by  the  Japanese  Surro-kubo,  and  which  the  Commodore  named  Cape  Blunt,  in  honor  of 
his  friends  Edmund  and  George  Blunt,  of  New  York,  was  approached,  there  could  be  discerned 
over  the  neck  of  land  which  connects  the  promontory  of  Treaty  Point  *  with  the  interior,  the 
three  ships  Of  the  sr[uadron  which  had  been  previously  dispatched,  safely  at  anchor  in  the 
harbor  of  Hakodadi.  At  the  approach  of  the  steamers,  in  obedience  to  the  previous  instructions 
of  the  Commodore,  boats  came  off  from  the  ships  with  officers  prepared  to  pilot  in  the  Powhatan 
and  Mississijjpi,  which  finally  came  to  anchor  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  I'Jth 
of  May. 

The  spacious  and  beautiful  bay  of  Hakodadi,  which  for  accessibility  and  safety  is  one  of  the 
finest  in  the  world,  lies  on  the  north  side  of  the  Strait  of  Sangar,  which  separates  the  Japanese 
islands  of  Nippon  and  Yesso,  and  about  midway  between  Sirija-saki,t  the  northeast  point  of  the 
former  and  the  city  of  Matsmai.  The  bay  bears  from  the  cape  N.W.  ^  W.  distant  about  forty- 
five  miles,  and  is  four  miles  wide  at  its  entrance  and  riins  five  miles  into  the  land. 

The  navigation  of  the  Strait  of  Sangar,  as  far  as  it  was  examined  by  the  officers  of  the 
expedition,  proved  to  be  safe  and  convenient,  and  the  entrance  to  the  port  of  Hakodadi  as 
accessible  as  that  of  Simoda,  which  is  saying  everything  in  its  favor.  Like  Simoda,  Hakodadi 
has  an  outer  and  inner  harbor,  the  former  being  formed  by  the  bay,  which  is  somewhat  of 


•  So  tailed  on  the  American  charts. 

t  Saki,  in  llio  Japanese  language,  means  "capo;"    consequently  it  should  more  properly  bo  called  Capo  Sirija. 


H  A  K  B  0  R      OF      U  A  K  O  D  A  D I . 


431 


horse-shoe  shape.  And  here,  too,  as  at  Pinioda,  a  dangerous  obstruction  was  timely  discovered 
and  buojed  out,  consisting  of  a  long  spit  of  shoal  water,  making  out  from  the  centre  of  the 
town  to  an  extent  of  about  twelve  hundroil  yards.  The  inner  harbor  is  the  southeastern  arm  of 
the  bay,  and  is  completely  sheltered,  with  regular  soundings  and  excellent  holding  ground. 


Uakodadi  from  the  Bay. 


For  expansiveness  and  safety  from  all  winds  it  has  not  its  superior  in  the  world,  with  anchorage 
of  five  to  seven  fathoms,  and  room  to  moor  a  hundred  sail.  The  inner  harbor  is  formed  by  a 
bold  peaked  promontory  standing  well  out  from  the  high  land  of  the  main,  with  wliieli  it  is 
connected  by  a  low  sandy  isthmus^  giving  it,  consequently,  in  the  distance,  the  appearance  of  an 
island.  It  may  be  readily  recognized  by  the  navigator  from  the  outline  of  the  land,  and,  on 
approaching  from  the  eastward,  after  passing  Cape  Surro-kubo,  or  Cape  Blunt,  which  forms  a 
conspicuous  headland,  twelve  miles  east  by  south  from  the  town,  the  junlcs  at  anchor  in  the 
harbor  will  be  visible  over  the  low  isthmus. 

To  enter  the  harbor  the  navigator  must,  after  rounding  the  jiromontory  of  Hakodadi,  and 
giving  it  a  berth  of  a  mile  to  avoid  the  calms  under  the  headland,  steer  for  the  sharp  peak  of 
Komaga-daki,  bearing  about  north,  until  the  east  jDcak  of  the  saddle,  bearing  about  N.E.  by 
N.,  opens  to  the  westward  of  the  round  knob  on  the  side  of  tlie  mountain  ;  then  haul  uj)  to  the 
northward  and  eastward,  keeping  them  open  until  the  centre  of  the  sand  hills  on  the  isthmus, 
which  may  be  recognized  by  the  dark  knolls  upon  them,  bears  S.E.  by  E.  J  E.  This  will  clear 
a  spit  which  makes  out  from  the  western  point  of  tlic  town  in  a  north-north  westerly  direction, 


43: 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


two-thirds  of  a  mile.  Thougli  this  spit  would  be  a  danger  in  entering  the  harbor,  it,  in  fact, 
makes  the  anchorage  more  safe  hy  its  forming  a  natural  breakwater,  sheltering  vessels  at  anchor 
inside  of  it  from  all  inconvenient  swell.  Then  bring  the  sand  hills  a  point  on  the  port  bow, 
and  stand  in  until  the  western  extremity  of  the  town  bears  S.W.  I  W.,  when  the  best  berth 
will  be  secured,  with  five-and-a-half  or  six  fathoms  water.  If  it  should  be  desirable  to  get  a 
little  nearer  in,  haul  up  a  little  to  the  eastward  of  south  for  the  low  rocky  peak  which  will  be 
just  visible  over  the  sloping  ridge  to  the  soiithward  and  eastward  of  the  town.  A  vessel  of 
moderate  draught  may  approach  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  Tsuki  Point,  where  there  is  a 
building  yard  for  junks.  This  portion  of  the  harbor  is  generally  crowded  with  native  vessels, 
and  unless  the  want  of  repairs,  or  some  other  cause,  renders  a  close  berth  necessary,  it  is  better 
to  remain  further  out. 

If  the  peak  or  saddle  should  be  obscured  by  clouds  or  fog  after  doubling  the  promontory,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  steer  N.  by  E.  ^  E.,  until  tlie  sand  hills  arc  brought  upon  the  bearing 
previously  given,  when  it  will  be  proper  to  proceed  as  there  directed.  A  short  distance  from 
the  tail  of  the  spit  is  a  detached  sand  bank,  with  three-and-a-half  fathoms  of  water  upon  it,  the 
outer  edge  of  which  was  marked  by  the  officers  of  the  expedition  with  a  white  spar  buoy. 
Between  this  and  the  spit  there  is  a  narrow  channel,  with  five  or  six  fathoms  depth  of  water. 
Vessels  may  pass  on  either  side  of  the  buoy,  but  it  is  more  prudent  to  go  to  the  northward  of 
it.  Should  the  wind  fail  before  reaching  the  harbor,  there  will  be  found  a  good  anchorage  in 
the  outer  roads,  with  a  depth  of  from  ten  to  twenty-five  fathoms. 


KamiJa  Creek,  Jluy  of  ilakoJudi. 


VISIT     FROM     THE     AUTHORITIES     OF     HAKODADI. 


433 


CHAPTEE  XXIII 


VISIT    FROM    THE    ACTBORITIES    AT    HAKODADI. — THEIR    ICXORAKCE     THAT   A     TREATY    HAD    BEEN     MADE. — TISIT     TO    AUTHORITIES 

AN'D    ESPLAXATIOK    OF    AFFAIRS    TO    THE    JAPANESE. AKSWER    OF    THE    OFFICIALS    AT    HAKODADI. THEIR    FRIENDLINESS    AND 

COCRTEST. VISITS    AND    RAMBLES    OF    THE    AMERICANS    ON    SHORE. HOUSES    ALLOTTED    FOR    THEIR    TEMPORARY  ACCOMMODA- 
TION.  DESCRIPTION  OF  HAKODADI. RESEMBLANCE  TO   GIBRALTAR. CLEANLINESS   OF   STREETS. PAVEMENTS    AND  SEWERS. 

DIVISION      INTO      DISTRICTS      UN"DER      OTTONAS. PACK      HORSES      USED,      NO      WHEEL     CARRIAGES. TOWN      VERT      THRIVING. 

BUILDINGS    DESCRIBED. PREPARATIONS    AGAINST    FIRES    IN    THE    CITY  SKILL    OF    CARPENTERS    AND    HOUSE-JOINERS. SHOPS, 

THEIR    CONSTRUCTION     ANT)     GOODS. CARTINGS     I.N    WOOD. FURNITURE. — CHAIRS    AND    TABLES. FASHION    IN    EATING. TEA, 

HOW      PREPARED,      FIRE      FOR     BOILING      THE      KETTLE. KITCHENS,    STABLES,    AND      GARDENS. FIRE-PROOF      WAREHOUSES. 

TRAFFIC      AT     THE     SHOPS. BUDDHIST     TEMPLES. GRAVE-YARDS. PRAYING     BY     MACHINERY. INSCRIPTIONS     ON     TOMBS. 

SINTOO    TEMPLES. SHRINES    BY    THE     WAY    SIDE. GATEWAYS     ON    THE     ROADS. PROSPECTS    FOR    CHRISTIANITY    IN    JAPAN. 

WEAK     MILITARY      DEFENCES      OF      HAKODADI. SURROUNDING      COUNTRY. LOOK-OUT      FOR      SHIPS      APPROACHING. JAPANESE 

TELESCOPE. GEOLOGY    OF    THE    COUNTRY. MINERAL     SPRING. — NATURAL     CAVE. CULINARY     VEGETABLES. COMMERCE    AND 

FISHERIES. JAPANESE     JUNKS. SHIP    YARDS. FEW     BIRDS. FISH     ABUNDANT. WILD     QUADRUPEDS. FOX      CONSIDERED     AS 

THE     DEVIL. HORSES     MUCH     USED. KAGOS. CLIMATE     OF     HAKODADI. POPULATION     AND      PHYSICAL     CHARACTERISTICS      OF 

THE    PEOPLE. AINOS   OR  HAIRY  KURILES. MECHANICAL    SKILL    OF    THE    JAPANESE. CARPENTRY    AND  MASONRY. COOPERS. 

IRON    ORE    WORKERS. BLACKSMITHS,  THEIR    BELLOWS. COPPER  MUCH    USED  IN    JUNK  BUILDING. SPINNING    AND  WEAVING. 

DYED    COTTONS. —  SILK    FABRICS. LACQUERED  WARE. PRINTING,  DRAWING,  AND  FAINTING. SCULPTURE. ARCHITECTURE. 

GENERAL    INTELLIGENCE. INFORMATION,    DERIVED    THROUGH    THE    DUTCH    AT    NAGASAKI,    FROM     EUROPEAN    PUBLICATIONS. 

JAPA.VESE    GAME    OF    CHESS. CARDS. LOTO. — BALL    ANT)    JACKSTRAWS    AMONG    THE    CHILDREN. 


HE  steamers  had  been  at  anchor  hut  a  fevr  hours 

■when  a  boat,  which,  from  the  usual  black  striped 

flag   and   emblazoned  standard  at  the   stern,   was 

known  to  be  a  government  craft,  was  seen  slowly  to 

approach  the  flag-.ship.     Her  build  was  very  much 

like  those  boats  elsewhere  seen,  but  of  a  heavier 

make   and   clumsier  model.      Her   eight   boatmen 

were  dressed  in  the  livery — dark  blue  and  white — 

and    marked   on   the  back  with  the  arms  of  the 

dignitary  in  whose  service  they  were.     Their  boat 

was  rowed  instead  of  being  sculled,  and  made  less 

S-  speed  than  was  usual  with  the  Japanese  government 

g^,      boats.      As   soon    as   it   arrived   alongside  of  the 

Powhatan  several  Japanese  officials  came  on  board. 

On  their  arrival  they  were  presented  with  the  letter 

the  Commodore  bore  from  the  Japanese  commissioners,  and  a  copy  of  the  treaty  in  the  Chinese 

55  J 


434  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

language.  Tliey  stated  that  the  officers  from  Yecio,  who  liad  been  delegated  to  meet  the 
Americans  at  Hakodadi,  had  not  yet  come  ;  and  that  the  people  had  been  greatly  alarmed  at  the 
arrival  of  the  ships,  as  there  had  been  no  previous  intimation  of  the  intended  visit  of  the  squadron, 
and  tliey  had  not  even  heard  of  the  treaty,  or  of  tlie  opening  of  Simoda.  The  Japanese  officials 
were  then  informed  that  on  the  next  day  a  delegation  of  his  officers  would  be  sent  by  the  Com- 
modore on  shore  to  confer  with  the  authorities. 

Preparations  were  immediately  made,  on  the  arrival  of  the  steamers,  for  a  complete  survey  of 
the  harbor^  and  this  having  once  been  begun  was  carried  on  diligently  during  the  stay  of  the  ships, 
until  a  very  effectual  examination  of  the  whole  harbor  was  made,  as  had  been  the  case  at  Simoda. 

On  the  succeeding  morning,  (May  18,)  as  had  been  appointed,  the  flag-lieutenant,  accom- 
panied by  the  two  American  interpreters,  Mr.  AVilliams  and  Mr.  Portman,  and  the  Commodore's 
secretary,  paid  a  visit  to  the  governor.  On  their  arrival  at  tlie  government  house,  the  governor 
Yendo  Matzaimon  presented  himself,  in  company  with  Ishulca  Konzo  and  Kudo  Mogoro,  two  of 
the  principal  personages  of  his  suite.  The  Americans  were  received  with  the  usual  ceremonious 
courtesies,  and,  being  seated  in  a  handsome  hall  with  the  ordinary  appointments  of  a  Japanese 
apartment,  were  ready  to  proceed  at  once  to  business.  The  governor  was  a  middle-aged  man, 
with  a  very  benevolent  expression  of  face,  and  of  the  characteristic  mild  and  courteous  manners  ; 
and  his  companions,  though  obsequious  in  the  presence  of  their  superiors,  were  also  very 
creditable  specimens  of  Japanese  gentlemen.  The  conference  hall  was  large,  and  opened  by  a 
wide  open  doorway  from  a  narrow  courtyard,  in  which  could  be  seen  various  entrances  with 
carved  wood  cornices,  and  staircases  leading  to  other  apartments  of  the  building.  Windows 
and  doorlights,  constructed  in  form  like  our  own,  but  with  paper  panes,  lighted  the  place,  and 
handsome  mats  carpeted  the  floor,  while  there  was  but  the  ordinary  meagre  supply  of  furniture, 
consisting  only  of  a  half  dozen  camp  stools.  A  shallow  recess  at  one  end  of  the  room,  with  an 
elaborate  carved  moulding  along  the  border,  contained  the  usual  arm-chair  and  idols,  showing 
it  to  be  dedicated  to  the  rites  both  of  hospitality  and  of  family  worship.  Attendants  frequently 
passed  in  and  out  with  supplies  of  tea,  cakes,  confectionary,  pipes,  and  tobacco,  and  the  governor 
and  his  companions  were  never  forgetful  of  their  duties  as  hosts,  but  politely  pressed  their 
guests  at  every  moment  to  refresh  themselves. 

The  American  officers  now  explained  the  object  of  their  visit,  and  stated  in  effect  that  the 
Commodore  had  come  to  Hakodadi  with  his  squadron  to  carry  out  the  stipulations  of  tlie  treaty 
between  the  United  States  and  Japan,  agreed  upon  on  the  31st  of  March,  and  that  any  deviation 
from  the  spirit  and  letter  of  that  treaty  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  of  Yesso  would  load  to 
serious  consequences.  It  was  then  demanded  that  arrangements  should  be  made  at  Hakodadi, 
as  had  been  at  Simoda,  securing  to  the  Americans  the  privilege  of  going  where  they  chose^ 
through  the  streets  or  out  into  the  country,  into  the  shops  and  public  buildings.  It  was  further 
required  that  the  shopkeepers  and  market  people  should  be  allowed  to  sell  their  articles,  and 
that  a  temporary  currency  be  established  for  the  mutual  convenience  of  buyer  and  seller  ;  that 
three  different  houses  or  temples  be  appropriated  by  the  authorities  as  places  of  resort  severally 
for  the  Commodore,  the  officers,  and  the  artists  of  the  expedition  ;  that  such  supplies  as  the 
country  afforded  be  furnished  to  the  shijis  according  to  a  fixed  tariff  of  prices,  and  that  not  only 
articles  of  necessity,  but  those  productions  of  Yesso  and  specimens  of  natural  history  which 
might  be  objects  of  curiosity  and  interest  in  America,  be  also  provided,  for  which  a  just  price 
would  be  paid. 


LETTER     FROM     THE     GOVERNOR     OF     HAKODADI.  435 

The  governor,  on  hearing  these  demands,  asked  for  a  dehiy  until  the  officers  appointed  hy  the 
commissioners,  whom  the  Commodore  had  stated  he  expected,  should  arrive  with  instructions 
from  Yedo.  The  governor  accounted  for  the  delay  in  the  arrival  of  the  Japanese  officials  by  the 
long  distance  of  the  capital  from  Hakodadi,  saying  that  it  was  a  journey  of  thirty-seven  days 
length  in  winter  and  thirty  in  summer.  He  also  declared  that  he  had  no  special  commands 
himself  but  what  were  contained  in  the  letter  presented  by  the  Commodore,  which  merely 
commended  the  Americans  to  the  ordinary  welcome  and  good  treatment,  and  enjoined  uj^on  the 
authorities  to  supply  the  ships  with  provisions  and  water.  After  some  discussion,  in  the  course 
of  which  the  American  officers  reiterated  their  demands  and  the  governor  his  objections,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  views  of  the  authorities  of  Hakodadi  should  be  stated  at  length  in  writing,  and 
submitted  next  day  for  the  consideration  of  the  Commodore. 

Accordingly,  on  the  succeeding  morning,  the  following  communication  was  received  from  the 
governor  and  hLs  coadjutors :  "Hakodadi  is  an  outlying,  remote  region,  and  its  population 
sparse  and  ignorant,  so  that  when  your  honorable  ships  arrived  recently  in  this  place,  all,  both 
old  and  young,  fled  away  into  the  interior,  although  the  local  officers  ordered  them  not  to 
scatter." 

"  Tou  have  come  to  this  place  under  the  impression  doubtless  that  it  was  an  extensive  region 
and  well  settled,  not  with  the  least  desire  to  rob  or  rudely  force  your  way  into  it  without 
permission.  The  common  people  here  being  ignorant  and  easily  alarmed,  we  have  been  unable 
to  get  them  to  come  before  us,  so  that  we  could  instruct  them  in  this  matter  personally,  for  such 
is  their  waywardness  ;  and  it  accounts  for  their  timidity,  as  you  saw  yesterday  when  you  and 
other  officers  went  through  the  streets,  and  for  there  being  no  business  doing.  But  after  this 
you  may  go  on  shore,  no  obstructions  will  be  put  in  the  way  of  your  walking,  nor  will  the 
people  be  rude  to  you." 

' '  This  place  is  as  it  were  no  bigger  than  a  pill  or  a  speck,  and  the  country  in  its  vicinity  is 
sterile,  and  produces  almost  nothing.  The  provisions  and  other  necessaries  are  brought  from 
other  principalities,  quite  unlike  the  rich  regions  of  Simoda  and  Uraga,  and  we  fear  the  list  now 
given,  (deer  skins,  dried  fish,  fish  oil,  salt  salmon,  surume,  a  sort  of  fish,  saccharine  fucus 
laminaria,  and  roe  of  salmon,)  meagre  as  it  is,  will  by  no  means  meet  your  desires  after  you 
have  examined  it,  but  rather  dissatisfy  you.  As  for  what  has  been  hitherto  supplied  no  prices 
are  asked." 

"Yesterday  you  spoke  of  maintaining  friendly  relations  with  us,  and  this  surely  involves  the 
duty  on  both  sides  of  adhering  to  right,  and  nothing  should  be  done  to  hinder  amicable  feelings. 
We  are  placed  here  in  charge  of  the  public  halls,  and  to  rule  the  people,  as  our  chief  duty, 
which  cannot  be  evaded  ;  and  though  to  let  you  have  the  halls  as  you  desire  might  be  agreeable 
to  yoUj  yet  the  result  would  be  very  heavy  and  serious  to  us,  and  the  people  would  hardly  know 
to  whom  to  look  as  their  rulers.  If  you  press  the  matter  to  this  degree,  and  insist  on  three 
buildings,  will  it  be  consistent  with  your  professions  of  friendship?" 

"Yesterday,  your  gentlemen  explained  to  us  several  particulars  having  reference  to  inter- 
course with  us,  to  wit :  that  on  the  31st  of  March  a  treaty  was  formed  at  Yoku-hama,  between 
the  high  officers  of  our  respective  countries,  and  in  compliance  with  that,  you  had  come  to 
Hakodadi  to  carry  its  provisions  into  eflfect,  in  the  same  manner  as  had  been  done  at  Simoda 
respecting  trade  and  procuring  three  houses  for  resting  at,  and  wherein  to  make  drawings." 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  great  surprise  to  us  that,  since  a  treaty  has  been  formed  at  Yoku-hama,  no 


436  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

orders  or  letters  have  reached  us  from  court  on  this  matter,  nor  did  the  communication  you 
brought  us  from  Uraga  contain  any  reference  or  explanation  on  these  points,  which  we  now  learn 
from  yourselves  for  the  first  time.  Yet,  to  follow  out  a  course  of  action  ourselves,  before  receiving 
any  directions  from  the  throne,  is  a  very  serious  matter,  we  can  assure  you  ;  for  the  undeviating 
usage  of  all  our  principalities  is  first  to  attend  to  those  commands,  and  can  we  here  be  expected 
to  transgress  it?  Whether  the  matter  be  of  great  or  small  moment,  if  it  appertain  to  the  state, 
it  must  be  referred  to  the  prince,  and  he  makes  a  clear  statement  to  the  Emperor,  and  acts  after 
he  obtains  special  commands.  You  yourselves,  gentlemen,  after  all  your  experience  at  Yoku- 
hama  and  Simoda,  cannot  but  be  aware  that  such  is  the  usage  and  law  in  this  country.  Yet 
such  articles  of  provisions  as  we  have  here,  eggs,  fowls,  green  fish,  ducks  and  other  commodi- 
ties, as  well  as  rambling  about  the  country,  going  into  villages,  markets  and  shops,  albeit  they 
are  contemptible  and  dilapidated,  mean  and  rude,  quite  beneath  the  slightest  regard  or  care,  are 
temporarily  allowed,  and  that  which  you  require  will  be  furnished." 

After  the  flag-lieutenant,  who  had  been  delegated  to  receive  the  above  communication,  had 
explained  in  regard  to  the  "hall"  alluded  to,  that  it  was  only  desired  by  the  Commodore  to 
use  those  parts  of  the  temples  usually  appropriated  to  lodgers,  as  temporary  places  of  resort, 
and  not  to  take  possession  of  their  ecclesiastical  establishments,  the  governor  seemed  greatly 
relieved,  as  he  evidently  sup^josed  that  it  was  the  intention  in  some  way  to  interfere  with  their 
national  worship.  The  governor  then  having  announced  that  it  was  the  intention  of  "  Matsmai 
Kangeayou,  great  ofiicer  of  the  family  of  the  Prince  of  Matsmai,"  to  call  upon  the  Commodore 
next  day,  the  American  officers  took  their  leave. 

After  this  preliminary  negotiation,  the  ofiicers  of  the  ships  began  daily  to  visit  the  land,  and 
they  walked  freely  through  the  streets,  frequented  the  shops  and  temples,  and  strolled  without 
interference  into  the  neighboring  country.  Three  houses  were  finally,  after  several  conferences, 
assigned,  one  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Commodore,  another  for  his  ofiicers,  and  a  third  for 
the  artists,  and  a  bazaar  opened  daily,  where  the  various  articles  of  Japanese  art  and  manufac- 
ture could  be  obtained  at  fair  prices,  a  dollar,  which  is  equal  to  about  three  of  their  silver  coins, 
called  itchaboo,  passing  current  for  4,800  copper  cash.  With  this  greater  freedom  of  intercourse 
on  shore,  the  Americans  soon  became  tolerably  acquainted  with  Hakodadi  and  its  people,  and 
we  may  here  appropriately  introduce  some  description  of  them,  while  we  intermit  for  the  present 
the  relation  of  the  further  progress  of  the  tedious  negotiations  with  the  authorities. 

The  town  of  Hakodadi,  or  Hakodate,*  lies  on  the  southern  coast  of  the  island  of  Yesso,  in 
latitude  41°  49'  22"  north,  and  longitude  140°  47'  45"  east,  being  situated  on  the  western  bank 
of  a  small  peninsula,  which  forms  one  side  of  the  harbor.  The  meaning  of  the  Japanese  word 
Hakodadi  is  "  box  shop,"  but  what  gave  rise  to  the  name  it  is  not  easy  to  understand,  as  some 
of  the  best  informed  inhabitants  themselves  seem  unacquainted  with  the  origin  of  the  term. 
The  appearance  of  the  place  on  entering  the  harbor  is  striking  and  picturesque.  The  town 
stretclies  for  the  space  of  three  miles  along  the  base  of  a  lofty  promontory,  divided  into  three 
principal  peaks,  which  reach  a  height  of  from  six  hundred  to  a  thousand  feet.  Their  lofty 
summits  are  bare,  and  often  covered  with  snow  ;  their  upper  slopes  are  but  scantily  clothed  with 
underwood  and  some  scattered  pines,  while  below,  where  the  mountains  begin  to  rise  from  the 
level  land,  there  is  a  rich  profusion  of  verdant  growth,  with  groves  of  wide-spreading  cypresses, 
tall  forest  maples,  and  fruit-bearing  trees,  the  plum  and  the  peach.     This  abundant  vegetation 

•  Golownin,  in  hie  "  Recollections,"  rails  the  town  Chakodiidp,  but  crronrousl}-. 


DESCRIPTION      OF      II  A  K  0  D  A  D  1 .  437 

presents  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the  bolder  and  more  barren  aspect  of  the  higher  acclivities  and 
summits  of  the  surrounding  hills.  The  town  thus  appears  to  be  nestling  in  rejiose  under  the 
cover  of  the  shade  of  the  trees  in  the  midst  of  a  scene  of  rural  beauty,  while  all  around  in  the 
distance  is  the  wild,  bleak  massiveness  of  nature.  A  low,  sandy  isthmus,  scantily  verdant  here 
and  there  with  a  few  jmtches  of  kitchen  gardens,  connects  the  peninsula  upon  which  the  houses 
are  built  to  the  main  land.  Coarse,  hard  rocks  of  trachyte,  thrown  up  by  volcanic  agency, 
separate  the  alluvial  sand  from  the  mountainous  region  in  the  interior,  and  add  to  the  wildness 
of  the  scene.  The  Japanese  have  quarried  the  rocks  here  and  there,  and  various  hewn  surfaces, 
with  cut  blocks  lying  about,  prove  the  art  and  busy  industry  of  the  people.  These  quarries 
supply  them  with  stone  for  constructing  their  sea  walls,  jetties,  dykes,  foundations  for  their 
houses,  and  other  building  purposes. 

The  town  contains  over  a  thousand  houses,  which  mostly  stretch  along  in  one  main 
thoroughfare  near  the  seaside,  while  the  remainder,  forming  two  or  three  parallel  streets,  hang 
upon  the  ascent  of  the  hill  in  the  rear.  Every  one  on  board  the  ships  who  had  visited 
Gibraltar  was  struck  with  the  resemblance  of  Hakodadi,  from  its  position  and  general  aspect, 
to  that  famous  fortified  town.  There  was  the  isolated  hill,  on  the  base  and  acclivity  of  which 
the  houses  were  built  corresponding  to  the  rock  of  Gibraltar  ;  there  was  the  low  neck  of  land 
reaching  to  the  elevated  region  beyond,  like  the  neutral  ground  which  separates  the  English 
fortress  from  the  Spanish  territory,  and  a  receding  country  and  capacious  bay  surrounding 
Hakodadi,  as  well  as  Gibraltar,  to  strengthen  the  resemblance  between  the  two.  Moreover,  the 
position  of  the  Japanese  town  on  the  Strait  of  Sangar,  with  the  high  land  of  Nippon  and  its 
towns  of  Say  and  Mimaga  at  the  south,  like  that  of  Gibraltar,  overlooking  the  narrow  channel 
which  connects  the  Atlantic  and  Mediterranean  and  commands  the  opposite  and  elevated  coast 
of  Africa,  with  the  towns  of  Tangier  and  Ceuta  clothing  its  heights,  served  to  confirm  the 
similarity  of  features  with  which  every  one  whose  travelled  experience  allowed  of  comparison 
was  greatly  impressed. 

Hakod&di  belongs  to  the  imperial  fief  of  Matsmai,  and  is  the  largest  town  on  the  island  of 
Yesso,  with  the  exception  of  Matsmai,  from  which  it  is  distant  about  thirty  miles  in  an  easterly 
direction.  An  excellent  road  not  far  from  the  seacoast  connects  the  two  places,  and  a  large 
trade  is  carried  on  between  them  and  by  both  with  several  small  towns  on  the  island  of  Nippon, 
on  the  southern  side  of  the  Strait  of  Sangar,  or,  as  it  should  be  properly  called,  Tsugara. 

The  town  of  Hakodadi  is  regularly  built,  with  streets  running  at  right  angles  with  each 
other.  They  are  between  thirty  and  forty  feet  in  width,  and  are  carefully  macadamized  to 
allow  of  the  proper  draining  of  water.  There  are  open  gutters  on  each  side,  which  receive  the 
drippings  of  the  houses  and  the  washings  of  the  street,  and  also  well  constructed  sewers  through 
which  the  surplus  water  and  the  refuse  are  poured  into  the  bay.  The  side  walks,  which  are 
frequently  paved,  are  curbed  with  stone  planted  on  edge  as  with  us,  but  as  no  wheeled  carriages 
are  found  in  the  town,  the  middle  of  the  street  is  used  indiscriminately  in  dry  weather  by  the 
pedestrian.  Hakodadi,  like  all  the  Japanese  towns,  is  remarkably  clean,  the  streets  being 
suitably  constructed  for  draining,  and  kept,  by  constant  sprinkling  and  sweeping,  in  a  neat 
and  healthful  condition.  Wooden  picket  fences  with  gates  cross  the  streets  at  short  intervals  ; 
these  are  opened  for  the  passage  of  the  people  during  the  day,  but  closed  at  night.  The 
same  municipal  regulations  obtain  in  Hakodadi  as  in  all  the  other  towns  of  Japan  ;  the 
inhabitants  of  the  several  streets  form  so  many  separate  communities,  as  it  were,  responsible 


438  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

for  tlie  conduct  of  cacli  other,  each  governed  by  an  official  called  "  ottona,"  who  is  also 
held  responsible  for  the  good  order  of  the  people  under  his  especial  charge,  and  these  ottonas 
are  also  made  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  each  other.  The  gates  and  picket  fences  would 
seeui  to  mark  out  the  separate  fields  of  duty  of  these  officials.  At  one  side  of  the  street, 
among  the  houses,  there  is  ordinarily  a  sentry-box  for  a  watchman,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
guard  the  town  against  disturbance,  and  give  early  notice  of  the  occurrence  of  fire.  A  general 
quiet  pervades  the  streets,  without  those  ordinary  signs  of  busy  activity  which  belong  to  a 
trading  city.  No  carriages  or  laden  wagons  rumble  along  the  road,  no  clamorous  dealers  claim 
the  preference  of  the  purchase  of  their  wares,  no  busy  pedlars  or  itinerant  hucksters  cry  their 
articles  for  sale,  and  no  turbulent  mob  disturbs  the  general  peace  and  tranquillity.  An  almost 
universal  quiet  prevails  in  the  streets,  broken  only  at  times  by  a  stout  horse-boy  yelling  to  his 
obstinate  beast  of  burden,  either  an  unruly  nag  or  lumbering  ox,  and  an  officious  attendant  of 
some  great  man  shouting  out  to  the  people  to  prostrate  themselves  before  his  coming  master,  or 
perhaps  the  clanging  of  the  hammer  of  a  workman  busy  in  some  neighboring  forge.  Still  the 
stranger  is  impressed  with  the  idea  that  Hakodadi  is  a  thriving  town  when  he  beholds  the 
occasional  droves  of  laden  pack-horses  slowly  pacing  through  the  streets,  the  hundreds  of  junks 
at  anchor  in  the  harbor,  the  numerous  boats  rapidly  gliding  across  the  bay,  and  the  many 
richly  dressed  two-sworded  Japanese  gentlemen  and  officials  pompously  stalking  about  or  riding 
richly  caparisoned  horses. 

The  buildings  in  Hakodadi  are  mostly  of  one  story,  with  attics  of  varying  heights.  The 
upper  part  occasionally  forms  a  commodious  apartment,  but  is  ordinarily  merely  a  dark  cock- 
loft for  the  storage  of  goods  and  lumber,  or  the  lodging  of  servants.  The  height  of  the  roofs 
is  seldom  more  than  twenty-five  feet  from  the  ground.  They  slope  down  from  the  top,  project- 
ing with  their  eaves  beyond  the  wall,  are  supported  by  joints  and  tie-beams,  and  are  mostly 
covered  with  small  wooden  shingles  of  about  the  size  of  the  hand.  These  shingles  are  fastened 
by  means  of  pegs  made  of  bamboo,  or  kept  in  their  places  by  long  slips  of  board,  which  have 
large  rows  of  cobble  stones  put  upon  them  to  prevent  their  removal.  The  stones  are,. however, 
said  to  have  the  additional  advantage  of  hastening  the  melting  of  the  snow,  which  during  the 
winter  season  is  quite  abundant  at  Hakodadi.  The  gable  ends,  as  in  Dutch  houses,  face  towards 
the  street,  and  the  roofs  projecting  to  some  distance,  serve  as  a  cover  and  a  shade  to  the  doors. 
All  the  roofs  of  the  houses  in  front  are  topped  with  what  at  first  was  supposed  to  be  a  curious 
chimney  Avrapped  in  straw,  but  which  upon  examination  turned  out  to  be  a  tub,  protected  by  its 
straw  envelope  from  the  effects  of  the  weather,  and  kept  constantly  filled  with  water,  to  be 
sprinkled  upon  the  shingled  roofs,  in  case  of  fire,  by  means  of  a  broom  which  is  always  deposited 
at  hand,  to  be  ready  in  an  emergency.  The  people  would  seem  to  be  very  anxious  on  the  score 
of  fires,  from  the  precautions  taken  against  them.  In  addition  to  the  tubs  on  the  tops  of  the 
houses,  there  are  wooden  cisterns  arranged  along  the  streets,  and  engines  kept  in  constant 
readiness. 

These  latter  have  very  much  the  general  construction  of  our  own,  but  are  deficient  in  that 
important  part  of  the  apparatus ,  an  air  chamber,  and  consequently  they  throw  the  water, 
not  with  a  continuous  stream,  but  in  short,  quick  jets.  Fire  alarms,  made  of  a  thick  piece 
of  plank,  hung  on  posts  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  and  protected  by  a  small  roofing, 
which  are  struck  by  tlie  watchman,  in  case  of  a  fire  breaking  out,  showed  the  anxious  fears  of 


DWELLINGS     AT     HAKODADI.  439 

the  inhabitants,  and  the  oharrcd  timbers  and  ruins  still  remaining  where  a  hundred  houses  had 
stood  but  a  few  months  before,  proved  the  necessity  of  the  most  careful  precautions. 

A  few  of  the  better  houses  and  the  temples  are  neatly  roofed  with  brown  earthen  tiles,  laid  in 
gutter  form.  The  poorer  people  are  forced  to  content  themselves  with  mere  thatched  hovels,  the 
thatch  of  which  is  often  overgrown  wltli  a  fertile  crop  of  vegetables  and  grass,  the  seeds  of 
which  have  been  deposited  by  vagrant  crows.  The  walls  of  the  buildings  are  generally  con- 
structed of  pine  boards,  fastened  lengthwise,  with  a  layer  inside  and  out,  to  the  framework, 
which  is  jointed  with  admirable  skill.  The  boards  in  front  and  rear  are  made  to  slide  horizon- 
tally in  grooves  like  shutters.  At  night  they  are  barred  fast,  and  in  the  day-time  entirely 
removed,  to  allow  of  the  light  to  pass  freely  through  the  paper  screens  behind  them.  As  in 
Simoda,  the  roofs  project  beyond  the  walls  of  the  houses,  and  serve  as  a  shelter,  in  front  for  the 
display  of  goods,  and  in  the  rear  for  the  carrying  on  of  various  domestic  operations.  The 
Japanese  wood-work  is  never  painted,  although  in  the  interior  of  the  houses  it  is  occasionally 
varnished  or  oiled  ;  the  buildings  consequently  have  a  mean  and  thriftless  look.  In  the  wintry, 
moist  climate  of  Hakodadi,  the  effect  of  weather  upon  the  unpainted  pine  boards  was  strikingly 
apparent,  causing  them  to  contract  mould  and  rot,  so  that  the  whole  town  had  a  more  rusty, 
ruined  appearance  than  its  age  should  indicate.  ■-• 

Previous  to  building  a  house  the  ground  is  beaten  smooth,  and  the  floor  is  raised  about  two 
feet  above  it,  leaving  a  space  in  front  and  by  one  of  the  sides,  which  serves  for  a  path  to  the 
rear,  and  a  place  to  store  heavy  goods,  as  the  roof  projects  over  and  protects  it  from  the  weather. 
In  the  shops  the  whole  front  is  often  taken  out  to  display  their  contents,  but  in  the  dwellings 
and  the  mechanics'  establishments,  there  is  usually  a  barred  lattice  of  bamboo  to  hide  the 
inmates  from  passing  observation.  Each  house  has  a  charm  placed  over  the  liirtel  or  doorpost, 
consisting  of  the  picture  of  a  god,  a  printed  prayer  or  a  paper  inscribed  with  some  complicated 
characters,  designed  to  protect  the  dwelling  from  fire  or  any  other  calamity. 

The  raised  floor  which  covers  nearly  the  whole 
area  of  the  house  is  covered  with  white  mats 
made  soft  and  thick  by  being  lined  at  the  bottom 
with  straw.  These  are  very  neatly  woven  and 
liound  with  cloth,  and  are  all  of  the  uniform  size 
prescribed  by  law,  being  three  feet  by  six,  and 
placed  in  rows  upon  the  floor  so  neatly  asto  have 
the  appearance  of  one  piece.  Upon  these  mats 
the  people  sit  to  take  their  meals,  to  sell  tlieir 
japsnesc  Pillow  and  cushion.-Drawer  opon.  warcs,  to  smokc  thcir  pipcs,  to  convcrsc  with 

their  friends,  and  lie  down  at  night  without  undressing  themselves  to  go  to  sleep,  adding, 
however,  a  quilted  mat  for  a  cover,  and  the  equivocal  comfort  of  a  hard  box  for  a  pilbiw. 
The  houses  are  generally  lighted,  as  has  been  frequently  observed,  with  windows  of  oiled 
paper,  though  mica  and  shells  are  occasionally  used  instead. 

The  interior  of  the  houses  is  plain  and  simple  in  arrangement,  but  always  scrupulously  neat 
and  clean.  There  are  in  some  of  the  better  mansions  occasional  wood  carvings  of  exijuisite 
workmanship,  though  not  very  elaborate  in  design.  The  paper  windows  and  sliding  screens 
which  divide  the  apartments  are  often  adorned  with  paintings  of  landscape  and  birds.  In 
addition  to  the  panels  the  walls  of  the  room  are  frequently  hung  with  gaily  painted  paper, 


440  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

•which  being  arranged  as  rolling  maps  are  with  us,  is  moveable  at  pleasure.  The  stork  or  crane, 
a  bird  held  sacred  by  the  Japanese,  and  the  winged  tortoise,  and  the  porpoise,  or  dolphin  of  the 
ancients,  are  favorite  designs  in  all  these  decorations,  whether  of  wood,  carving,  or  painting,  in 
the  various  buildings. 

The  furniture  of  a  Japanese  house  is  particularly  meagre,  consisting  invariably  of  nothing  but 
the  floor  mats  and  the  household  utensils,  which  are  few  and  simple.  As  squatting,  not  sitting, 
is  almost  the  invariable  practice,  there  seems  no  occasion  for  chairs,  although  they  were 
sometimes  found,  and  invariably  supplied  on  state  occasions.  These  are  clumsy  contrivances 
with  coarse  leathern  seats,  and  a  framework  like  that  of  the  common  camp  stool,  which  is 
readily  folded  up  when  not  used.  At  the  conferences  with  the  authorities,  the  subordinate 
officers,  both  American  and  Japanese,  were  seated  on  sedans  or  benches  covered  with  a  red 
crape,  while  tlie  CommodDre  and  the  highest  native  dignitaries  were  honored  with  stools,  which 
occasionally  had  the  comfortable  addition  of  arms  and  backs  to  them.  The  national  posture  of 
all  classes,  however,  in  Japan,  when  at  rest,  is  crouching  either  upon  the  knees,  or  on  the 
haunches  with  their  legs  crossed.  The  latter  is  common  among  the  lower  classes,  and  is 
pronounced  by  the  fashionables  as  decidedly  vulgar,  who  invariably  assume  the  former. 

Tables  are  not  generally  used,  but  on  the  occasion  of  the  public  entertainments  given  to  the 
American  officers,  the  narrow  red  crape  covered  benches  were  appropriated  for  the  spread  of  the 
feast,  the  dishes  being  raised  to  the  proper  height  for  the  guest  by  means  of  the  ordinary 
lacquered  stands  of  a  foot  in  height  and  fourteen  inches  square.  The  Japanese  eat  from  these 
raised  trays  while  squatting  upon  their  mats,  and  the  unsocial  practice  thus  obtains  of  each 
person  taking  his  food  by  himself.  Some  lacquered  cups,  bowls,  and  porcelain  vessels,  the 
invariable  chop«ticks,  and  an  occasional  earthenware  spoon,  comprise  the  ordinary  utensils  used 
in  eating.  They  drink  their  soups  directly  out  of  the  bowl,  as  a  hungry  child  might,  after 
seizing  with  their  chopsticks  the  pieces  of  fish  which  are  generally  floating  in  the  liquid.  Their 
tea-kettles,  which  are  always  at  hand  simmering  over  the  fire  in  the  kitchen,  are  made  of  bronze, 
silver,  or  of  fire-proof  earthenware.  In  the  centre  of  the  common  sitting  room  there  is  a  square 
hole  built  in  with  tiles  and  filled  with  sand,  in  which  a  charcoal  fire  is  always  kept  burning, 
and  suspended  above  is  the  tea-kettle  supported  by  a  tripod.  There  is  thus  constantly  a  supply 
of  hot  water  for  making  tea,  which  is  invariably  handed  to  the  visitor  on  his  arrival.  Tlie 
beverage  is  prepared  as  with  us,  but  very  weak.  The  cup  is  generally  of  porcelain,  with  a 
wooden  lacquered  cover.  The  tea  is  not  ordinarily  sweetened,  though  at  Hakodadi  sugar  was 
often  used.  The  better  houses  are  warmed,  but  very  imperfectly,  by  metal  braziers  placed  on 
lacquered  stands  containing  burning  charcoal,  which  are  moved  readily  from  room  to  room  as 
they  may  be  required.  In  tlie  cottages  of  the  poor,  there  being  but  little  ventilation  from  their 
contracted  size,  and  no  places  of  issue  for  the  smoke,  the  burning  charcoal  in  the  fixed  central 
fire  places  becomes  a  great  nuisance.  In  the  more  pretentious  establishments,  where  there  is 
plenty  of  space  and  holes  in  the  roof  or  in  the  walls  for  the  escape  of  smoke,  while  the  charcoal 
is  not  brought  in  until  perfectly  ignited,  this  mode  of  heating  the  apartments  is  more  endurable. 
At  Hakodadi  the  people  seemed  to  suffer  a  great  deal  from  the  wintry  weather,  the  poorer 
classes  kept  much  within  doors  huddled  about  their  meagre  fires  in  their  liovels,  which,  without 
chimneys,  and  with  but  a  scant  light  from  the  paper  windows,  were  e.xceodingly  cold,  gloomy, 
and  comfortless.     The  richer  people  strove  to  make  themselves  more  comfortable  by  enveloping 


DOMESTIC     LIVING     AT     UAKODADI 


441 


their  bodies  in  a  succession  of  warm  robes,  but  succeeded  indiiferently,  as  they  were  constantly 
complaining  of  the  severity  of  the  weather. 

It  is  by  the  charcoal  fires  in  the  centre  of  the  sitting  apartment  where  the  water  for  tea  is 
boiled,  the  saki  heated,  and  sundry  small  dishes  cooked  ;  but  in  tlie  larger  establishments  there 
is  a  kitchen  besides,  wliere  the  family  cooking  is  got  up.  These  are  generally  provided  with  a 
stove,  like  an  ordinary  French  cooking  apparatus,  in  which  wood  is  often  burned,  but  this  is  an 
article  they  are  very  economical  in  using. 


Japanese  Kitchen,  Ilakoiladi. 

Connected  with  most  of  the  dwellings  in  Hakodadi  there  is  a  yard  iu  which  tliere  are  out- 
houses used  for  kitchens  or  stables.  There  is  also  frequently  a  garden  where  vegetables  in 
small  quantities  are  raised,  flowers  cultivated,  and  shade-trees  and  ornamental  shrubs  jilanted. 
Some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  i)lace  have  handsome  residences  upon  elevated  situations,  a  little 
back  of  the  town.  Their  houses  are  of  the  ordinary  construction,  but  much  larger  in  dimen- 
sions. The  superior  wealth  and  luxurious  tastes  of  their  proprietors  are  shown  chiefly  in  the 
handsome  gardens  and  pleasure  grounds.  These  are  tasteftilly  planted  with  fruit  and  shade 
trees,  and  bounded  with  green  hedges,  while  beds  of  variegated  flowers  contrast  their  bright 
hues  with  the  green  verdure  of  the  foliage  and  the  lawns  of  grass.  There  seems,  in  the  high 
fences  which  guard  from  the  eyes  of  the  passer  by  the  sight  of  these  luxurious  delights,  a 
desire  for  that  privacy  which  betokens  a  love  of  retirement  and  a  fastidious  appreciation  of  the 
reserved  comforts  of  home. 

As  in  Simoda,  there  are  large  fire-proof  warehouses,  used  for  the  storage  of  valuable  goods. 
They  are  built  with  a  great  deal  more  care  than  the  ordinary  shops  and  other  buildings,  and 
56  J 


442  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

have  walls  two  feet  thick,  made  of  dried  mud  and  cobbles,  and  faced  with  stone,  while  their 
roofs  are  securely  constructed  of  earthen  tiles.  These  warehouses  are  generally  two  stories  in 
height,  the  upper  one  having  window  shutters  of  wood  sheathed  with  iron.  Their  exterior  is 
sometimes  covered  with  a  coat  of  fine  plaster,  which,  with  their  substantial  structure,  gives 
them  a  neatness  and  solidity  of  a.spect  which  contrast  greatly  with  the  flimsy  stained  look  of 
the  ordinary  houses.  They  are  probably  depots  for  the  storage  of  goods  which  belong  to  the 
government,"  and  are  kept  with  great  care  and  guarded  watchfully. 

The  shops  in  Hakodadi  geuerally  contain  such  goods  as  are  of  a  cheap  sort,  and  adapted  to 
the  restricted  wants  of  a  poor  population.  The  stock  is  made  up  of  a  miscellaneous  assortment 
of  coarse,  thick  cottons,  inferior  silks,  common  earthen  and  China  ware,  lacquered  bowls,  cups, 
stands  and  chop  sticks,  cheap  cutlery,  and  ready  made  clothing.  Furs,  leather,  felted  cloths, 
glass-ware,  or  copper  articles  are  rarely  seen,  nor  are  books  and  stationery  very  common.  The 
provision  shops  contain  rice,  wheat,  barley,  pulse,  dried  fish,  seaweed,  salt,  sugar,  sackee,  soy, 
charcoal,  sweet  potatoes,  flour,  and  other  less  necessary  articles,  and  all  apjiarcntly  in  abundant 
quantities.  There  is  no  public  market  in  the  town,  as  neither  beef,  pork,  nor  miitton  are  eaten, 
and  very  little  poultry.  Vegetables,  and  a  preparation  made  of  beans  and  rice  Hour,  which  has 
the  consistency  and  appearance  of  cheese,  are  hawked  about  the  streets,  and  form  a  considerable 
jjortion  of  the  diet  of  the  people.  The  signs  of  the  shops,  in  accordance  with  the  general  prac- 
tice in  Japan,  are  inscribed  on  the  paper  windows  and  doors,  in  various  well  known  devices  and 
cyphers,  either  in  Chinese  or  Japanese  chai-acters.  The  shopmen  were  at  first  very  shy,  and 
showed  but  little  disposition  to  sell  their  goods  to  the  Americans  ;  but  when  they  became  some- 
what more  flxmiliar  with  the  strangers,  the  characteristic  eagerness  of  tradesmen  developed 
itself  to  the  full,  and  the  Hakodadi  merchants  showed  themselves  as  clever  at  their  business  as 
any  Chatham  street  or  Bowery  salesman  with  us.  They  bustled  about  the  raised  platform  upon 
which  they  were  perched,  pulled  out  the  drawers  arranged  on  the  walls,  and  displayed  their 
goods  to  the  greatest  advantage  when  they  thought  there  was  a  chance  of  catching  the  eye  and 
pleasing  the  taste  of  a  passing  American.  They  were  always  very  jealous,  however,  of  their 
prerogatives,  and  were  exceedingly  annoyed  if  any  of  their  purchasers  stepped  upon  the 
platform,  which  was  their  trading  sanctum,  and  as  carefully  guarded  against  intrusion  as  the 
"behind  the  counter"  of  a  New  York  shopman.  The  purchaser  ordinarily  stood  under  the 
roof,  on  the  ground,  in  the  space  which  intervened  between  the  sidewalk  and  the  elevated  shop 
floor.  Some  of  the  more  impatient  and  intrusive  Yankees,  however,  would  occasionally  spring 
up,  and  pulling  out  the  goods,  handle  them  very  unceremoniously,  not,  however,  without  a 
serious  protest  on  the  part  of  the  sellers,  who  sometimes  were  so  annoyed  that  official  comjilaints 
were  made  by  them  to  the  authorities.  The  shopkeepers  had  always  a  fixed  price  for  their 
goods,  and  all  attempts  to  beat  them  down  were  useless,  and  generally  rebuked  by  an  expres- 
sion of  displeasure. 

There  are  four  large  Buddhist  temples  in  Hakodadi,  one  of  which,  called  the  Zhiogen-zhi,  or 
the  country's  protector,  is  a  good  sjiecimen  of  Ja])anese  architecture.  It  was  built  by  the 
townspeople  about  twenty  years  since,  and  is  kept  in  excellent  repair.  The  tiled  roof  rises  fully 
sixty  feet  from  the  ground,  and  is  supported  by  an  intricate  arrangement  of  girders,  posts,  and 
tie-beams,  resting  upon  large  lacquered  pillars.  This  temide  is  cue  of  the  most  conspicuous 
objects  seen  when  entering  the  harbor.  The  principal  apartment  in  the  interior  is  elaborately 
carved  and  richly  gilded.  Tlie  carving  and  sculpture  about  tlie  altar,  the  niches,  and  cornices, 
are  of  wood  and  brass,  and   show  very  skilful  workmanship.      The   designs   are    dragons, 


TEMPLES     AT     HAKOn.vni, 


443 


phoenixes,  cranes,  tortoises,  and  other  subjects  associated  with  the  religious  worship  of  Bud<lha. 
The  main  floor  is  elevated  six  feet  above  the  ground,  and  covered,  as  usual,  with  thick  mats. 
There  are  three  separate  shrines,  each  containing  an  image,  the  one  in  the  nave  being  the 
largest  and  most  highly  adorned.  A  sort  of  architrave  descends  between  the  pillars,  so 
contrived  that,  with  the  aid  of  folding  screens,  the  shrines  may  be  readily  partitioned  off. 
There  are  six  priests  attached  to  the  establishment,  and  their  quarters  and  those  wliicli  are 
provided  for  visitors  were  models  of  neatness  and  cleanliness.  Tlie  temples  in  Ja^ian,  as  in 
China,  are  often  used  for  places  of  concourse  or  entertainment,  and  on  such  occasions  the  altars 
and  shrines  are  covered  or  removed,  which  so  changes  the  aspect  of  the  interior  that  no  one 
would  suspect  that  he  was  in  a  house  of  worship.  On  the  visit  of  the  American  squadron  one 
of  the  temples  was  appropriated  for  a  bazaar — a  worldly  use  that  the  ecclesiastics,  so  far  from 
objecting  to,  highly  approved  of,  as  it  added  considerably  to  their  revenue,  the  rent  of  the 
apartments  being  the  perquisite  on  the  occasion. 

In  the  enclosure  before  the  Zhiogen-zhi  there  is  a  grove  of  large  spreading  cypresses,  in  the 
shade  of  which  there  are  several  outer  buildings,  and  a  shed  which  covers  six  small  stone 
images  of  deities.  On  either  side  of  the  avenue  which  leads  to  the  temple  there  are  pairs  of 
stone  candelabras,  and  near  by  the  statue  of  a  goddess  with  a  child  in  her  arms.  A  copper 
nimbus  or  glory  surrounds  the  heads  of  all  these  idols,  and  reminds  the  Christian  visitor  of  what 
he  may  have  seen  in  some  churches  of  his  own  country. 

Next  to  the  Zhiogen-zhi,  in  a  southerly  direction,  is  the  Zhetsa-zhi  or  True-acting  monestary, 
an  older  and  somewhat  dilapidated  building.  There  are  several  small  sheds  in  the  yard  in 
front  of  this  temple,  one  of  which  protects  from  the  weather  a  subscription-box  and  a  handsomely 
sculptured  stone  candelabra.  The  priests  have  shown  considerable  taste  in  the  cultivation  and 
arrangement  of  the  garden  and  pleasure  grounds  in  the  rear  of  the  building. 

—  =^--^^  ,-rr^    --        _  Near  the  main   street,  which  extends 

^  Aj^  -=^  along  the  bay,  in  an  enclosure  beautifully 

^  1_  shaded  with  willows  and  firs  of  remark- 

able growth,  is  the  Kono-zhi,  or  High 
Dragon   temple,  so  called  from   a  large 


dragon  carved  along  the  entablature  in 
front ;  there  is  also  a  carp  fish,  some  six 
feet  long,  .skilfully  cut  out  of  wood,  ex- 
tending in  an  upright  direction  on  the 
right  side  of  the  porch.  Tliis  temple  is 
a  large  edifice,  and,  although  now  falling 
to  decay,  bears  in  its  elaborate  ornaments 
and  its  expensive  appointments  signs  of 
liaving  been  once  in  great  esteem.  Within 
the  grounds  which  enclose  it  are  various 
richly  adorned  gateways,  stone  statues, 
candelabras,  and  shrines,  all  showing  more 
or  less  skilful  design  and  workmanship. 
Tlie  fourth  and  last  of  tlic  Buddhist  tem- 
idois  near  a  Buddhui  Temple,  Uakodudi.  plcs  Is  Called  the  Shiomio-zhi,  Or  the  mon- 

astery of  Buddha's  name,  but  presents  nothing  of  especial  interest  to  distinguisli  it  from  the  others. 


444  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

Each  of  these  temples  has  its  adjoining  grave-yard,  filled  with  tombs  and  monuments  charac- 
teristic of  the  Japanese  people  and  their  religious  belief.  Near  each  grave,  as  at  Simoda,  there 
arc  s(inare  posts  and  boards,  with  the  names  of  the  dead,  quotations  from  the  canonical 
Buddhist  books,  lines  of  poetry,  and  moral  and  religious  apothegms,  generally  referring  to  the 
vanity  of  this  world  and  the  felicity  of  Buddha's  heaven  in  the  next.  There  was  a  curious 
contrivance  found  in  one  of  the  burial  places,  consisting  of  a  tall  post,  in  which  an  iron  wheel 
was  attached.  The  post  was  placed  upright,  and  being  square  presented  four  surfaces,  on  each 
of  which  v.-as  one  or  two  of  the  following  inscriptions  or  prayers : 

"  The  great  rovmd  mirror  of  knowledge  says,  '  wise  men  and  fools  are  embarked  in  the  same 
boat ;'  whether  prospered  or  afflicted,  both  arc  rowing  over  the  deep  lake  ;  the  gay  sails  lightly 
hang  to  catch  the  autumnal  breeze ;  then  away  they  straight  enter  the  lustrous  clouds,  and 
become  partakers  of  heaven's  knowledge." 

"  The  believing  man  Hanyo  Shenkaman,  who  no  longer  grows  old." 
"  The  believing  woman,  once  called  Yuenning :     Happy  was  the  day  she  left." 
"Multitudes  fill  the  graves." 

"  To  enable  to  enter  the  abodes  of  the  perfect,  and  to  sympathize  fully  with  the  men  of  thc 
world,  belongs  to  Buddha.  It  is  only  by  this  one  vehicle,  the  coffin,  we  can  enter  Hades. 
There  is  nought  like  Buddha  ;  nothing  at  all." 

"  We  of  the  human  race  with  hearts,  minds,  and  understandings,  when  wc  read  the  volumes 
of  Buddha,  enjoy  great  advantages." 

"  He  whose  prescience  detects  knowledge,  says  :  as  the  floating  grass  is  blown  by  the  gentle 
breeze,  or  the  glancing  ripples  of  autumn  disappear,  when  the  sun  goes  down,  or  as  the  ship 
returns  home  to  her  old  shore,  so  is  life :  it  is  a  smoke,  a  morning  tide." 

"  Buddha  himself  earnestly  desires  to  hear  the  name  of  this  person,  (who  is  buried,)  and 
wishes  he  may  go  to  life.  ' 

"  He  who  has  left  humanity  is  now  perfected  by  Buddha's  name,  as  the  withered  moss  is  by 
the  dew." 

"  The  canon  of  Buddha  says,  all  who  reach  the  blissful  land  will  become  so  that  they  cannot 
be  made  to  transmigrate,  (or  change  for  the  worse.)" 

The  square  post  upon  which  these  inscriptions  were  cut  was  nearly  eight  feet  in  length,  and 
near  the  centre,  at  a  convenient  height  to  be  reached  by  the  hand,  was  affixed,  vertically,  a 
wheel,  which  moved  readily  on  an  axle  that  passed  through  the  post.  Two  small  iron  rings 
were  strung  upon  each  of  the  three  spokes  of  the  large  wheel.  Every  jjcrson  who  twisted  this 
instrument  in  passing  was  supposed  to  obtain  credit  in  heaven  for  one  or  more  prayers  on  the 
post,  the  number  being  graduated  according  to  the  rigor  of  the  performer's  devotion,  and  the 
number  of  revolutions  effected.  The  jingle  of  the  small  iron  rings  was  believed  to  secure  the 
attention  of  the  deity  to  the  invocation  of  the  devotional,  and  the  greater  the  noise,  the  more 
certain  of  its  being  listened  to.  This  praying  by  wheel  and  axle  would  seem  to  be  the  very 
perfection  of  a  ceremonious  religion,  as  it  reduces  it  to  a  system  of  mechanical  laws,  which, 
provided  the  apparatus  is  kept  in  order,  a  result  easily  obtained  by  a  little  oil,  moderate  use, 
and  occasional  repairs,  can  be  readily  executed  with  the  least  possible  exiienditure  of  human 
labor,  and  with  all  that  economy  of  time  and  thought  which  seems  the  great  purpose  of  our 
material  and  mechanical  age.  Hue,  in  his  interesting  account  of  his  travels  in  Thibet,  speaks 
of  an  improvement  on  the  machine  we  have  described,  where  the  apparatus  was  turned  by 


SINTOO  TEMPLES,   HAKODADI. 


445 


water-power,  and  very  appropriately  styles  it  a  prayer  mill.  lu  tlic  course  of  the  progress  of 
the  Japanese  in  the  mechanical  arts,  this,  with  their  usual  readiness  in  adopting  new  improve- 
ments, will  no  doubt  he  introduced,  or  perhaps  the  more  eifective 
power  of  steam  will  be  applied  to  their  praying  machines,  and 
with  the  introduction  of  steamboats  and  railroads  may  commence 
an  era  of  locomotive  devotion. 

There  are  three  large  Mia,  or  Sintoo  temples,  in  Hakodadi, 
called  respectively  the  Sheumei,  the  Hachiman,  and  the  Penten, 
dedicated  to  national  deified  heroes  and  gods.  They  are  not  in 
so  flourishing  condition  as  their  competitors,  the  Buddhist  tem- 
ples, which  have  gained  the  ascendancy,  and  are  fast  absorbing 
the  whole  devotional  interests  of  the  Japanese  people.  The  Sintoo 
places  of  worship  are  generally  got  up  on  a  cheaper  scale,  and  are 
much  less  resorted  to.  They  have  no  burying  grounds  attached, 
and  are  not  surrounded  by  any  defined  enclosure.  There  are, 
however,  several  gateways,  with  ornaments  sculptured  on  stone 
simnning  the  approach,  hut  the  area  which  surrounds  the  temples 
is  open  and  the  public  road  passes  through  it.  A  curator  with 
his  family,  whose  duty  it  is  to  keep  the  idols  polished  up  and  the 
sacred  grounds  in  a  tidy  condition,  generally  resides  on  or  near  the 
premises.  The  Hachiman  house  of  worship  presents  a  peculiarity 
in  its  architecture  not  elsewhere  observed,  which  consists  of  a 
projection  from  the  roof  like  a  dormer  window,  underneath  which 
there  is  an  entablature  adorned  with  a  few  carvings  in  wood.  The 
effect,  in  an  architectural  point  of  view,  is  good,  as  it  relieves  the 
blankness  of  a  great  expanse  of  roof,  and  is  in  harmony  with  the 
ornaments  of  the  eaves  below. 

Upon  the  summits  and  acclivities  of  the  hills  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Hakodadi,  and  in  niches  and  small  shrines  under  shadow 
of  groves  of  cypress  and  other  trees  by  the  wayside,  are  frequent 
Prayer  wiieei.  stonc  statucs  of  Buddha,  venerable  with  age  and  moss-grown, 

about  four  feet  high,  elevated  upon  small  pedestals,  and  the  innumerable  offerings  of  copper 
cash,  rags,  flowers,  and  written  papers,  strewed  before  them,  prove  the  large  number  of  devotees 
and  the  attention  of  the  people  to  their  devotional  duties.  The  Japanese  resort  frequently  to 
these  roadside  deities,  and  the  higher  they  are  perched,  and  the  more  inaccessible  their  approach, 
the  greater  is  esteemed  the  merit  in  invoking  them.  These  idols  are  supposed  to  have  great 
power  in  warding  off  the  storms  or  disasters  to  which  mariners  on  that  inhospitable  coast  are 
exposed,  and  most  of  the  offerings  are  made  with  a  view  to  propitiate  Buddha  and  his  associate 
deities  in  the  event  of  an  approaching  danger.  In  addition  to  the  statucs  there  are  distributed 
along  the  roads  and  pathways  frequent  stone  slabs  with  inscriptions  and  a  gallows-shaped 
gateway,  fancifully  carved  and  ornamented  beams,  with  two  vertical  and  a  single  horizontal  one 
crossing  tliem  at  the  top.  These  are  never  passed  by  tlie  pious  Japanese  without  a  genuflexion 
and  the  utterance  of  a  passing  prayer ;  and  so  frequent  are  the  stoppages  in  consequence,  that 


446  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

the  American  officers,  when  strolling  into  the  country  under  the  guidance  of  a  native,  found 
their  journey  indefinitely  prolonged,  and  their  patience  sorely  taxed. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  what,  upon  a  survey  of  the  whole  ground,  arc  tlie  prospects 
of  now  presenting  Christianity  to  the  Japanese  mind  with  any  hope  of  a  favorable  reception? 
To  this  subject  Mr.  Jones,  the  chaplain,  naturally  directed  his  thoughts,  and  his  sound  judg- 
ment, added  to  his  known  pious  zeal,  entitles  his  opinions  to  the  respect  of  Christians  of  all 
denominations.     He  thus  writes : 

"Apart  from  governmental  influence,  I  think  there  would  be  no  great  difficulty  in  introducing 
Christianity;  hut  the  cjovernment  would  interfere  most  decidedly.  I  performed  funeral  services  on 
shore  four  times:  once  at  Yoku-hama,  twice  at  Hakodadi,  and  once  at  Simoda;  in  every 
instance  in  the  presence  of  the  Japanese,  and,  in  most,  when  large  numbers  were  collected. 
They  always  behaved  well.  Japanese  officers  were  present,  with  their  insignia,  on  all  occasions. 
I  thus  became  known  among  the  people  everywhere  as  a  Christian  clergyman,  or,  to  follow  their 
signs  for  designating  me,  as  '  a  praying  man.'  Instead  of  this  producing  a  shrinking  from  me, 
as  I  had  supposed  it  would,  I  found  that  I  had  decidedly  gained  by  it  in  their  respect,  and  this 
among  officials  as  well  as  commoners.  At  oiir  last  visit  to  Siraoda  we  found  a  new  governor,  it 
having  now  become  a  royal  instead  of  a  provincial  town.  This  governor  was  an  affivble,  yet 
dignified,  man,  of  very  polished  manners,  and  would  compare  favorably  with  the  best  gentlemen 
in  any  country.  At  the  bazaar,  amid  the  buying,  &c.,  I  was  led  up  to  him  by  one  of  the 
officials  and  introduced  as  a  clergyman.  The  governor's  countenance  brightened  up  as  my  office 
was  annoimced,  and  his  salutation  and  treatment  of  me  became  additionally  courteous.  I 
mention  this,  however,  for  what  it  may  be  worth.  There  was  no  seeming  aversion  to  me 
because  I  was  a  minister  of  Christianity.  The  government,  however,  beyond  all  doubt,  is 
exceedingly  jealous  about  our  religion  ;  but  the  Japanese  officials,  as  well  as  the  people,  are  ^ 
inquisitive,  and  so  observant  of  all  that  comes  witliin  their  reach,  that,  doubtless,  after  a  time, 
they  might  be  brought  to  see  the  difference  between  ourselves  and  the  Romanists.  Against  the 
latter  they  have  a  deep-seated  dislike.  Until  they  do  understand  that  difference,  no  form  of 
Christianity  can  probably  get  foothold  in  Japan." 

There  is  little  appearance  of  military  defence  about  Hakodadi,  though  its  position  would  seem 
to  offer  advantages  for  rendering  it  almost  impregnable.  Beyond  the  town,  liowever,  in  an 
easterly  direction,  there  are  two  earthen  forts  dug  out  of  the  ground,  and  intended,  ajiparently, 
to  guard  the  entrance  to  the  harbor.  Stakes  or  i)alisades  are  driven  in  along  the  cuttings  to 
prevent  the  earth  from  caving  in,  and  to  aid  in  the  defence.  Two  wooden  buildings  stand  near 
by,  which  arc  connected  with  magazines  underneath  the  excavated  area  of  tlie  forts.  Within 
these  latter  is  a  pavement  of  stone,  and  embrasures  of  four  feet  in  width,  opening  in  the  eastern 
embankment  looking  seaward,  and  made  apjiarently  for  only  two  guns.  On  the  beach,  at  the 
eastern  end  of  the  main  street,  tliere  is  a  building,  with  a  broad  enclosure,  which  seems  to  be 
intended  for  purposes  of  fortification,  although,  from  the  absence  of  cannon  and  other  warlike 
appointments,  it  may  be  only  used  for  a  parade  ground.  There  are  better  specimens  of  military 
defence  in  Japan  than  those  rude  constructions,  as,  for  example,  at  Uraga,  where  several  stone 
forts  exist,  built  according  to  better  principles  of  art,  altliough  there  are  probably  none  in  the 
whole  country  which  could  withstand  a  slight  cannonading  from  European  or  American  ships 
of  war,  or  even  an  attack  from  a  few  well  armed  boats. 

The  country  about  Hakodadi,  though  picturesque  to  the  view,  did  not  present  such  attractions 


MINERAL     SPRING     AT     HAKODADI.  447 

for  the  pedestrian  as  that  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sinioda.  The  environs  are  comparatively  rnde 
and  uncultivated,  and  the  land  is  so  broken  by  the  hills  and  mountainous  elevations,  that  the 
roads  are  necessarily  steep,  irregular,  and  toilsome  to  the  traveller.  The  isolated  rock  at  the 
base,  and  on  the  side  of  which  the  town  is  built,  is  steep  and  rough,  but  is  ascended  by  a 
winding  ]iath  to  the  top.  The  summit  commands  a  fine  view  of  the  harbor,  and  was  often 
scaled  by  the  officers  of  the  expedition,  where  they  were  reminded  of  the  high  advance  in  art  of 
the  country  by  finding  an  observatory,  or  look-out  for  vessels,  supplied  with  a  telescope  of 
Japanese  manufacture,  being  arranged  with  glasses  like  our  own  inserted  in  a  tube  of  bamboo. 

The  geological  features  of  the  hill  itself  are  of  considerable  interest.  It  is  composed  of  a 
variety  of  granite,  the  syenite,  generally  gray,  though  occasionally  of  a  reddish  tint,  in  which 
crystals  of  tourmaline  are  more  or  less  abundantly  diffused.  On  the  southwestern  side  of  the 
promontory  the  rock  has  been  first  torn  apart  by  some  subterranean  force,  leaving  a  crevice 
about  twenty  feet  in  width,  and  subsequently  another  upheaving  movement  has  forced  up, 
so  as  to  fill  the  space  partially,  a  rocky  substance,  similar  to  the  mountain  in  kind,  but 
with  no  tourmaline,  and  a  softer  feldspar,  having  the  charaeter  of  the  porjihyritic  formation. 
At  this  point  a  mineral  spring  issues  from  the  crevices  of  the  rock.  It  is  considerably  impreg- 
nated with  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas,  as  was  very  evident  from  its  taste  and  odor,  is  warm  to 
the  touch,  and  one  of  the  surgeons  reports  it  as  "  sitting  lightly  on  the  stomach."  Its  gases 
and  odor  are  lost,  however,  by  being  kept  even  for  a  short  time.  The  water  contains  chloride 
of  sodium,  and  probably  some  mineral  sulphate  or  sulphuret.  The  intelligent  medical  officer 
Dr.  Green,  to  whose  account  we  are  indebted  for  our  information,  further  reports  it  to  be 
medicinally  somewhat  diuretic  and  slightly  aperient,  and  infers  that  it  would  be  probably 
beneficial  in  some  cutaneous  diseases  and  chronic  complaints,  where  the  secretions  are  disordered 
or  suppressed.  The  natives,  who  accompanied  the  Americans  to  the  spring,  made  signs  that 
the  water  was  not  good  to  drink,  but  excellent  to  bathe  in ;  and  the  erection  of  a  presiding 
deity  in  its  neighborhood,  and  the  frequent  use  of  it  by  the  inhabitants  for  washing  themselves, 
proved  a  high  appreciation  of  its  qualities. 

A  few  hundred  yards  west  of  the  sulphur  spring,  at  the  back  of  the  town,  is  a  natural  cave 
in  the  mountain.  It  opens  from  the  sea  into  a  steep,  perpendicular  cliff,  and  can  be  entered 
only  by  means  of  a  boat.  It  is  about  thirty  feet  high,  a  dozen  or  so  in  width,  and  the  water  at 
the  entrance  has  a  depth  of  nearly  twenty  feet.  A  party  from  the  ships  penetrated  it  until  the 
darkness  of  the  interior  became  so  great  that  objects  could  no  longer  be  distinguished  ;  it  was 
found,  however,  by  groping  along,  that  the  cave  branched  oft'  to  the  right  and  left,  with  appa- 
rently the  same  depth  of  water  and  the  same  height  of  roof  as  at  the  entrance.  Within,  a 
perfect  calmness  reigned,  the  water  being  almost  motionless,  and  the  atmosphere  close  and 
undisturbed  by  a  breath  of  wind.  Wlien  the  light  was  sufficient,  the  bottom  could  be  seen 
glistening  brightly  with  a  deposit  of  white  sand.  When  storms  prevail,  there  must  be  a  great 
rushing  of  waters,  and  war  of  the  winds,  through  this  cavernous  channel.  The  entrance  to 
the  cave  is  arched,  and  the  rocky  cliff  in  which  it  opens  has  a  columnar  formation,  extending 
from  the  curve  of  the  arch,  high  up  the  rock.  At  first  sight  it  was  supposed  to  be  basalt,  as  it 
had  a  similar  appearance  to  the  columns  of  the  Giant's  causeway  in  Ireland  ;  but  on  further 
investigation,  the  geological  formation  proved  to  be  the  syenitic  form  of  granite,  like  the  main 
body  of  the  mountain. 

The  peninsula  on  which  the  town  stands  affords  but  a  few  score  of  acres  of  arable  laud  lying 


448  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  highest  hill,  near  the  fishing  village  of  Shirasawaki  on  the  seashore. 
It  is  cultivated  in  vegetables,  principally  for  the  consumption  of  the  jieople  of  Hakoiladi. 
Onions,  a  few  sweet  potatoes  and  radishes,  are  the  chief  products,  the  last  of  which  are  a  very 
favorite  article  of  food,  and  are  served  up  raw,  being  grated  and  used  as  a  condiment  with  fish, 
and  cooked  hy  stewing  and  boiling.  The  low  isthmus  which  connects  the  site  of  the  town  with 
the  main  land  is  mostly  left  uncultivated,  although  it  might  be  by  proper  tillage  rendered 
tolerably  productive.  Further  in  the  interior,  the  soil  is  more  worked,  and  large  crops  are 
obtained,  but  with  very  little  profit  to  the  farmer,  as  the  country  in  that  direction  is  composed 
of  a  flat,  sandy  plain,  which  can  only  be  made  productive  by  immense  labor,  and  a  great 
expenditure  of  manure,  which  is  extensively  used. 

There  are  several  beautiful  copses  of  pines  and  maples  near  the  town,  some  fruit  trees  and 
flowering  shrubs,  and  the  vegetation  upon  the  lower  acclivities  of  the  surrounding  hills  is 
vigorous.  A  large  variety  of  northern  plants,  birches,  spiroeas,  laburnums,  wake-robins,  and 
others  clothe  the  sides,  and  afford  a  scant  fuel  to  the  poor. 

The  inhabitants  of  Hakodadi  and  its  neighborhood,  gaining  their  livelihood  chiefly  from 
commerce  and  the  fisheries,  necessarily  pay  but  little  attention  to  agricultural  pursuits.  They 
carry  on  a  large  trade  with  the  interior  of  the  island  of  Tesso,  with  Matsmai,  and  other  of  the 
numerous  towns  and  villages,  which  are  supplied  with  the  various  products  of  Japan  by  means 
of  the  brisk  commerce  which  exists  between  Hakodadi  and  the  shipping  ports  on  the  coasts  of 
Nijipon,  Sikok,  and  Kiu-siu.  The  junks  engaged  in  this  shipping  trade  take  from  Hakodadi 
cargoes  of  dried  and  salted  fish,  prepared  seaweed,  charcoal,  deers'  horns,  timber,  and  other 
produce  of  Yesso,  and  bring  back  rice,  sugar,  tea,  various  grains,  sweet  potatoes,  tobacco,  cloths, 
silks,  porcelain,  lacquered  ware,  cutlery,  and  whatever  else  they  may  need.  More  than  a 
hundred  of  the  native  vessels  sailed  for  different  southern  jiorts  of  the  Empire  during  the  short 
stay  of  the  Commodore,  and  all  had  cargoes  almost  exclusively  made  up  of  productions  of  the  sea. 
They  generally  travel  along  the  western  coast,  as  being  less  boisterous,  and  affording  a  greater 
number  of  safe  anchoring  places.  These  junks  are  all  nearly  of  the  same  dimensions  in  burden, 
corresponding  to  about  a  hundred  tons  of  our  measurement,  and  in  construction,  rig,  and 
equipment,  precisely  alike.  More  than  a  thousand  of  these  vessels  are  occasionally  seen  at  one 
time  at  anchor  in  the  port  of  Hakodadi.  The  principal  places  with  which  this  commerce  is 
carried  on  are  Sado,  lying  south  of  Matsmai,  Tedo,  Yetchigo,  Nagasaki  or  Simonosaki,  and  with 
Osaka  and  Owari.  Of  the  craft  in  which  this  commerce  is  carried  on  the  Commodore  has 
furnished  the  following  account : 

"  The  ramifications  of  the  laws  of  Japan  leave  nothing  unnoticed,  and  it  has  been  more  than 
once  remarked,  that  in  no  part  of  the  world  are  the  established  laws  and  municipal  regulations 
more  thoroughly  enforced,,  and  so  in  respect  to  the  construction  of  vessels  or  junks  as  they  are 
called.  The  builder  is  not  permitted  to  deviate  from  a  uniform  rule,  as  well  in  model,  size,  rig, 
as  in  the  interior  arrangement. 

"  In  the  time  of  Kempfer,  the  authorized  dimensions  of  Japanese  merchant  vessels  were,  as 
he  tells  us,  '  fourteen  fathoms  long  and  four  fathoms  broad,'  (length  84  and  breadtli  2  t  feet ;) 
he  says  nothing  of  the  depth,  but  from  their  flatness  I  should  judge  that  the  hold  could  not 
exceed  six  or  eight  feet  under  deck.  Tliese  proportions  have  not,  in  all  probability,  clianged  for 
a  long  period  before  Kenipfcr's  book  appeared,  (whicli  was  publislied  in  the  early  part  of  the 
last  century,)  down  to  the  present  time. 


JAPANESE     SHIP     BUILDING.  449 

"Those  wliicli  came  within»my  observation,  and  I  certainly  could  not  have  seen  less  than  a 
thousand,  were  all  of  somewhat  similar  dimensions  and  appearance  ;  the  drawings  to  which  the 
reader  is  referred  are  so  accurate  that  any  precise  description  is  rendered  unnecessary,  and  it  is 
only  requisite  to  say  that  they  all  have  at  this  time  open  sterns,  with  a  strong  bulkhead  aft  to 
keep  the  water  from  tlowing  into  the  hold.  The  rudder  is  of  large  and  unwieldy  size,  and  is 
hoisted  up  or  lowered  by  means  of  runners  worked  by  a  windlass  fitted  in  the  cabin,  which  latter 
is  also  used  in  connexion  with  one  on  the  forecastle  for  hoisting  and  lowering  the  mast 
and  sail. 

"  The  reasons  assigned  for  requiring  the  sterns  of  all  vessels  to  be  constructed  in  this  way,  has 
been  to  render  more  convenient  the  management  of  the  rudder ;  Kempfer  and  other  writers 
ascribe  it  to  the  susjiicious  policy  of  the  government,  which  forbids  any  of  its  vessels  to  visit 
foreign  countries ;  and,  until  the  period  of  my  negotiations,  the  punishment  of  death  was 
adjudged  against  all  who,  by  design  or  accident,  were  thrown  upon  a  strange  land  ;  and  hence 
they  very  naturally  assumed  that  the  navigators  of  these  frail  and  open  stern  craft  would  not 
venture  beyond  the  sight  of  land.  It  is  known,  however,  that  the  Chinese  junks  usually  have 
sterns  and  rudders  somewhat  similar,  and  a  presumption  may  be  reasonably  advanced  that  this 
description  of  rudder  was  the  first  substitute  for  the  paddle  oar  or  sweep  used  in  early  times  for 
steering,  and  the  recess  in  the  stern  has  been  left  for  the  sole  convenience  of  taking  the  rudder 
out  of  the  water. 

'  •■  It  will  be  seen  by  the  drawings  that  these  vessels  have  a  sharp  tapering  bow  with  a  straight 
projecting  stern.  They  have  but  one  mast,  and  that  is  placed  considerably  abaft  the  centre 
beam  ;  one  sail  only  is  used,  and  that  a  lug  with  a  square  head.  This  is  worked  by  braces  to 
the  yard  and  by  the  usual  tacks  and  sheets,  and  a  number  of  bow  lines  attached  to  both  leaches, 
and  extending  well  up  towards  the  head ;  these  are  intended  to  keep  the  sail  flat,  when  on  a 
wind  ;  but  with  all  these  contrivances  it  cannot  be  prevented  from  bellying  to  such  a  degree  as 
to  render  it  impossible  for  the  vessel  to  work  nearer  the  wind  than  seven  points  on  either  tack ; 
and,  to  make  the  sail  still  more  clumsy  and  unsuitable,  the  material  of  which  it  is  made,  either 
cotton  or  grass  cloth,  is  laced  together  in  vertical  breadths,  instead  of  being  closely  sewed,  as 
with  us. 

"  The  main  or  lower  deck  is  flush,  and  intended  to  be  sufficiently  strong  and  water  tight  to 

secure  the  cargo  ;  over  this  and  abaft  the  mast,  is  a  sort  of  half  deck,  "which  covers  the  cabin,  and 

is  also  of  tolerable  strength.     In  this  cabin  the  officers,  passengers,  and  servants  are  quartered, 

the  diflerent  apartments  being  formed  of  moveable  bulkheads  or  screens  ;  here  also  is  the  altar, 

surmounted  by  an  image  of  some  patron  god.     Forward  of  the  mast,  and  above  the  main  or 

only  flush  deck,  is  a  sort  of  pitched  roof,  with  sides  resting  upon  the  gunwales.     This  is  covered 

with  boards  or  thatch,  and  serves  as  a  shelter  for  the  crew,  averaging  about  thirty  in  number, 

and  the  stowing  of  the  least  valuable  part  of  the  cargo  ;  forward  of  this  is  the  cable,windlass 

and  a  space  for  working  the  runner  forestay  ;  here  also  the  anchors  are  stowed  when  on  board." 

By  this  description  one  may  well  judge  of  the  unfitness  of  these  vessels  even  for  navigating 

the  coasts  and  islands  of  Japan,  made,  indeed,  more  dangerous  by  the  prevalence  of  boisterous 

and  foggy  weather  in  those  regions  ;  doubtless  many  of  them  are  lost,  but  their  pilots  (for  each 

has  an  under  officer  of  this  class)  rarely  venture  more  than  a  few  miles  from  the  land,  excepting 

when  running  from  island  to  island ;  and  in  these  passages  they  never  leave  port  without 

favorable  weather  and  a  fair  wind. 

57  J 


450  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

The  boats  are  large  and  commodious,  and  in  model  not  unlik*  tlie  junks  ;  they  are  usually 
propelled  by  sculls,  which  are  worke '  at  the  sides  on  projections  from  the  gunwales,  the  oars 
or  sculls  being  long  and  somewhat  bent.  At  Hakodadi  we  noticed  that  some  of  the  boatmen 
used  their  oars  in  the  American  fashion,  excepting  tluit  they  dropped  and  raised  their  starboard 
and  port  oars  alternately,  and  not  uniformly  together  as  we  do.  In  sculling,  the  Japanese 
stand,  and  keep  perfect  measure  or  stroke  with  their  sculls,  which  is  the  better  preserved  by 
their  chaunting  a  monotonous  refrain,  every  alternate  man  swinging  his  body  in  opposite 
directions,  one  pushing  the  other  pulling.  Tlic  rowers  thus  vibrating  half  of  them  one  way,  and 
half  the  other,  the  boat  is  kept  perfectly  upright  as  she  dashes  through,  or  rather  over,  the  water. 

We  saw  nothing  remarkable  in  the  manner  or  workmanship  of  the  Japanese  shipbuilders. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  they  have  any  scientific  rules  for  drafting  or  modelling,  or  for  ascer- 
taining the  displacement  of  their  vessels  ;  nor  perhaps  has  it  been  necessary,  as  the  law 
confined  tliem  all  to  one  model  and  size. 

The  tools  with  which  they  work  are  of  primitive  description,  and  the  finest  of  their  work  is 
not  remarkable  for  its  neatness  ;  copper  is  preferred  to  iron  in  fastening,  when  it  can  be  advan- 
tageously used,  and  this  is  doubtless  owing  to  the  great  abundance  of  the  former  as  a  native 
production. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  strongly  illustrative  of  the  effect  produced  upon  the  people  of  this 
strange  country  by  our  friendly  and  social  communications  with  them,  that  the  law  already 
mentioned,  which  restricted  the  construction  of  their  vessels  to  one  particular  model,  and  that 
inflicting  death  upon  those  of  their  nation  who  should  return  to  the  Empire  after  having  once 
left  it,  no  matter  how,  were  both  suspended  ;  whether  annulled  or  not,  I  cannot  say. 

Kayama  Tesaiman,  the  governor  of  Uraga,  was  authorized,  as  we  have  heard,  and  instructed 
to  build  a  vessel  after  the  model  of  the  storeship  Supply,  a  very  pretty  vessel,  and  the  Japanese 
commissioners  who  negotiated  with  me  invited  a  native  we  had  on  board  the  flag-ship,  to  whom 
the  sailors  had  given  the  sobriquet  of  "Sam  Patch,"  to  land  and  rejoin  his  family,  pledging 
themselves,  in  my  presence,  that  he  should  be  treated  kindly  and  provided  for,  under  the  imme- 
diate protection  of  one  of  them.  Since  then  there  has  been,  as  I  understand,  no  objections  made 
to  the  return  of  any  of  the  shipwrecked  Japanese ;  but  how  far  they  have  improved  in  sliiiJ 
building,  I  have  not  heard. 

We  saw  no  war  junks,  and  it  is  jirobable  they  have  none  of  any  size,  the  country  not  having 
been  engaged  for  a  long  period  in  war.  They  content  themselves,  most  likely,  in  putting  light 
swivels  or  howitzers  on  the  larger  of  their  boats,  whenever  they  cannot  depend  entirely  upon 
their  many  land  batteries. 

A  very  large  portion  of  the  population  is  engaged  in  the  fisheries,  which  supply  an  abundant 
product.  While  the  American  squadron  was  in  the  harbor,  the  seine  was  frequently  drawn  by 
the  sailors  of  the  ships,  and  large  quantities  of  excellent  fish  obtained,  consisting  of  salmon, 
salmon  trout,  groupers,  white  fisli,  porgies,  perch,  flounders,  herrings,  whitings,  mullets,  and 
various  other  kinds.  The  salmon  we  took  are  not  more  than  half  the  size  of  those  obtained  in 
the  United  States,  but  are  superior  to  them  in  flavor.  (Specimens  of  smoked  salmon  from 
further  north  were  as  large  as  ours.)  Crabs,  clams  of  the  genus  Venus,  with  beautifully-marked 
shells,  and  the  large  blue  muscle,  are  found  in  great  abundance.  The  crabs  are  of  considerable 
size,  and  proved  excellent  eating,  quite  equal  to  the  famous  ones  of  the  Chesapeake. 

The  sportsmen  of  the  expedition,  in  their  occasional  rambles,  succeeded  in  obtaining  but  few 


FISU,      GAME,      ETC.,      AT      HAKODADI 


451 


specimens  of  birds  or  animals.  Wild  geese,  ducks,  quail,  and  other  descriptions  of  game  are, 
however,  abundant  in  their  seasons,  but  the  pheasant  is  rarely  seen  ;  of  common  birds  there 
were  found  some  curlew,  plover,  and  snipe.  The  fox,  the  wild  boar,  the  deer,  and  the  bear, 
are  occasionally  hunted.  The  fox  is  looked  upon  by  the  Japanese  as  possessed  of  an  evil  spirit, 
and  is  represented  in  their  allegories  as  a  willing  agent  of  the  devil,  and  with  this  belief  the 
animal  is  pursued  to  the  death.  The  people  do  not  attempt  to  deprecate  the  wrath  and  cunning 
of  his  Satanic  majesty  and  his  brood,  as  in  some  countries,  but  jpanfully  hold  them  in  defiance, 
and  boldly  give  them  battle.  A  male  and  female  fox,  with  another  animal  allied  to  them  in 
species,  were  shot,  and  their  skins  preserved. 


Fishing  at  Hakodadi. 

Hakodadi,  in  the  future,  will  probably  be  frequented  by  our  whalers,  as  it  is  conveniently 
situated  to  their  usual  resorts.  Von  Siebokl  states  that  sixty-eight  square-rigged  vessels  were 
counted  by  the  Japanese  as  passing  Hakodadi  and  Matsmai  in  one  year,  and  probably  nearly  all 
these  were  American,  and  most  of  them  engaged  in  the  whale  fishery.  Von  Sicbold,  moreover, 
significantly  adds,  "  and  not  one  daring  to  approach  the  shore  within  gunshot."  The  treaty 
has,  however,  dispelled  these  alarms,  and  American  vessels  are  now  secured  a  safe  retreat  and  a 
place  for  obtaining  necessary  supplies. 

Hakodadi  will  not  probably  soon  become  a  place  of  much  trade  with  American  vessels,  but  it 
can  readily  supply  to  the  whalers  and  other  .ships  good  water  and  aliundance  of  fish,  poultry, 
vegetables,  and  some  timber,  and  other  articles,  the  varieties  and  quantities  of  which  will  no 


452 


EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 


doubt  increase  witlv  the  demand.  Fish,  however,  is  the  great  staple  food  of  the  people 
throughout  tlie  Empire  of  Japan,  and  is  justly  called  by  them  their  staff  of  life  ;  and  to  express 
their  appreciation  of  its  value,  they  invariably  wrap  up  a  bit  of  it  in  paper  and  send  it  with 
each  gift.  Cattle  are  only  used  for  the  plough  and  as  beasts  of  burden,  so  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  obtain  a  supply  of  beef.  Horses  are  used  a  good  deal  in  Hakodadi  and  the 
neighborhood  for  carrying  burdens,  and  also  for  riding  purposes.  These  animals  seem  of  an 
excellent  breed,  and  though  small  are  neatly  limbed,  spirited,  and  of  good  bottom.  The  roads, 
which,  by  the-bye,  are  j^rovided  with  roadside  conveniences  answering  to  the  French  cahinets 
d'aisances,  are  excellent  throughout  the  country,  and  are  occasionally  wide  and  paved,  though 
most  frequently  they  are  mere  bridle  paths,  but  kept  in  good  order  for  the  horsemen,  the  pack 
animals,  and  the  sedans  or  kagos. 


Jajiiilie.^e  K;igo. 

These  latter  are  mo.st  generally  used  for  travelling,  and  consist  ot  small  wooden  boxes, 
supported  by  poles,  which  are  carried  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  bearers.  They  are  adorned 
and  enriched  according  to  the  distinction  of  the  proprietors,  but  are  never  very  comfortable 
conveyances. 

Hakodadi  is  several  degrees  further  north  than  Simoda,  and  is  surrounded  like  it  with 
mountains,  which  are,  however,  more  numerous  and  lofty,  though  at  a  further  distance  from 
the  town.  These  were  found  to  be  covered  at  their  summits  and  on  their  upper  acclivities  with 
snow,  as  late  as  tlie  month  of  June.  The  climate  of  Hakodadi  is,  therefore,  colder  than  that 
at  Himoda  in  winter  and  spring,  and  the  fogs  are  both  fre(|uont  and  dense.     The  range  of  the 


n  A  K  O  D  A  D  I . 


453 


thermometer  from  May  18  to  June  3  was  from  51°  to  66°,  and  that  of  the  barometer  29°  45'  to 
30°  05'. 

The  changes  of  temperature  and  humidity  are  sudden  and  extreme,  and  therefore  render  tho 
inhabitants  liable  to  inflammatory  diseases,  but  probably  not  more  so  than  in  the  northern 
cities  with  us. 

There  are  apparently  no  soiirces  of  miasma,  as  the  town  is  situated  at  the  base  and  on  the 
side  of  a  considerable  mountain  ;  while  such  is  the  careful  cultivation  and  draining  of  the 
Japanese  farmers,  there  probably  can  be  no  causes  of  ill  health  from  tlie  low  sandy  isthmus  and 
the  level  plains  which  connect  the  peninsula,  upon  which  Hakodadi  is  situated,  with  the  distant 
range  of  mountains.     It  may,  then,  be  reasonably  inferred,  that  both  Hakodadi  and  Simoda  are 


Sub-prefect  of  Hakodadi  with  Attendants. 


free  from  malignant  endemic  diseases,  and  may  be  resorted  to  with  advantage  by  our  ships  of 
war  on  the  China  station,  particularly  at  that  period  of  the  year — the  latter  part  of  summer  and 
autumn — when  dysentery  and  fevers  are  usually  prevalent  there.     This  opinion  has,  however. 


454 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


more  particular  reference  to  the  climate  ;  for,  if  true,  as  Golownin  says,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  island  of  Yesso  are  subject  to  scurvy,  it  will  be  necessary  for  vessels  to  provide  against  the 
chances  of  this  disease.  It  is  quite  probable  that  the  statement  of  Golownin  may  be  correct,  as 
occasionally  a  scarcity  of  vegetable  f  >■  d — a  frequent  source  of  scurvy — might  occur  towards 
spring,  as  the  winters  are  so  long,  and  the  space  so  short  for  culture,  which,  moreover,  is  the 
exceptional  occupation  of  the  people  along  the  coast,  who  are  mostly  engaged  in  commerce  and 
the  fisheries.  Vessels,  therefore,  on  a  long  cruise,  should  make  provision  for  the  possible  want 
of  vegetable  supplies  at  Hakodadi. 

The  town  contains  from  sis  to  eight  thousand  inhabitants,  and,  from  their  manly  occupations 
in  connexion  with  the  sea,  are  a  comparatively  vigorous  and  spirited  people. 

There  are  still  some  of  the  indigenous  race  of  Ainos  existing  upon  the  island  of  Yesso,  but  they 
are  rarely  seen  in  the  neighborhood  of  Hakodadi.  There  was,  however,  during  the  expedition  sent 
by  the  Commodore  to  Volcano  Bay,  an  opportunity  of  obtaining  a  casual  glance  at  these  strange 
people,  who  are  described  as  being  of  a  stature  less  than  that  of  Europeans,  averaging  a  little 
over  five  feet  in  height,  but  well  proportioned  and  with  intelligent  features.  Their  color  is 
quite  dark  and  their  hair  black  and  coarse^  which  is  clipped  behind  but  allowed  to  straggle  in 
thick  matted  locks  down  in  front,  in  a  confused  cluster  with  their  long  beards,  which  are  never 


Water-boiits  anil  Junks,  Ha'KuJ.uli. 

cut  or  shaven.  Their  legs  are  bare  of  artificial  covering,  but  are  grown  over  with  a  plentiful 
crop  of  coarse  hair,  which,  together  with  the  abundant  growth  on  their  lieads  and  faces,  has 
given  them  the  name,  by  which  they  are  better  known,  of  "  Hairy  Kuriles."  Tlioir  dress  was 
a  coarse  and  ragged  1)lue  undergarment  reaching  below  the  knees,  over  which  was  thrown 
carelessly  a  brown  sack  with  wide  sleeves,  made  of  grass  or  skins.     Their  dishevelled  hair  and 


JAPANESE     MECHANICAL     ARTS. 


455 


rude  costume  gave  them  a  wild  look,  and  they  had  a  dirty,  poverty-stricken  aspect.  Their 
chief  occupation  is  that  of  fishing,  which  thoy  carry  on  under  the  eye  and  for  the  benefit  of 
their  Japanese  taskmasters,  to  whose  absolute  will  they  are  subject. 

Though  the  people  of  Hakodadi  are  generally  engaged  in  the  fisheries  ■  and  occupations 
connected  with  a  nautical  life,  there  are,  of  course,  to  be  found  in  the  town  persons  of  all  classes, 
trades,  and  businesses. 

In  speaking,  moreover,  in  the  course  of  the  following  remarks,  upon  Japanese  life,  as  illus- 
trated by  manners,  habits,  customs,  and  occupations,  chiefly  observed  at  Hakodadi,  it  must  not 
be  inferred  that  what  is  said  applies  exclusively  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  place,  as  a  more 
general  bearing  is  intended. 

In  the  practical  and  mechanical  arts,  the  Japanese  show  great  dexterity ;  and  when  the 
rudeness  of  their  tools  and  their  imperfect  knowledge  of  machinery  are  considered,  the  perfec- 
tion of  their  manual  skill  appears  marvellous.  Their  handicraftsmen  are  as  expert  as  any  in 
the  world,  and,  with  a  freer  development  of  the  inventive  powers  of  the  people^  the  Japanese 
would  not  remain  long  behind  the  most  successful  manufacturing  nations.  Their  curiosity  to 
learn  the  results  of  the  material  progress  of  other  people,  and  their  readiness  in  adapting  them 
to  their  own  uses,  would  soon,  under  a  less  exclusive  policy  of  government,  which  isolates  them 
from  national  communion,  raise  them  to  a  level  with  the  most  favored  countries.  Once 
possessed  of  the  acquisitions  of  the  past  and  present  of  the  civilized  world,  the  Japanese 
would  enter  as  powerful  competitors  in  the  race  for  mechanical  success  in  the  future. 

Every  American  admired  the  skillful  workmanship  of  the  carpenters  as  displayed  in  the 
construction  of  the  wood- work  in  the  houses,  the  nice  adjustment  and  smooth  finish  of  the 


Japanese  Cooper. 

jointing,  the  regularity  of  the  flooring,  and  the  neat  framing  and  easy  working  of  the  window 
casements  and  movable  door  panels  and  screens.     The  general  designs  of  the  houses  and  public 


456 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


buildings  were  very  inferior  to  the  execution  of  the  details  of  construction.  The  former  were 
uniform,  and  probably  in  accordance  with  the  ancient  models,  and  showed  a  constraint  of  inven- 
tive power  within  rules  doubtless  prescribed  by  government,  while  the  latter  evinced  that 
perfection  of  finish  which  belongs  alone  to  progressive  experience.  As  in  the  carpentry,  so  in 
the  masonry,  there  was  no  freedom  nor  boldness  of  conception,  but  the  most  complete  execution. 
Their  stone  was  well  cut,  and  their  walls  strongly  and  regularly  built,  generally  in  the  massive 
Cyclopean  style. 

The  coopers  were  found  to  be  very  expert  at  Hakodadi,  where  a  large  number  of  barrels  was 
constantly  in  the  process  of  manufacture  for  packing  the  dried  and  salted  fish.  The  barrels  are 
firkiu'shaped,  bulging  at  the  top,  and  are  rapidly  and  skilfully  hooped  with  plaited  bamboo. 
There  are  many  workers  in  metal  for  ornamental  and  useful  purposes.  The  Japanese  under- 
stand well  the  carbonizing  of  iron,  and  the  temper  of  much  of  their  steel  is  good,  as  was  proved 
by  the  polish  and  sharpness  of  their  sword  blades.     The  cutlery,  however,  in  common  use  at 


Blacksmith's  Shop, 

Hakodadi  was  of  an  inferior  kind,  and  the  barber  of  one  of  the  ships  pronounced  a  razor, 
purchased  in  the  town,  as  abominably  bad,  neither  cutting  nor  capable  of  being  made  to  cut. 
The  blacksmiths  arc  numerous  and  busy  in  the  town,  but  their  work  is  of  a  small  kind,  as  they 
do  not  use  the  base  metals  in  large  masses,  but  chiefly  as  parts  of  various  implements  and 
articles,  of  which  wood  forms  the  larger  portion. 

Their  bellows  are  peculiar,  being  a  wooden  box  with  air  chambers,  containing  valves  and 


HAJCODADI. 


457 


a  piston,  which  is  -worked  horizontally  at  one  end  like  a  hand  pnnip,  while  the  compressed 
air  issues  from  two  outlets  at  the  sides. 


^siirrs^'^- 


Blacksmith's  Bellows. 


Charcoal  is  generally  used  as  the  fuel,  of  which  large  quantities  are  made  in  the  forests  of  the 
mountains  of  the  interior,  and  brought  to  the  town  by  droves  of  pack-horses,  which  are  seen 
constantly  trotting  through  the  streets. 

As  the  commerce  of  Hakodadi  is  extensive,  the  ship,  or  rather  junk  yards,  showed  much 
activity,  and  great  numbers  of  vessels  were  constantly  seen  there  in  progress  of  construction. 
Pine  is  the  material  of  which  the  vessels  of  all  sizes  are  built,  and  copper  is  used  extensively 
for  bolting  and  for  other  purposes.  The  models  are  much  superior  to'those  of  the  Chinese  ;  but 
of  this  department  of  industry  we  have  already  spoken  fully. 


Biiip-yiird. 


Nothing  was  seen  of  the  higher  and  more  complicated  branches  of  industrial  art  in  operation, 
although  the  shops  were  supplied  with  fabrics  which  proved  no  little  skill  and  perfection  in 
58  J 


458 


EXPEDITION     TO      JAPAN. 


various  manufactures.  The  people  seemed,  however,  to  be  unacquainted  with  woollen  tissues, 
and  exhibited  great  curiosity  in  examining  the  cloth  dresses  of  the  Americans.  Cotton  is  much 
worn  by  the  lower  classes,  and  is  generally  coarsely  woven,  being  ordinarily  made  in  private 
looms  at  liome.  Every  Japanese  woman  is  more  or  less  an  adept  at  handling  the  wheel,  the 
spindle,  and  shuttle,  and  they  were  often  seen  busy  in  preparing  the  threads  and  weaving  the 
rude  fabric  of  which  the  garments  of  the  poorer  classes  are  commonly  made. 

Their  cottons  are  occasionally  printed  with  colors,  forming  neat  calico  patterns,  but  their  tints 
readily  fade  and  will  not  bear  washing.  The  width  of  the  calico  pieces,  like  that  of  tlie  silks 
and  crapes,  is  uniformly  eighteen  inches.  This  is  not  suited  to  an  American  or  European 
market.     Their  silks  are  rich  and  heavy,  and  somewhat  like  our  brocade  in  texture,  but  stouter 


Spinning  and  WeaTing. 

and  less  flexible.  Tliey  are  often  of  very  elaborate  figured  patterns,  interwoven  with  golden 
threads  and  exceedingly  beautiful.  These  are  mostly  used  for  the  state  robes  of  the  high 
officials  and  dignitaries  of  the  land.  A  very  high  price  was  generally  demanded  for  these  silks, 
though,  in  one  instance,  one  of  the  ofl!icers,  from  some  cause  or  otlier,  purchased  a  piece  at 
Hakodadi  at  thirteen  cents  per  yard.  The  various  colored  crapes  are  some  of  them  very  flimsy, 
and  are  an  essential  part  of  Japanese  upholstery,  being  often  seen  as  coverings  to  divans  or 
scats,  and  hangings  to  apartments.     Other  pieces  are  superior  to  Chinese  crapes. 

The  lacquered  ware  has  all  the  lightness,  neatness  of  cabinet-work  structure,  and  exquisite 
polish,   that  seems   possible  in    work   of  that  description,   and   the   porcelain   is  equal  to  tlie 


JAPANESE      ART. 


459 


choicest  specimens  of  similar  Chinese  work.  The  forms  and  ornamentation  of  the  various 
articles,  although  frequently  grotesque,  showed  much  grace  and  skill,  and  proved  great 
advancement  in  the  application  of  the  arts  of  design  to  manufacturing  purposes. 

In  examining  into  the  character  of  art  exhibited  by  the  Japanese  in  the  illustrated  books  and 
pictures  brought  home  by  the  officers  of  the  expedition,  of  which  several  specimens  are  now 
before  us,  the  same  surprising  advancement  of  this  remarkable  people,  as  they  have  shown  in 
so  many  other  respects,  is  strikingly  observable.  To  the  archajologist  there  is  presented  in 
these  illustrations  a  living  example  of  the  archaic  period  of  a  national  art,  when  the  barbaric 
character  of  the  past  seems  to  be  fast  losing  its  rude  features  in  the  early  and  naive  beginnings 
of  a  sober  and  cultivated  future.  We  are  reminded,  in  a  degree  truly  surprising,  of  the 
monochromatic  designs  upon  the  Etruscan  vases.  We  find  simplicity  of  expression  rather  than, 
as  might  be  expected,  extravagance  and  grotesqueness  ;  and  a  soberness  of  coloring  so  far 
removed  from  the  gaudy  tendencies  of  oriental  taste,  that,  as  we  look,  we  are  almost  persuaded 
that  we  have  here  a  beginning  of  that  unextravagant  expression  of  nature  which,  in  the  early 
Greek  efforts,  though  crude,  is  so  interesting  to  the  antiquarian  and  artist.  The  character  and 
form  in  these  Japanese  illustrations,  though  apparently  much  in  advance  of  Chinese  art,  are 
still  typical  rather  than  naturalistic ;  yet  they  are  marked  by  an  observation  of  nature  which 
removes  them  from  anything  like  conventionalism  or  manner. 

One  of  these  specimens  is  a  book  in  two  volumes,  written  by  the  Prince  Hayashi,  the  chief 
member  of  the  imperial  commission  appointed  to  negotiate  the  treaty,  and  presented  by  him  to 


i  ._  .       [■:  of  U'jr^L',  from  Japanese  Drawings. 

Commodore  Perry.     The  subject  treated  of  is  "The  Points  of  a  Horse,"  and  the  work  is 
illustrated  by  a  large  number  of  pictures.    These  illustrations  are  from  woodcuts  of  bold  outline, 


t\ 


460 


BXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


and  apparently  printed  witt  a  tint  to  distinguish  each  in  the  various  groups  of  the  animal,  by 
sober  greys,  reds,  and  blacks.  The  style  might  be  classed  as  that  of  the  medireval,  and  the 
horses  might  pass  for  those  sketched  in  the  time  of  Albert  Durer,  though  with  a  more  rigid 
adherence  to  nature.  Tliey  exhibit,  what  may  be  noticed  in  the  Elgin  marbles,  a  breed  of 
small  stature  and  finely  formed  limbs,  such  as  are  found  in  southern  countries.     There  is  great 


freedom  of  hand  shown  in  the  drawing.  The  animals  are  represented  in  various  attitudes, 
curvetting,  gambolling,  and  rolling  upon  the  ground,  positions  requiring  and  exhibiting  an 
ability  in  foreshortening,  which  is  found,  with  no  small  surprise,  in  Asiatic  art. 

Another  example  of  Japanese  art  before  us  is  a  species  of  frieze,  if  we  may  so  call  it,  cut  ia 


JAPANESE      ART. 


461 


wood  and  printed  on  paper  in  colors.  It  presents  a  row  or  line  of  the  huge  wrestlers  of  whom 
we  have  spoken  on  a  previous  page.  The  chief  point  of  interest  in  this  illustration,  considered 
in  an  artistic  sense,  is,  that,  apart  from  its  being  a  successful  specimen  of  printing  in  colors — a 
process,  hy  the  way,  quite  modern  among  ourselves — there  is  a  breadth  and  vigor  of  outline 
compared  with  which  much  of  our  own  drawing  appears  feeble,  and,  above  all  things,  undecided. 
Whatever  the  Japanese  may  lack  as  regards  art,  in  a  perception  of  its  true  principles,  the  style. 


W''' 


grace,  and  even  a  certain  mannered  dexterity  which  their  drawings  exhibit,  show  that  they  are 
possessed  of  an  unexpected  readiness  and  precision  of  touch,  which  are  the  prominent 
characteristics  in  this  picture  of  the  wrestlers.  There  is  no  stiffness  or  angularity  about  it. 
There  is  also  a  picture  of  an  amphitheatre,  in  which  the  wrestlers  appear,  which  serves  to 
correct  an  error  found  in  former  writers  as  to  Japanese  ignorance  of  perspective. 


462  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

In  illustration  of  the  rapidity  and  dexterity  with  which  the  Japanese  artists  work  we  have 
the  testimony  of  the  chaplain  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Kev.  Mr.  Jones,  who  employed  an  artist 
at  Hakodadi  to  paint  for  him  a  set  of  screens.  Mr.  Jones  sat  by  the  painter  and  watched  him 
at  his  work.  He  made  no  previous  sketch,  but  drew  at  once  the  various  portions  of  the 
landscape,  putting  in  his  houses,  ships,  horses,  trees  and  birds,  with  wonderful  readiness,  the 
whole  being  a  fancy  piece  ;  and  when  he  came  to  paint  the  foliage  of  some  pines,  he  used  two 
brushes  in  one  hand  at  the  same  time,  so  as  to  expedite  his  work.  The  result  was,  though  not 
a  production  of  high  art,  yet  a  much  better  specimen  of  ornamental  screen  than  could  readily 
be  found  in  the  most  pretentious  manufacturing  establishment  of  our  own  country.  And  here 
we  may  add,  that  a  very  remarkable  specimen  of  Japanese  linear  drawing  in  perspective  fell 
under  Mr.  Jones'  observation.  On  the  first  visit  of  the  squadron  to  Japan,  as  we  have  stated, 
intense  interest  was  excited  among  the  natives  by  the  engines  of  the  steamers.  Their  curiosity 
seemed  insatiable,  and  the  Japanese  artists  were  constantly  employed,  when  they  had  opportu- 
nity, in  making  drawings  of  parts  of  the  machinery,  and  seeking  to  understand  its  construction 
and  the  principles  of  its  action.  On  the  second  visit  of  the  squadron,  Mr.  Jones  saw,  in  the 
hands  of  a  Japanese,  a  perfect  drawing,  in  true  proportion,  of  the  whole  engine,  with  its  several 
parts  in  place,  which  he  says  was  as  correct  and  good  as  could  have  been  made  anywhere.  The 
Japanese  artist  had  made  it,  and  valued  it  very  highly,  being  unwilling  to  part  with  it  at  any 
price ;  Mr.  Jones  would  have  gladly  bought  it,  and  offered  to  do  so,  that  he  might  bring  it 
home  as  a  specimen  of  Japanese  skill. 

In  reo-ard  to  anatomical  markings,  there  is,  in  the  specimens  of  Japanese  drawings  we  have 
before  us,  no  lack  of  such  a  degree  of  correctness  as  may  be  obtained  by  close  outward  observa- 
tion of  the  parts.  The  muscular  development  of  the  horses,  both  in  action  and  at  rest,  is  shown 
in  lines  sufficiently  true  to  nature  to  prove  a  very  minute  and  accurate  observation,  on  the  part 
of  the  artist,  of  the  external  features  of  his  subjects.  This  is  very  striking  in  the  frieze  of  the 
wrestlers  alluded  to  above.  It  is  characterized  by  remarkable  precision  in  this  respect,  and 
while  preserving  in  the  figures  all  the  peculiar  features  of  the  Asiatic  stock,  the  outer  angle  of 
the  eye  running  upward,  the  small  corneas,  &c.,  there  is  distinctive  expression,  yet  with 
similarity,  and  a  height  of  art  is  reached  in  the  drawings  corresponding,  as  regards  naturalistic 
characters,  with  what  has  been  found  in  some  of  the  Ninevah  fragments. 

The  third  example  of  Japanese  art  is  afforded  by  an  unpretending,  illustrated  child's  book, 
purchased  in  Hakodadi  for  a  few  Chinese  copper  "  cash."  This  humble  little  primer  suggests 
a  thousand  points  of  interest  in  connexion  with  the  Japanese,  and  acquaints  us  at  once,  as  we 
turn  over  the  very  first  page,  with  an  important  foct  as  regards  tlieir  advance  in  art.  We  here 
find  evidence  that,  unlike  the  Chinese,  the  artists  of  Japan  have,  as  we  have  already  hinted,  a 
knowledge  of  perspective.  There  is  a  balcony  presented  in  angular  perspective,  with  its  rafters 
placed  in  strict  accordance  with  the  princijde  of  terminating  the  perspective  lines  in  a  vanishing 
point  abruptly  on  the  horizon.  On  another  page  there  is  what  appears  to  be  some  Tartar 
Hercules,  or  Japanese  St.  Patrick  clearing  the  land  of  reptiles  and  vermin,  and  the  doughty 
destroyer  is  brandishing  his  sword  in  most  valiant  style.  This  is  drawn  with  a  freedom  and 
humorous  sense  of  the  grotesque  and  ludicrous  that  are  rarely  found  in  similar  books  prepared 
for  the  amusement  of  children  with  us.  In  one  of  the  illustrations  there  is  a  quaint  old 
shopman  peering  through  a  pair  of  spectacles  stuck  upon  his  nose,  and  made  precisely  like  the 
double-eyed  glasses  just  now  so  fashionable,  without  any  side  wires  or  braces  to  confine  them  to 


JAPANESE     ART.  463 

the  head.  A  number  of  tea-chests  are  heaped  one  above  another  at  his  side,  and  the  perspective 
of  these  is  perfectly  correct.  A  glass  globe  of  gold  fish,  whicli  bave  awakened  the  hungry 
instincts  of  a  cat  that  ■wistfully  watches  their  movements  in  the  water,  is  among  the  pictures. 
A  couple  of  chairmen,  who  have  put  down  their  sedan  to  take  their  rest,  are  engaged  lighting 
their  pipes ;  and  a  professor,  seemingly,  of  phrenology  is  standing  amid  the  jiaraphernalia  of 
bis  art,  whatever  it  be,  and  is  taking  the  measure  with  a  j)air  of  compasses  of  a  bald-beaded 
disciple.  All  these  scenes  occur  among  the  illustrations  of  this  little  book.  All  show  a 
humorous  conception  and  a  style  of  treatment  far  in  advance  of  the  mechanical  trash  which 
sometimes  composes  the  nursery  books  found  in  our  shops.  A  people  bave  made  some  progress 
worth  studying  who  have  a  sense  of  the  humorous,  can  picture  the  ludicrous,  and  goodnaturedly 
laugh  at  a  clever  caricature.  The  constant  recurrence  on  the  margin  of  the  pages  of  these 
Japanese  books  of  wdiat  is  usually  called  by  architects  "the  Greek  fret  or  border,"  is  certainly 
curious.  We  are  surprised  by  a  classic  form  that  we  would  not  have  expected  to  find  an 
established  feature  in  Oriental  art.  Not  less  surprising  also  is  it  to  find  another  architectural 
form  belonging  to  what  is  usually  termed  the  "Gothic"  style.  If  the  reader  will  turn  to  the  end 
of  chapter  XXI,  he  will  find,  delineated  on  a  gong,  the  perfect  representation  of  the  trefoil  of 
the  modern  architect ;  it  is  an  accurate  copy  from  the  original.  Our  artist  has  also  sketched 
another,  in  which  the  "Gothic"  pattern  is  plainly  seen.     These  are  singular  coincidences. 

There  is  great  scope  for  sculpture  in  the  image-worship  of  the  religion  of  the  Japanese,  and, 
accordingly,  statues  of  stone,  metal,  and  wood,  abound  in  the  temples,  shrines,  and  by  the  way- 
sides. The  mechanical  execution  of  these  generally  exhibits  much  manual  skill,  but  none  of 
them  are  to  be  named  as  works  of  art.  Tbe  wood  carving  is  often  exquisitely  cut,  and  when 
representing  natural  objects,  particularly  the  lower  animals  and  familiar  parts  of  vegetation,  is 
often  remarkably  close  to  truth.  The  sculptured  cranes,  tortoi.ses,  and  fish,  which  are  amonf 
the  most  frequent  subjects  carved  upon  the  entablatures  and  cornices  of  the  houses  and 
temples,  were  continually  admired  for  their  fidelity  to  nature. 

With  the  exception  of  a  temple  or  a  gateway  here  and  there,  which,  in  comparison  with  the 
surrounding  low  houses,  appeared  somewhat  imposing,  there  were  no  buildings  seen  which 
impressed  the  Americans  with  a  high  idea  of  Japanese  architecture.  Tbe  mo.st  creditable 
specimens  of  this  branch  of  art  are  found  in  some  of  tbe  stone  causeways  and  bridges  which  are 
often  built  upon  single  bold  Koman  arches,  and  in  design  and  masonry  are  equal  to  the  most 
scientific  and  artistic  structures  anywhere. 

There  were  no  printing  establishments  seen  either  at  Simoda  or  Hakodadi,  but  books  were 
found  in  tbe  shops.  These  were  generally  cheap  works  of  elementary  character,  or  popular 
story  books  or  novels,  and  were  evidently  in  great  demand,  as  the  people  are  universally  taught 
to  read  and  are  eager  for  information.  Education  is  diffused  throughout  the  Empire,  and  the 
women  of  Japan,  unlike  those  of  China,  share  in  the  intellectual  advancement  of  the  men,  and 
are  not  only  skilled  in  the  accomjdishments  peculiar  to  their  sex,  but  are  frequently  well  versed 
in  their  native  literature.  The  higher  classes  of  the  Japanese  with  whom  the  Americans  were 
brought  into  communication  were  not  only  thoroughly  acquainted  with  their  own  country,  but 
knew  something  of  the  geography,  the  material  progress,  and  contemporary  history  of  the  rest 
of  the  world.  Questions  were  frequently  asked  by  the  Japanese  whicli  proved  an  information 
that,  considering  their  isolated  situation,  was  quite  remarkable,  until  explained  by  tliemselvee 
in  the  statement  that  periodicals  of  literature,  science,  arts,  and  politics,  were  annually  received 
from  Europe  through  the  Dutch  at  Nagasaki  ;  tliat   some  of  those  were  translated,  reiniblishcd, 


464 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


and  distributed  1"; rough  the  Empire.  Thus  they  were  enabled  to  speak  somewhat  knowingly 
about  our  railroads,  telegraphs,  daguerreotypes,  Paixhan  guns,  and  steam-ships,  none  of  which 
had  they  ever  seen  before  Commodore  Perry's  visit.  Thus,  too,  they  could  converse  intelligently 
about  the  European  war,  about  the  American  revolution,  Washington,  and  Buonaparte.  Aa 
strikingly  illustrative  of  the  extent  of  their  information  as  to  passing  events  out  of  the  Empire, 
Lieutenant  Bent  relates  that  when  he  was  there  in  the  Preble  in  1849,  after  the  close  of  the  war 
with  Mexico,  the  interpreters,  in  their  very  first  interview  with  Captain  Glynn,  said:  "You 
have  had  a  war  with  Mexico?"  "Yes."  "You  whipped  them?"  "Yes."  "You  have 
taken  a  part  of  their  territory  ?  "  "  Yes."  "  And  you  have  discovered  large  quantities  of  gold 
in  it?"  And  after  the  seamen,  whom  Captain  Glynn  went  to  demand,  were  given  up,  they 
stated  to  our  officers  that,  from  the  guards  of  their  prison  in  Matsmai,  (many  hundred  miles 
from  Nagasaki,)  they  had  heard  of  every  battle  we  had  with  the  Mexicans,  and  of  every  victory 
we  gained.     The  Japanese  learned  the  facts  from  the  Dutch. 

As  the  better  classes  showed  an  intelligent  interest  in  all  they  saw  on  board  the  ships  and 
steamers  that  was  novel  to  them,  so  the  common  people  exhibited  an  importunate  curiosity  about 


ouTUDOMOMo 


ODDDDOOOD 


Qaaisidi^afSiiii 


:QlQiai^I8IQlglIalQ. 


1.  Oho-shio,  (King,)  centre  square,  first  row. 

2.  Kin^shio,  (Gold,  or  cliief  councillor,)  upon  first  row,  and 

on  either  side  of  Obo-shio. 

3.  Gin-shio,  (Silver,  or  sub-councillor,)  upon  first  row,  and 

one  on  each  square,  next  outside  Kin-chio. 

4.  Kitma,  (Flying  horse,)  upon  firat  row,  and  one  on  each 

square,  next  outside  Oin-nhio. 


0.  Kioshia,  (Fragrant  chariot,)  one  upon  each  corner  square, 
first  row. 

6.  Hishia,   (Flying  chariot)  on  second  square,  second   row, 

on  right  side  of  the  board. 

7.  Kakuku,  (The  horn,)  on  second  square,  second  row,  left 

side  of  the  board. 

8.  Ho-hti,   (The  soldiery,)   on   all   the  nine  squares  of  the 

third  row. 


JAPANESE     GAME     OF     CHESS.  405 

all  that  pertained  to  the  dress  and  persons  of  the  Americans  whenever  they  visited  the  land. 
The  Japanese  were  constantly  besetting  the  officers  and  sailors  in  the  streets,  making  all  kinds 
of  pantomimic  inquiries  about  the  English  names  of  some  part  of  their  persons  and  apparel, 
from  hat  to  boots,  taking  out  their  paper  and  pencil  and  making  memoranda  of  the  newly 
acquired  English  words. 

The  Japanese  are  hard  workers,  but  they  compensate  themselves  with  occasional  holidays, 
and  in  the  evenings  and  hours  of  leisure  with  frequent  games  and  amusements.  One  day,  at 
Hakodadi,  Dr.  Green,  the  fleet  surgeon,  and  Mr.  Jones,  the  chaplain,  were  strolling  through 
the  streets,  when  a  shower  of  rain  drove  them  for  shelter  into  a  sort  of  military  station  or  guard 
house,  at  hand.  On  entering,  they  found  some  of  the  inmates  playing  at  a  game  very  similar, 
as  it  appeared,  to  chess.  This  interested  the  Doctor,  who  fortliwith  set  about  studying  it,  until, 
finally,  with  the  aid  of  the  interpreters,  he  succeeded,  after  some  sittings,  in  mastering  its 
mysteries.  The  game  is  called  Sho-Ho-Ye,  and  is  a  great  favorite  among  the  Japanese.  The 
Doctor's  account  of  it  will  be  found  below.* 

Besides  this,  they  have  a  game  analogous  to  ours  with  cards.  They  play  with  flat  pieces  of 
horn,  ivory,  or  bone.     These  are  about  an  inch  and  two-thirds  long,  and  little  more  than  an 


•JAPANESE  GAME  OF  SHO-HO-Yfi,  ANALOGOUS  TO  OUR  GAME  OF  CHESS. 

This  game  is  played  by  two  persons,  with  forty  pieces,  (twenty  on  either  side,)  and  upon  a  chequer  board  of  eighty -ono 
squares,  (nine  upon  each  side.)  The  board  is  of  one  uniform  color,  thougli  the  squares  miglit  be  colored,  as  with  us,  for  the 
sake  of  convenience.  The  pieces  are  also  of  one  uniform  color,  as  they  are  used,  (at  pleasure,)  by  either  party,  as  his  own, 
after  being  captured  from  the  adversary.  They  are  of  various  sizes,  are  long  and  wedge-shaped,  being  at  the  same  timo 
sharpened  from  side  to  side,  in  front,  and  the  names  of  each  piece  are  inscribed  upon  it,  both  the  original,  and  the  one  assumed, 
upon  being  reversed  or  turned  over,  (as  below.)  Each  player  knows  his  men,  or  pieces,  by  their  pointed  and  thin  end  beintr 
always  forward  or  from  him.  But  they  would  be  more  readily  distinguished  if  the  back  parts  of  all  were  painted  with  some 
decided  and  striking  color,  as  that  part  of  his  own  men  is  seen  by  each  player  only — and  if  the  fronts  of  all  the  men  were 
painted  of  some  other  color,  as  that  part  of  the  adversary's  pieces  is  seen  by  either  player  only.  They  are  laid  flat  upon  the 
board,  (front  forward,)  and  thus  their  names  are  plainly  visible.  They  capture,  as  in  chess,  by  occupying  the  places  of  the 
captured  pieces.     The  King,  OJio-shio,  bemg  the  chief  piece,  cannot  remain  in  check,  and  when  checkmated,  the  game  is  lost. 

The  pieces  are  named,  and  are  placed  upon  the  board,  as  follows,  viz  : 

Oho-shio,  (King,)  centre  square,  first  row. 

Kin-shio,  (Gold,  or  chief  councillor,)  upon  first  row,  and  one  on  either  side  of  Oho-shio, 

Gin-shio,  (Silver,  or  sub-councillor,)  upon  first  row,  and  one  on  each  square,  next  outside  Kln-shio, 

Kiema,  (Flying  horse,)  upon  first  row,  and  one  on  each  square,  ne.xt  outside  Gin-shio. 

Kio-shia,  (Fragrant  chariot,)  one  upon  each  corner  square,  first  row. 

Hishia,  (Flying  chariot,)  on  second  square,  second  row,  right  side  of  the  board. 

Kakuko,  (The  horn,)  on  second  square,  second  row,  left  side  of  the  board. 

Ho-hei,  (The  soldiery,)  on  all  the  nine  squares  of  the  third  row. 

The  moves  and  powers  of  the  pieces  are  as  below,  only  noting,  that  in  capturing,  there  is  no  deviation  from  them,  as  with  us 
in  the  case  of  pawns. 

Oho-shio  moves  and  takes  on  one  square  in  any  direction. 

Kin-shio,  as  the  Oho-shio,  except  that  he  cannot  move  diagonally  backward. 

Neither  of  the  above  arc  ever  reversed  or  acquire  different  powers  ;  but  all  the  pieces  below  may  be  reversed,  (at  the  option 
of  the  player,)  when  they  move  to  or  from  any  square,  in  any  of  the  adversary's  three  first  rows,  and  thereby  they  acquire 
different  powers,  as  well  as  different  names. 

Gin-shio  moves  and  takes  as  the  Oho-shio,  except  that  he  cannot  move  directly  on  either  side,  or  directly  backward.  When 
reversed,  or  turned  over,  he  becomes  a  Gin-.Vari-A'iii,  and  acquires  all  the  powers  (and  those  alone)  of  the  Kin-shio. 

Kiema  has  the  move  of  our  knight,  except  that  he  is  strictly  confined  to  two  squares  forward  and  one  laterally,  and  can  in  no 
case  make  more  than  four  moves  as  a  Kiema.  When  reversed  he  becomes  a  A'iemo-Auri-A'in,  witii  all  the  powers  (and  those 
alone)  of  the  Kin-shio, 

Kioshia  moves  directly  forward  only,  but  that  may  bo  any  number  of  steps.  He  may  be  reversed  upon  cither  of  iho  first  throi 
rows  of  the  adversary,  and  then  becomes  a  Kioshia-.Vari- Kin,  with  all  the  powers  (and  those  alone)  of  the  Kin-shio. 

Ilishia  has  the  entire  powers  of  our  castle,  and  when  reversed,  ho  assumes  the  name  of  Rioho,  (the  dragon,)  and  acquires,  in 
addition  to  his  former  moves,  all  those  of  the  Oho-shio. 

Kakuko  has  the  entire  powers  of  our  bishop,  and  when  reversed,  he  assumes  the  name  of  Riomc,  (the  dragonoss,)  and 
acquires,  in  addition  to  his  former  moves,  all  those  of  the  Oho-shio. 

59  J 


466  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

inch  wide.  There  are  forty-nine  pieces,  marked  by  tliree  different  colors^  blue,  red,  and  white, 
to  indicate  the  different  suits^  and  also  by  lines  and  dots  to  signify  the  value  of  the  iiiece. 
The  games  played  with  these  are,  as  with  our  cards,  numerous,  and  are  generally  played  for 
money.  The  Japanese  shuffle  and  cut  them  precisely  as  is  done  with  us,  sometimes  by  lifting 
off  a  part  of  the  pack,  and  at  others  expressing  satisfaction  with  them  as  they  are,  by  tapping 
the  knuckle  on  the  top  of  the  heap.  Another  common  game  is  played  with  small  black  and 
•white  stones,  and  seems  to  be  somewhat  of  the  character  of  loto,  so  much  jilayed  in  the  gardens 
and  estaminets  of  Paris  and  Hamburgh,  frequented  by  the  lower  classes.  It  was  a  cheerful 
reminder  of  one's  childhood,  and  another  bond  of  sympathy  between  the  various  branches  of  the 
human  race,  however  remotely  separated  from  each  other,  to  find  the  little  shaven-pated  lads 
playing  ball  in  the  streets  of  Hakodadi,  or  jackstraws  within  the  domestic  circle  at  home. 

Note. — For  the  remarks  made  in  this  chapter  on  the  specimens  of  Japanese  art  alluded  to, 
we  would  make  our  acknowledgments  to  the  accomplished  instructor  in  drawing,  &c.,  in  the 
Free  Academy  of  New  York,  Professor  Duggan.  The  specimens  were  submitted  to  him  with  a 
request  that  he  would  examine  them  artistically,  and  favor  the  compiler  with  his  opinion. 

Ho  moves  forward  one  step  only  at  a  time,  and  may  be  reversed  upon  either  of  the  first  three  rows  of  the  adversary  ;  when 
so  reversed,  he  becomes  a  //o-.Vuri-A'iii,  and  acquires  all  the  powers  of  the  Kin-shio. 

Besides  the  preceding  moves  and  powers,  any  piece  which  has  been  taken  may  be  replaced  upon  the  board,  at  the  discretion 
of  the  captor,  as  follows,  viz:  when  it  is  his  move,  instead  of  moving  one  of  his  men,  he  can  rei)lace  any  one  of  the  captured 
pieces  upon  any  unoccupied  square  whatever,  observing  to  keep  tliat  side  up  to  which  it  was  entitled  originally  ;  but  it  may  be 
reversed  at  any  move  thereafter,  if  (o  or  from  any  square  in  the  before-mentioned  three  first  rows  of  the  adversary,  and  observing 
further,  that  he  cannot  replace  a  Ho,  or  (soldier,)  on  any  column  upon  which  there  is  already  one  of  his  own,  t.  e.,  he  cannot 
double  a  Ho,  or  (soldier.) 

It  may  be  further  stated,  that  no  piece  can  pass  over  the  head  of  any  other  piece  in  its  move,  except  the  Kiema. 

Some  of  the  problems  of  this  game,  prepared  by  Dr.  Green,  will  be  found  in  vol.  1  of  the  Appendix. 


INTERVIEW     \V  I  T  U      DEPUTY     OF      THE     PRINCE     OF     JI  A  T  S  M  A  I . 


467 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


INTERTIEW     BETWEEN     THE     COMMODORE      AKD     THE      REPRESENTATIVE     OF      THE      PRIXCE    OF    MATSMAI. SODTHAMPTON     SENT    TO 

EXPLORE    VOLCANO    BAT,    INCLCDINO     ENDERMO     HARBOR. REPORT     OF     THE      SURVEY. POVERTT      OF      THE     REGION     AROIND 

THE     BAT. ERUPTION     OF     A     VOLCANO     AT     MIDNIGHT. AINOS. BOUNDARIES      OF      AMERICANS      AT     HAKODADI     LEFT     TO     BE 

SETTLED      WITH      THE      IMPERIAL      COMMISSIONERS. GOOD      UNDERSTANDING      BETWEEN     THE      AMERICANS      AND      PEOPLE      OF 

HAKODADI. JAPANESE    DELIGHTED    WITH    THE    EXHIBITION    OF    THE    "ETHIOPIAN    MINSTRELS   "    ON    BOARD    SHIP. SQUADRON 

THEATRICALS. INTEREST     OF     JAPANESE     IN     THE     MACHINERY     AND     FIRE-ARMS     OF     THE      SHIPS. ANSWER     OF     HAKODADI 

AUTHORITIES    TO    COMMODORe's    ENQUIRIES    AS    TO    EUROPEAN    OR    AMERICAN    VESSELS    WRECKED    IN    JAPAN    DURING    THE    LAST 

TEN    YEARS. ANSWER      OF     THE     IMPERIAL     COMMISSIONERS     TO      SIMILAR     ENQUIRIES. MACEDONIAN     SAILS      FOR     SIMODA. 

VANDALIA    DISPATCHED    FOR    CHI.VA    BY    THE    WESTERN    PASSAGE. JAPANESE     OFFICERS     DESIRE    A    CONFERENCE     WITH     THE 

COMMODORE. FLAG-LIEDTENANT    SENT    ASHORE    TO    BRING    THEM    ON    BOARD. DISRESPECTFUL    CONDUCT    OF    THB    OFFICERS 

FLAG-LIEUTENANT      RETURNS     WITHOUT     THEM. JAPANESE      OFFICERS      FINALLY      COME      OFF     IN     THEIR     OWN     BOAT. NOT 

ALLOWED    TO    SEE    THE    COMMODORE    UNTIL    THEY    APOLOGIZE     FOR     THEIR     BEHAVIOR. APOLOGY    ACCEPTED. CONFERENCE 

RESULTS    IN    NOTHING     BUT    A    FURTHER    ILLUSTRATION     OF     JAPANESE     FINESSE. BURIALS    OF    AMERICANS    AT    HAKODADI. 

RESPECT     SHOWN     FOR     THE     CEREMONIES     BY     THE     JAPANESE. BUDDHIST     PRIEST     PERFORMS     HIS     FUNERAL     CEREMONIES 

AFTER    THE    AMERICANS    RETIRE. —  SERVICES    IN   A    BUDDHIST    TEMPLE. —  JAPANESE    ERECT    A    FENCE    AROUND    THE    AMERICAN 

GRAVES. sailor's     epitaph     COMPOSED     BY     HIS      SHIPMATES. BLOCK     OF     GRANITE      PRESENTED     BY     THE     JAPANESE     AT 

HAKODADI     FOR     THE     WASHINGTON     MONU.MENT. VOLCANO      OF      OHO-SIMA. ARRIVAL     AT     SIMODA. MEETING     WITH     THE 

COMMISSIONERS. BOUNDARIES     AT     HAKODADI     SETTLED. APPOINTMENT      OF      PILOTS    AND    HARBOR-MASTER    AGREED    ON. 

VALUE     OF     JAPANESE     AND     AMERICAN      MO.VEY      RESPECTIVELY      FIXED. ADDITIONAL      REGULATIONS      BETWEEN      THE      COM- 
MISSIONERS    AND     COMMODORE     AGREED     TO      AND      SIGNED. COAL      SUPPLIED      AT      SIMODA.— ITS     COMPARATIVE    QUALITY    AND 

VALUE. COST     OF      VARIOUS      ARTICLES      FURNISHED      TO      THE     SHIPS. ANOTHER     BLOCK      OF      STONE     FOR     THE     WASHINGTON 

MONUMENT    PRESENTED    BY    THE    IMPERIAL    COMMISSIONERS  AT    SIMODA. JAPANESE    PRESENT    OF    DOGS    TO    THE    PRESIDENT. 

SAM    PATCH    HAS    AN    INTERVIEW    WITH    THE    OFFICIALS    OF    HIS     COUNTRY. REFUSES    TO    CO     ON    SHORE    OR    LEAVE    THE    SHIP. 

PRAISEWORTHY     CONDUCT     OF     A     MARINE     TOWARD      SAM. "  DAN     KETCH." JAPANESE     PUNISHMENT      OF      CRUCIFIXION. 

PRACTICE    OF    THE    "  HARI    KARI  "    OR    "HAPPY     DISPATCH." DEPARTURE      FROM      SIMODA. MACEDONIAN    AND    SUPPLY     SENT 

TO    FORMOSA    AND    PHILLIPPINES. REDFIELD    ROCKS. PARTY     SENT     ON     SHORE     FOR     OBSERVATION    OF    OHO-SIMA. ARRIVAL 

AT   LEW    CHEW. — SOUTHAMPTON   ORDERED    TO    HONG    KONG. — POWHATAN    AND    MISSISSIPPI    COME    TO    ANCHOR    AT    NAPHA. 


N  the  afternoon  of  May  19,  the  Commodore,  having 
shifted  his  flag  temporarily  to  the  Mississippi,  re- 
ceived on  hoard  of  that  ship  Matsmai  Kangsayii, 
the  great  ofiScer  of  the  family  of  the  prince  of 
Matsmai,  who  had  come,  as  had  heen  announced,  to 
meet  the  Americans  on  hehalf  of  his  superior.  He 
was  accompanied  hy  Yendo  Matazaimon,  thc'hungo 
or  governor  of  Hakodadi,  Ishuko  Kenso,  the  Chinese 
interpreter,  and  several  attendants.  After  the  usual 
interchange  of  compliments,  the  Commodore  asked 
when  he  was  to  expect  the  arrival  of  the  Prince  of 
Matsmai  himself.  Kangsayu  replied,  that  it  was 
impossible  to  say,  as  he  was  at  Matsmai,  and  no 
^^S=fip~ ^    'y  ;  '^:  ■-;  -  '— r  communication    had    been    received    from    him   in 

^■^i2£rps^^"=?=r  "  -  ■%-.;;r-,;j..;, '  '  reference  to  his  coming.  The  Commodore  then 
remarked,  that  if  the  prince  did  not  come  to  sec  him  he  would  he  obliged  to  go  and  sec  the 
prince,  since  there  was  no  one  at  Uakodadi  with  whom  a  conference  could  lie  held  in  regard  to 
the  treaty.     Upon  this  the  Japanese  rejoined,  that,  as  the  prince  could  not  leave  Matsmai 


ll"' 

1. 

miiii 

f; 

1/ 

, 

i 


468  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

himself,  he  had  delegated  his  highest  officer  to  meet  the  Commodore  as  his  substitute,  who  was 
ready  to  put  the  treaty  in  operation.  It  was,  however,  added,  that  the  Americans  were  asking 
for  some  things  not  specified,  inasmuch  as  the  treaty  was  not  to  go  into  effect  before  the  lapse  of 
a  year  from  its  date.  It  was  then  exjiUxined  to  the  Japanese,  that  this  condition  had  reference 
to  merchant  vessels,  but  that  the  Commodore  had  made  subsequent  arrangements  with  the  high 
commissioners  about  his  present  visit,  the  objects  of  which  he  was  now  desirous  of  accomplishing 
if  Kangsayu  had  full  powers  to  act  in  the  matter.  This  dignitary  then  answered  that  he  was 
clothed  with  complete  local  authority,  but  that  neither  he  nor  his  prince  could  settle  the 
boundary  within  which  American  intercourse  was  to  be  restricted  without  instructions  from  the 
court  at  Tedo. 

The  wind  now  commenced  blowing  very  hard,  and  the  bay  was  so  rough  that  the  Japanese 
preferred  remaining  for  some  time  on  board  the  Mississippi,  where  they  were  handsomely 
entertained  and  shown  all  the  points  and  novelties  of  the  steamer.  After  a  long  stay,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  Japanese  were  evidently  gratified  by  all  they  saw  (manifesting  therein  their 
usual  intelligent  interest)  and  by  the  attentions  they  received,  they  returned  to  the  shore. 

On  the  next  day  the  Southampton  was  dispatched  by  the  Commodore  to  make  a  survey  of 
Volcano  Bay,  including  Endermo  harbor,  about  seventy  miles  from  Hakodadi,  at  the  south- 
eastern end  of  Yesso ;  and  it  may  be  here  appropriate,  though  somewhat  anticipating  the 
chronological  order  of  events,  to  dispose  of  this  part  of  our  story,  by  giving  a  general  report  of 
the  result  of  the  survey.  The  ship  arrived  off  the  southern  promontory  of  Volcano  Bay  at  five 
o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  the  day  of  her  departure  from  Hakodadi.  The  wind  soon  lulled  to  a 
dead  calm,  and  the  bay  was  not  entered  until  the  next  morning.  The  weather  being  very 
thick  the  ship  bore  away  for  the  harbor  of  Endermo,  and  shortly  after  noon  made  the  land 
ahead,  which,  being  approached  to  within  two  miles,  was  coasted  in  ten  fathoms  of  water, 
taking  care  to  keep  off  when  shoaling  in  that  depth.  The  fog  was  so  thick,  and  the  breakers 
were  so  far  off  the  shore,  that  it  was  not  deemed  prudent  to  approach  too  near  the  land  ;  and, 
consequently,  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Endermo,  which  is  quite  narrow  and  shut  in  by 
adjacent  points,  could  not  be  seen.  Its  position,  however,  having  been  passed,  and  the  ship 
continuing  to  run  along  the  land  by  the  lead  until  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  came  then  to 
anchor  in  front  of  a  small  village.  As  the  night  advanced  the  atmosphere  cleared,  for  a 
moment,  sufficiently  to  allow  of  the  sight  of  several  junks  anchored  near  a  large  town  about 
three  miles  distant.  The  fog  soon  gathered  again  and  continued  so  thick  all  the  rest  of  that 
night" and  the  next  day,  with  fresh  breezes  from  E.S.E.,  that  it  was  deemed  more  prudent  to 
remain  at  anchor,  and  the  ship  did  not  again  get  under  way  until  the  2Yth  of  May. 

At  sunrise  on  that  day,  the  fog  having  partly  dispersed,  the  Southampton  stood  for  the 
eastern  coast,  sounding  with  a  boat  in  five  fathoms  to  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  shore, 
and  also  running  a  line  of  soundings  in  the  ship.  As  the  morning  advanced  the  fog  cleared  off, 
and  revealed  to  view  a  charming  scene  of  picturesque  beauty.  The  land  rose  from  the  sandy 
beach  in  undulating  heights,  covered  with  trees  of  dark  green  foliage,  interspersed  here  and 
there  with  yellow  spots  of  culture,  while  innumerable  houses  were  seen  everywhere  grouped  at 
the  openings  of  the  ravines  toward  the  sea,  into  which  streams  of  fresh  water  poured,  after 
irrigating  the  cultivated  fields  on  the  hill  sides  and  the  fertile  bottoms  of  tlie  valleys,  and 
passing  through  the  villages. 

The  meridian  observation  having  been  taken,  which  gave  the  latitude  42°  11',  the  ship, 


ENDEEMO     HARBOR.  469 

heading  east,  made  for  an  indentation  in  the  Lmd,  supposed  to  be  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  of 
Volcano  Bay,  and  with  a  depth  of  water  of  seventeen  fathoms  and  a  fair  wind,  before  wliich 
she  was  going  at  nine  knots,  the  whole  circuit  of  the  large  bay  soon  opened  to  the  sight.  An 
amphitheatre  of  lofty  mountains,  with  summits  covered  with  snow,  surrounded  the  land,  which 
gradiially  lessened  in  height  as  it  descended  toward  the  hills  and  uplands  that  rose  immediately 
from  the  shore.  To  the  northeast  were  two  volcanoes  in  active  eruption^  throwing  out  convul- 
sively their  thick  smoke,  which,  as  it  swept  before  the  breeze,  darkened  with  its  passing  but 
ever  recurring  shadow  the  snow  which  glittered  like  silver  upon  the  sunlit  summits  of  the 
neighboring  mountains. 

Passing  a  small  island,  called  Olason,  from  one  of  Captain  Broughton's  men  who  was  buried 
there,  the  Southampton  stood  up  the  channel  of  Endermo,  and  anchored  in  the  evening  near  the 
land,  where  a  few  houses,  a  fortification  upon  an  adjacent  hill,  and  some  sheds  upon  the  shore, 
indicated  a  settlement.  Soon  two  officials  came  off  in  a  boat,  rowed  by  a  number  of  Indians, 
(as  they  are  called,)  the  native  ainos,  and  upon  reaching  the  ship  the  Japanese  functionaries 
produced  a  bit  of  paper  in  which  was  wrapped  some  rice  and  a  piece  of  wood,  and  displaying 
the  contents,  pointing  at  the  same  time  to  some  water,  asked,  by  signs,  if  either  of  these  was 
required.  The  chief  dignitary,  who,  in  addition  to  the  usual  Japanese  official  costume,  wore 
an  outside  coat  with  a  red  collar  and  a  great  deal  of  embroidery,  and  seemed  to  be  a  military 
personage,  was  not  apparently  disposed  to  be  very  friendly  toward  his  visitors.  Ui^on  his  being 
made  to  understand  that  if  any  fish,  vegetables,  eggs,  or  poultry  could  be  obtained  from  the 
land,  the  Americans  would  be  glad  to  purchase  them,  the  Japanese  officer  sent  his  boat  ashore, 
apparently  with  the  view  of  ascertaining.  Upon  its  return,  the  only  article  brought  back  was 
a  bundle  of  stems^  looking  like  those  of  the  rhubarb  plant,  with  the  information  that,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  weather,  there  were  no  fish,  and  only  three  chickens  in  the  place. 

Next  morning  a  surveying  party  commenced  their  operations  in  the  bay,  and  continued  them 
during  the  stay  of  the  ship.  Little  was  to  be  had  from  the  shore  in  the  way  of  provisions,  but 
the  bay  abounded  in  clams,  muscles,  and  fish,  and  large  supplies  were  obtained.  The  inhabi- 
tants, who  were  mostly  ainos,  had  been  very  much  alarmed  at  the  arrival  of  the  Southampton, 
and  were  seen  hurrying  away  from  the  harbor  and  village  with  all  their  property  heaped  upon 
their  backs,  so  that  the  land  was  quite  deserted.  The  few  Japanese  officials  became  gradually 
more  friendly,  and  frequently  visited  the  ship  and  partook  of  its  hospitalities.  Nothing 
occurred  of  especial  interest  during  the  visit  to  Endermo  bay  beyond  the  blazing  up  one  night 
of  another  volcano,  making  three  which  were  seen  from  the  ship  in  a  state  of  active  eruption  at 
the  same  time.  The  sudden  starting  U]5  of  a  broad  and  vivid  flame  from  the  summit  of  a 
mountain  in  the  midst  of  the  night,  dispelling  at  once  the  darkness  which  enveloped  sea  and 
land,  produced  a  grand  effect.  The  other  two  volcanoes  merely  emitted  smoke,  while  the  third 
continued  in  a  blaze. 

Lieutenant  Boyle,  commander  of  the  Southampton,  visited  Olason  island,  at  the  mouth  of 
Endermo  Bay,  previous  to  his  departure,  and  found  the  grave  of  the  buried  sailor  left  there  by 
Captain  Broughton.  The  Japanese  authorities  had  respected  the  remains,  though  they  had 
been  interred  more  than  three-fourths  of  a  century,  and  built  on  the  spot  where  they  rested  one 
of  the  usual  tombs  of  the  country,  with  the  ordinary  marks  of  mourning.  The  survey  having 
been  completed,  the  ship  sailed  to  join  the  squadron  at  Simoda,  pursuant  to  orders. 

The  Commodore,  on  the  next  day  after  the  visit  from  Kangsayu,  went  on  shore  to  call  upon 


470  EXPEDITION     TOJAPAN. 

this  dignitary,  who,  after  having  presented  his  credentials  from  the  Prince  of  Matsmai,  and 
emphaticallj  declared  that  the  latter  could  not  possibly  come  to  Hakodadi,  was  officially  rccog- 
uizcd  as  the  representative  of  his  superior.  He,  however,  refused  to  settle  definitively  the 
question  of  the  boundary  within  which  the  Americans,  in  their  intercourse  with  the  place,  were 
to  he  restricted,  and  the  subject  was  finally  disposed  of  by  a  mutual  agreement  that  it  should  be 
referred  to  the  commissioners  who  were  to  meet  the  Commodore  at  Simoda.  During  the 
frequent  visits  of  the  Americans  on  shore,  occasional  disagreements  arose  in  regard  to  their 
relations  v.-ith  the  shopkeepers  and  the  extent  and  freedom  of  their  walks  in  the  town  and  about 
the  country.  These  little  troubles,  which,  although  they  gave  rise  to  much  tedious  negotiation, 
■were  uniformly  settled  by  mutual  explanations,  produced  in  the  end  the  establishment  of  an 
excellent  understanding  and  the  most  friendly  feelings  between  oui*  countrymen  and  all  classes 
of  the  Japanese. 

The  governor  and  his  attendants  continued  to  visit  the  ships  frequently,  when  they  were 
uniformly  entertained  with  refreshments,  and  sometimes  invited  to  a  more  ceremonious  dinner, 
of  which  they  always  partook  with  a  proper  appreciation  both  of  the  viands  and  the  courtesy. 
On  one  occasion,  some  of  the  sailors  got  up  a  concert  of  "  Ethiopian  minstrels,"  which  seemed 
to  give  as  much  delight  to  the  natives  at  Hakodadi  as  it  had  done  to  the  commissioners  in  the 
bay  of  Yedo.     The  performance  undoubtedly  showed  that  talent  for  grotesque  humor  and  comic 
yet  sentimental  melody  which  are,  as  some  think,  characteristic  of  the  sailor,  the  monotony  of 
whose  life  on  ship-board  is  often  compensated  by  that  hearty  flow  of  animal  spirits  with  which 
natures,  invigorated  by  a  hard  and  hazardous  occupation,  console  themselves  for  its  risks  and 
privations.     The  sentimental  strain,  too,  in  which  the  sailor  sometimes  indulges,  is  naturally 
the  antagonistic  tone  with  which  the  mind,  surrounded  by  its  rude  associations,  opposes  their 
petrifying  influence.     All  the  sailors'  rough  humor  is  hence  toned  down  by  a  gentler  touch  of 
feeling.     The  negro  minstrelsy,  which  not  only  wrinkles  the  face  with  a  broad  and  noisy  laugh, 
but  also  can  moisten  the  eye  with  a  tear,  is  consequently  a  great  favorite  with  Jack.     The 
sailors  performed  their  parts  with  a  sympathetic  interest  and  an  earnest  intensity,  which  would 
Lave  carried  with  them  the  frequenters  of  Christy's,  and  produced  a  marked  effect  even  upon 
their  sedate  Japanese  listeners,  and  thus  confirmed  the  universal  popularity  of  "  the  Etliiopians" 
by  a  decided  hit  in  Japan.     Everything  was  arranged  appropriately  as  to  dresses  and  scenery, 
much  as  it  would  have  been  at  home.     Bills  of  the  performance,  too,  were  printed  by  the  aid  of 
the  press,  which  was  on  board  one  of  the  ships  of  the  squadron,  and  freely  worked  within  the 
dominions  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  without  regarding  any  censorship  that  he  might  possibly  be 
disposed  to  establish.     American  like,  our  men  stuck  to  the  principle  of  a  "  free  press,"  on  the 
ground  that  the  press  itself  and  popular  opinion  are  about  the  best  correctives  of  the  abuse  of 
the  press.     And  here  we  may  remark,  that  theatrical  performances  in  the  squadron  wore  not 
confined  to  "EthioiMan  minstrelsy."     Histrionic  ambition  took  a  higher  flight,  and  ventured 
on  the  "legitimate  drama."     There  was  more  than  one  company  of  Thespians  in  the  squadron, 
composed  of  the  men,  who  acquitted  themselves  very  creditably.     They  generally  selected  some 
good  natured  officer,  known  to  have  a  taste  for  theatricals,  to  give  them  some  general  instruc- 
tions, and  help  them  at  rehearsals,  and  with  such  aid,  added  to  natural  cleverness  and  quickness 
of  parts,  they  succeeded  very  well.     The  female  characters  wore  allotted  to  boys,  and  all  the 
appliances  of  scenery  and  appropriate  costume  were  called  in  to  give  greater  efiect. 
The  Japanese  officials  took  especial  interest,  on  the  occasion  of  their  frequent  visits  to  the 


INFORMATION     AS     TO      WRECKS     IN     JAPAN.  471 

ships,  in  the  inspection  of  the  armament,  and  were  often  gratified  with  the  exercise  of  the  "nns 
the  filling  of  the  shells,  and  other  matters  of  military  discipline  and  practice.  Thou"-h,  in 
their  later  history  a  pacific  people,  the  Japanese,  as  we  have  already  said,  are  fond  of  military 
display,  and  seemed  particularly  desirous  of  scrutinizing  all  the  warlike  appointments  which 
made  their  visitors  so  formidable ;  as  if  they  felt  the  necessity^  in  the  new  relations  which  were 
opening  with  foreigners,  of  studying  and  adopting  the  best  means  of  attack  and  defence,  should 
either  ever  become  necessary  by  any  future  collision  with  the  great  powers  of  the  west.  With 
proper  training,  no  people  would  make  better  soldiers.  Every  opportunity  was  afforded  them, 
without  restriction,  of  satisfying  their  curiosity,  which  was  naturally  directed  towards  those 
points  in  which  they  were  conscious  of  their  greatest  weakness ;  and  this  liberality  of  the 
Americans,  in  the  free  exposition  of  their  power,  deeply  impressed  the  Japanese  with  a 
conviction  of  the  pacific  intentions  of  their  visitors,  who  desired  to  show  that  they  looked  to  a 
friendly  intercourse,  and  not  to  a  violent  invasion,  for  those  mutual  benefits  which  were  to 
accrue  from  more  intimate  relations  between  the  United  States  and  Japan. 

A  valuable  communication  was  received  from  the  authorities  at  Hakodadi,  in  answer  to  certain 
enquiries  made  hy  the  Commodore  in  regard  to  the  various  American  and  European  vessels 
which  were  supposed  to  have  been  wrecked  at  different  times  upon  the  coast  of  the  Empire. 
There  was  reason  to  suppose  that  several  vessels  which  had  been  lost,  and  never  heard  of  in  the 
countries  from  which  they  had  sailed,  had  been  wrecked  on  the  shores  of  the  island  of  Tesso  ; 
and  it  was  thought  possible,  from  the  hitherto  inhospitable  conduct  of  the  Japanese  government 
towards  foreigners,  that  some  who  had  been  cast  by  calamity  upon  its  mercy  might  yet  be  held 
in  captivity.  It  was,  therefore,  a  great  satisfaction  to  receive  the  following  answer  from  the 
Hakodadi  officials : 

"  From  the  third  year  of  Ohoka  to  the  third  of  Kayee,  [1847  to  1851,]  there  were  five  foreign 
vessels  wrecked  by  storms  on  our  coasts,  whose  crews  have  all  been  sent  on  to  Nagasaki,  thence 
to  be  sent  by  the  Dutch  back  to  their  homes  ;  not  one  now  remains  in  Japan. 

"In  1847,  June,  seven  American  sailors  were  drifted  ashore  at  Tetoroop  in  a  boat. 

"  In  1847,  June,  thirteen  American  sailors  in  three  boats  were  thrown  ashore  at  Teramachi, 
N.W.  of  Matsmai. 

"  In  March,  1849,  three  men  from  an  American  ship  went  ashore  at  Karafto,  the  south  end 
of  Saghalien,  and  then  went  off. 

"In  May,  1850,  an  English  ship  was  wrecked  at  Mabiru,  in  Yesso,  from  which  thirty-two 
men  came  ;  but  where  they  came  from  we  know  not. ' ' 

The  Commodore  also  addressed  to  the  imperial  commissioners,  with  whom  the  terms  of  the 
treaty  were  negotiated,  a  communication  on  the  same  subject,  and  received  the  following 
reply : 

' '  To  His  Excellency  Commodore  Perry : 

"  The  undersigned  have  well  understood  your  written  communication  in  reference  to  ships 
navigating  the  Pacific,  the  Chinese,  and  Japanese  seas,  which  have  never  been  heard  of  at  their 
ports  of  destination ;  and  the  probable  fiite  of  their  crews  being  imcertain,  his  majesty  the 
President  has  ordered  enquiries  to  be  made  on  the  subject,  and  ships-of-war  have  been  sent  to 
Borneo,  Formosa,  and  other  islands  ;  and  that  two  ships  were  again  to  sail  to  Formosa,  by  your 
order,  for  a  similar  purpose. 


472  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

"  In  reply  to  your  request  for  a  list  of  all  the  sliips  -which  have  been  wrecked  In  Japan  for 
the  last  ten  years,  we  have  the  honor  to  state  as  follows  : 

"In  1847,  some  Americans,  shipwrecked  in  the  principality  of  Matsmai,  were  sent  to 
Nagasaki  to  take  passage  in  the  Dutch  trading  ships. 

"In  1848,  some  Americans,  shipwrecked  in  the  same  principality,  were  sent  to  Nagasaki, 
and  thence  taken  away  by  an  American  ship-of-war.     [This  was  the  Preble.] 

"In  the  year  1850,  some  Americans  and  Englishmen,  shipwrecked,  were  sent  to  Nagasaki, 
to  go  in  the  Dutch  trading  ships. 

"  Beside  the  three  instances  just  mentioned,  there  has  been  no  shipwreck,  and  there  are  no 
foreigners  now  in  Japan.  The  local  authorities  having  settled  this  business,  we  are  not  able  to 
give  you  the  names  of  the  shipwrecked  persons. 

"  We  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect, 

"  BY  THE  IMPERIAL  COMMISSIONERS. 

"  Seal  attached  by  order  of  the  high  gentlemen. 

"MORYAMA  YENOSKE." 

On  the  morning  of  the  31st  of  May  the  Macedonian  sailed  for  Simoda,  and  the  Vandalia  for 
Shano-hai,  the  latter  vessel  being  directed  by  the  Commodore  to  take  the  western  passage  by 
passing  through  the  Straits  of  Sangar,  the  Japan  sea,  and  China  gulf.  The  steamers  still 
remained  at  Hakodadi  to  await  the  arrival  of  those  personages  whom  the  commissioners  had 
promised  to  send  there  to  meet  the  Americans  and  settle  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  in  regard 
to  that  place.  The  Commodore  was  naturally  somewhat  impatient  at  the  delay  in  the  coming 
of  the  expected  delegation,  as,  in  accordance  with  his  agreement  to  that  eifect,  he  was  obliged  to 
return  to  Simoda  on  the  15th  day  of  June,  and  the  last  day  of  the  previous  mouth  had  now 
passed.  On  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  June,  however,  a  communication  was  received  by  the 
Commodore,  written  in  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  Dutch,  of  which  the  following  is  an  English 
translation  : 

"  The  Japanese  imperial  government  officers,  Amma  Zhium-noshin  and  Hirayama  Kenzhiro, 
and  others,  desire  a  conference  with  his  excellency  the  plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  and 
other  officers. 

"  They  have  received  orders  from  tlie  court  to  go  to  Karafto,  and,  learning  that  your  ships 
were  at  Hakodadi  examining  its  harbor,  in  accordance  with  the  treaty  of  Kanagawa,  have  come, 
as  these  distant  frontier  places  are  not  fully  apprized  of  all  these  matters,  and  perhaps  there 
may  be  some  mistake  or  misapprehension.  We  have  requested  of  our  superior  officer  presently 
to  come  and  deliberate  upon  such  matters  as  may  come  up,  as  was  done  at  Yoku-haraa  ;  but  he 
has  taken  a  passage  by  sea,  and  has  already  gone  on  to  Karafto.  We  are  unable,  therefore,  to 
tarry  behind  him  for  more  than  three  days  in  order  to  confer  with  your  honor. 

"  We  wish  you  mvich  peace." 

This  was  not  very  explicit,  but  it  seemed  apparent  that,  although  these  dignitaries  affected, 
in  their  letter,  merely  to  have  called,  as  it  were,  in  passing,  they  were  delegated  by  the 
government  to  make  the  visit.  In  accordance,  however,  with  the  indirect  policy  of  Japanese 
diplomacy,  it  was  deemed  exi^edient  to  make  use  of  a  subterfuge,  by  which  the  intention  of  the 
government,  of  deferring  all  negotiation  until  the  meeting  of  the  commissioners,  might  be 
accomplished  and  yet  concealed,  for  fear  of  offending  the  sensibilities  of  the  Americans  by  this 


CONFERENCE      AT      H  A  K  O  I)  A  D  1 .  473 

change  in  the  original  arrangement.  The  Hag-lieutenant,  Mr.  Bent,  was  sent  by  the  Com- 
motlore  to  meet  the  Japanese  delegates,  and  inform  them  that  they  would  be  received  on  board 
the  Powhatan  at  any  time  they  might  appoint.  One  o'clock  was  accordingly  named,  and  at 
that  hour  the  boat  was  sent  ashore  to  receive  the  Japanese  officials  and  bring  them  to  the  ship. 
On  the  llag-lieutenant's  arriving  at  the  government  house  and  sending  word  that  he  was  in 
waiting  to  conduct  the  dei^uties  to  the  Commodore,  he  was  told  that  these  gentlemen  were  at 
luncheon.  After  a  due  exercise  of  patience  for  more  than  an  hour,  the  chief  deputy  and  two  of 
his  suite  presented  themselves,  and  very  deliberately,  instead  of  proceeding  to  the  boat,  took 
their  seats  in  the  custom-house,  and  leisurely  refreshed  themselves  with  tea  and  pipes.  The 
flag-lieutenant  very  courteously  reminded  them  that  it  was  time  to  go,  but  these  dignitaries, 
with  the  greatest  self-composure  imaginable,  continued  to  sip  their  tea  and  smoke  their  pipes, 
and  showed  by  their  manner  that,  such  was  the  idea  of  their  own  importance,  that  not  only 
time  and  tide,  but  flag-lieutenants,  should  wait  their  leisure.  This  conduct  was  the  more 
remarkable  from  a  people  so  habitually  ceremonious  and  polite.  The  ofiicer,  therefore,  very 
properly  said  that  the  boat  sent  by  the  Commodore  was  at  the  steps,  and  was  then  going  off  to 
the  ship,  and  if  they  chose  to  take  passage  in  it  he  would  be  pleased  to  have  their  com])any  ;  if 
not,  they  would  be  obliged  to  find  their  own  conveyance  ;  but,  as  the  appointed  hour  had  long 
since  passed,  it  was  doubtful  whether  they  would  be  received  by  the  Commodore  at  all.  They 
then  replied,  without,  apparently,  making  any  effort  to  hurry  themselves,  that  they  were 
waiting  for  their  companions. 

The  flag-lieutenant  now,  without  more  ado,  took  his  departure,  and,  getting  into  the  boat, 
put  oft'  for  the  ship.  On  his  way  thither  he  was  met  by  a  messenger  from  the  Commodore, 
with  the  command  to  wait  no  longer  for  the  deputies,  unless  they  had  some  good  reason  for 
their  delay.  On  the  flag-lieutenant's  making  his  report,  orders  were  given  to  prepare  for 
another  visit  to  the  land,  with  a  stronger  demonstration  of  earnestness.  The  deputies,  however, 
in  the  mean  time  arrived,  and,  as  they  presented  themselves  at  the  gangway  of  the  Powhatan, 
the  flag-lieutenant  demanded,  in  the  name  of  the  Commodore,  an  explanation  of  their  delay. 
The  Japanese  functionaries  then  having  ofiered  as  an  apology  that  they  had  been  delayed  in 
purchasing  a  few  articles  as  presents  for  the  American  ambassador,  were  treated  as  if  they  told 
the  truth,  and  conducted  to  the  Commodore's  cabin,  where  they  held  a  short  conference,  and 
refreshments  were  hospitably  set  before  them.  They  repeated  in  conversation  the  tenor  of  their 
note,  and  said  they  had  no  authority  to  settle  the  boundaries  in  Hakodadi.  Of  course  there 
was  no  occasion  to  confer  further  with  them,  and  the  Commodore  no  longer  pressed  tlie  matter, 
but  determined  to  postpone  all  negotiations  until  he  should  meet  the  imperial  commissioners  at 
Simoda,  the  appointed  time  for  which  meeting  was  now  rapidly  approaching. 

On  parting  with  these  Japanese  officials,  the  Commodore  took  occasion,  while  expressing  his 
gratification  at  the  general  kindness  and  courtesy  of  the  authorities  and  jK'ople  at  Hakodadi,  to 
remark,  that  the  inhabitants  still  seemed  susi)icious  of  the  Americans,  as  they  continued  to  shut 
their  houses  and  remove  the  women  from  observation.  To  this  the  deputies  returned  a  written 
reply,  which,  as  it  presents  a  document  singularly  characteristic  of  the  gentle,  conciliatory  tone 
of  the  Japanese,  and  of  their  ingenuity  in  the  work  of  self-justification,  and  also  exhibits  the 
moderate  style  of  tlieir  official  communications,  we  give  at  length  : 

"To  hear  from  the  Commodore  that,  since  his  arrival  in  Hakodadi,  ho  lias  been  much  jdeased 
witli  his  intercourse  and  communications  with  the  local  authorities,  is  truly  a  great  gratification 


474 


KXrFDITION      TO      JAPAX. 


to  US.  With  regard  to  going  through  the  streets,  and  seeing  shops  and  liouses  shut,  with 
neither  women  nor  chiUlren  in  the  ways,  let  it  be  here  observed,  that  at  Yoku-hama  this  very 
matter  was  jdainly  spoken  of  by  Moryama,  the  interpreter,  at  that  place.  The  customs  of  our 
country  are  unlike  yours,  and  the  people  have  been  unused  to  see  people  from  foreign  lands  ; 
and  though  the  authorities  did  what  they  could  to  pacify  them,  and  teach  them  better,  they  still 
were  disinclined  to  believe,  and  many  absconded  or  hid  themselves.  If  the  Commodore  will 
recall  to  mind  tlie  day  when  he  took  a  ramble  to  Yoku-hama,  in  wliich  some  of  us  accompanied 
him,  he  will  recollect  that  in  the  villages  and  houses  we  hardly  saw  a  woman  during  the  whole 
walk.  If  he  saw  more  of  them  at  Simoda,  as  he  went  about,  it  was  because  there  the  people 
were  gradually  accustomed  to  the  Americans,  and  their  fears  had  been  allayed,  so  that  they  felt 
no  dread. 


Jap:ine;*e  Women. 


"  On  these  remote  frontiers,  many  miles  from  Yedo,  the  usages  of  the  people  are  so  fixed  that 
they  are  not  easily  intliicncpd  nnd  altnrod  ;  but,  pray,   how  can   the  inhabitants  liero  tliink  of 


K  E  r.  1  G  1  0  N      OF      THE     JAPANESE.  475 

regarding  Americaas  with  inimical  feelings?  Even  when  they  see  their  own  officers,  with  the 
persons  of  whom  they  are  not  familiar,  they  also  run  aside,  and,  as  from  fear,  seek  to  escape  us, 
This  is  the  custom  of  our  country  that  officers  should  accompany  visitors  about — a  custom  not 
to  be  so  soon  changed.  Still,  the  disposition  of  the  men  here  is  ingenuous,  brave,  upright,  and 
good,  and  that  of  the  women  retiring  and  modest,  not  gazing  at  men  as  if  without  bashfulness. 
Such  characteristics  and  such  usages  must  be  considered  as  estimable,  and  we  think  that  you 
also  will  not  dislike  them. 

"  In  general,  when  upright,  cordial  propriety  marks  intercourse,  then  peace,  good  feeling, 
and  harmony  are  real  between  the  parties  ;  but  if  harshness,  violence,  and  grasping  characterize 
it,  then  hate  and  distrust  with  collision  arise,  and  love  will  not  be  found  to  bring  the  hearts  of 
the  people  together.     This  is  a  rule  of  heaven,  concerning  which  no  one  can  have  any  doubt." 

The  authorities  of  Hakodadi  had  set  apart  and  fenced  ofl",  for  the  interment  of  the  American 
dead,  a  portion  of  a  small,  neglected  burial  ground,  situated  in  an  easterly  direction,  beyond 
the  town  and  near  the  forts.  The  spot  is  exceedingly  picturesr[ue,  and  commands  a  fine  view 
of  the  harbor,  the  Straits  of  Sangar,  and  the  adjacent  coasts.  It  was  the  melancholy  duty  of 
our  countrymen  to  deposit  there  the  remains  of  two  of  their  shijimates,  who,  after  a  long  illness, 
died  during  the  stay  of  the  squadron  in  that  port.  The  funerals  were  conducted  with  the  usual 
naval  and  religious  ceremonies.  After  a  short  preliminary  service  on  board  ship,  the  escort, 
consisting  of  several  officers,  a  number  of  seamen  and  marines,  in  four  boats,  conducted  tlie 
bodies  ashore,  the  boats  and  all  the  ships  with  flags  at  half-mast.  On  reaching  the  land,  the 
procession  was  formed,  and  as  it  marched  with  slow  step  and  muffled  drums  to  the  burial  place, 
a  large  concourse  of  Japanese  collected  and  followed  it  to  the  grave.  The  chaplain,  the  Kev. 
Mr.  Jones,  read  the  burial  service  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  and,  after  the  services 
had  terminated,  many  of  the  natives  gathered  around  him,  and,  although  they  evinced  much 
curiosity,  they  never  forgot  the  respect  which  they  seemed  to  think  due  to  his  religious  office. 
This  was  the  fourth  funeral  among  the  Americans  in  Japan,  and  knowing  the  very  strong 
prejudice  against  Christianity,  and,  indeed,  the  very  violent  opposition  to  it  manifested  by  the 
Japanese,  Mr.  Jones  had  felt  uncertain,  when  his  duty  required  him  to  officiate  at  the  first 
interment,  how  far  he  would  be  permitted  to  proceed  unmolested.  He  accordingly  asked  the 
Commodore  for  directions,  and  was  told,  "Do  exactly  as  you  always  do  on  such  occasions,  no 
more,  nor  no  less  ;"  and  in  answer  to  his  inquiry  how  he  should  act  if  interrupted,  the  answer 
■was,  "still  go  on  and  have  your  usual  service."  No  opposition,  however,  was  made,  and  the 
chaplain  felt  that  it  was  a  day  to  be  remembered,  that,  after  the  lapse  of  centuries,  a  minister 
of  Christ  stood,  in  his  person,  upon  the  soil  of  Japan,  and,  unmolested,  performed  one  of  the 
rites  of  his  faith.  He  could  not  but  remember,  that,  more  than  two  hundred  years  before,  it 
had  been  written  in  Japan,  "  so  long  as  the  sun  shall  warm  the  earth,  let  no  Christian  be  so 
bold  as  to  come  to  Japan  ;  and  let  all  know  that  the  king  of  Spain  himself,  or  the  Christian's 
God,  or  the  great  God  of  all,  if  he  violate  this  command,  shall  pay  for  it  with  his  head."  The 
first  funeral  was  at  Yoku-hama,  the  second  at  Simoda,  and  the  last  two  at  Hakodadi.  Respect 
for  the  ceremonies  was  shown  by  the  Japanese  at  all ;  and  at  the  latter  place  the  natives  often 
alluded,  in  their  intercourse  with  Mr.  Jones,  to  his  officiating  at  the  grave,  and  called  him,  in 
their  language,  "the  praying  man;"  and  instead  of  losing  standing  among  them  from  his 
office,  as  he  expected  to  do,  he  found  himself  treated  with  increased  friendliness  and  attention. 


476  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN, 

By  the  burial  ground  at  Hakodadi,  wiiich  was  allotted  to  our  countrymen  and  had  been  lorg 
used  by  the  Japanese  thcmselv^es,  there  is  a  Buddhist  temple  surrounded  with  an  enclosure 
containing  large  roughly  carved  stones,  intended  to  represent  deities,  and  inscribed  with  various 
devices  and  religious  apothegms.  There  are  also  several  of  the  rotary  praying  machines, 
already  described,  and  when  the  chaplain  turned  enquiringly  to  the  apparatus,  the  Japanese 
put  their  hands  together,  signifying  that  it  was  intended  for  prayer,  and  then  pointed  to  the 
praj'er-book  in  Mr.  Jones'  hands,  implying  that  it  was  used  for  the  same  purpose,  an 
explanation  which  the  good  chaplain  felt  to  be  anything  but  a  compliment  to  his  much  valued 
manual  of  devotion.  By  the  way,  on  the  subject  of  prayer,  the  chaplain  had  an  opportunity  to 
obtain  further  information.  One  day  he  wandered  into  a  Buddhist  temj^le  when  the  Japanese 
were  at  worship.  There  was  a  large  altar  exactly  similar  to  that  in  a  Romish  church,  with  a 
gilt  image  in  its  recess ;  two  handsome  lamps  lighted,  two  large  candles  burning,  artificial 
flowers,  &c.,  with  an  abundance  of  gilding;  there  were  also  two  side  altars  with  candles  on 
them  burning.  Before  the  jirincipal  altar,  within  an  enclosure,  were  five  priests,  robed  and  on 
their  knees,  the  chief  one  striking  a  small  saucer-shaped  bell,  and  three  others  with  padded 
drumsticks  striking  hollow  wooden  lacijuered  vessels,  which  emitted  a  dull  sound.  They  kept 
time,  and  toned  their  prayers  to  their  music  in  chanting  ;  after  chanting,  they  knelt  again,  and 
touched  the  floor  with  their  foreheads  ;  after  which  they  repaired  to  the  side  altars  and  had  a 
short  ceremony  before  each  of  them.  When  all  was  over,  one  of  the  priests  approached,  and, 
pointing  to  an  image,  asked  Mr.  Jones  what  it  was  called  in  America.  He  answered :  "  Nai," 
"  we  have  it  not."  He  then  pointed  to  the  altars  and  asked  the  same  question,  to  which  he 
received  the  same  reply.  When  the  chaplain  left  the  temple,  as  he  walked  on,  his  oflScial 
attendant  asked  him  '  if  the  people  prayed  in  America?'  He  was  answered  in  the  affirmative, 
and  Mr.  Jones,  dropping  on  one  knee,  joined  his  hands,  and,  with  upturned  face,  closed  his 
eyes,  and  pointed  to  the  heavens,  to  intimate  by  signs  that  we  j^ray  to  a  being  there.  He  then 
asked  his  attendants  if  they  prayed  to  that  being  ?  He  replied :  "  Yes  ;  we  pray  to  Tien,"  their 
word  for  heaven  or  God. 

To  return  to  our  narrative  of  matters  connected  with  tho  funeral,  it  was  found,  in  a  few  days 
after  the  interment  of  our  countryman,  that  the  Japanese  authorities  had  caused  to  be  erected  a 
neat  picket  fence  around  the  American  graves,  before  it  was  known  to  our  officers.* 

After  a  farewell  visit  of  ceremony  on  shore,  and  an  interchange  of  courtesies  and  presents, 
(among  which  was  a  block  of  granite  for  the  Washington  monument,)  the  Powhatan  and 
Mississippi,  which  were  the  only  vessels  of  the  squadron  left,  took  their  departure  for  Simoda 

*  The  seamen  of  the  Vandalia,  to  the  crew  of  which  ship  the  deceased  hail  beloiif^cd,  with  a  pious  reverence  for  their 
departed  shipmates  sleeping  in  that  distant  land,  erected  a  gravestone,  npon  which  was  inscribed  an  epitaph  of  their  own 
composition,  in  the  following  words,  cut  by  the  Japanese  in  English  letters  from  a  copy  furnished  them  : 

"  Sleeping  on  a  foreign  shore, 
Rest,  sailor,  rest!    thy  trials  o'er; 
Thy  shipmates  leave  this  token  here. 
That  some,  perchance,  may  drop  a  tear 
For  one  that  braved  so  long  the  blast, 
And  served  his  country  to  the  last." 

The  want  of  poetic  inspiration  in  this  humble  tribute  may  well  be  forgiven  for  the  sake  of  its  mingled  affection  and  patriotism. 
Poor  Jack  may  not  be  able  to  u'ri(e  poetry,  and  yet  his  heart  may  feel  as  strongly  as  another  man's  those  deep  emotions  of  our 
nature  which  underlie  the  poet's  work,  when,  "  with  his  singing-robes  about  him,"  he  soars  aloft  with  his  impassioned  gushes 
of  spirit-stirring  song,  or,  it  may  bo,  in  gentler  mood,  breathes,  as  it  were,  on  jEolian  harp-strings,  making  the  sadder  "  music 
hat  can  move  to  tears." 


CONFER ENCK     WITU     TUE     COMMISSIONERS     AT     SIMODA.  477 

on  tho  3d  of  June,  1854.  The  steamers,  however,  had  hardly  got  under  way  at  early  sunrise, 
when  tliey  were  obliged  to  anchor  again  at  the  mouth  ot"  the  hay,  in  consequence  of  a  dense  fog. 
It  was  providential  that  tho  weather  had  remained  clear  a  sufhcient  time  to  allow  of  securing 
some  bearings  for  a  safe  anchorage.  As  the  day  advanced  the  fog  was  dissipated,  and  tlic  two 
steamers,  weighing  again,  got  clear  of  the  straits  before  night. 

On  tlie  fifth  day  out,  the  smoke  of  the  volcano  of  Oho-sima  was  discovered  in  the  distance, 
and  the  land  was  soon  distinctly  made  ;  but  the  weather  becoming  very  thick  from  the  rain  ai  d 
mist,  it  was  found  necessary  to  put  the  sliips'  lieads  off  shore  and  continue  under  low  steam 
during  the  night.  The  fog  continuing  while  the  ships  were  among  the  islands  in  the  Gulf  of 
Yedo,  caused  a  delay  of  full  twenty-four  hours,  and  they  consequently  did  not  arrive  at  Simoda 
until  the  7th  of  June,  which,  however,  was  one  day  before  the  time  appointed  for  a  meeting  of 
the  Commodore  -with  the  commissioners.  Nothing  of  especial  interest  occurred  during  the 
passage.  A  very  large  number  of  whales  was  observed,  and  the  strong  eastward  current  was 
remarked  as  before. 

At  noon,  the  Powhatan,  passing  Vandalia  bluff  at  the  entrance  of  Simoda  harbor,  ran  in  and 
came  to  anchor  in  her  former  berth,  followed  by  her  consort  the  Mississippi.  The  store-ship 
Supply  was  found  at  anchor  in  the  harbor.  Shortly  after  anchoring,  some  of  the  Japanese 
officers  came  on  board  the  flag-ship,  and  cordially  welcoming  the  Commodore  on  his  return  to 
Simoda,  informed  him  that  the  commissioners  had  arrived  from  Yedo  with  an  addition  of  two  to 
their  number.  As  the  Commodore  was  very  desirous  of  completing  his  business  with  these 
functionaries,  who,  judging  from  past  experience,  would  probably  be  somewhat  slow  in  all  their 
movements,  he  sent  his  flag-lieutenant  on  shore  to  propose  an  immediate  interview.  It  was 
ascertained  by  this  officer  that  the  commissioners  were  out  of  town,  but  very  soon  after  a 
message  arrived,  to  the  effect  that  they  would  return  at  once,  and  be  in  readiness  to  meet  the 
Commodore  the  next  day  at  noon. 

The  Commodore  landed  with  a  suitable  escort  on  the  next  day,  and  was  received  at  the  temple 
by  the  commissioners,  with  the  usual  formal  compliments.  The  two  new  members  of  the 
commission  were  presented  by  name  and  title  as  Tzudsuki,  Suraga-no-kami,  (prince  of  Suraga,) 
and  Take-no-uchisetaro,  comptroller  of  the  revenues :  the  chief  commissioner  then  stated  that 
Simoda  had  been  made  an  imperial  city,  and  that  Izawa,  Prince  of  Mimasaki,  and  Tzudsuki 
had  been  apjiointed  its  governors,  with  Kura-kawa-kahei  and  Ise-sin-toheiro  as  lieutenant- 
governors.  In  conseqiience  of  this  new  organization  the  commissioners  declared  that  it  would 
be  necessary  to  establish  certain  boundaries  to  the  city  by  means  of  walls  and  gates,  in  order  to 
define  the  limits  of  the  imperial  jurisdiction  ;  and  asked  whether  the  Commodore  would  object 
to  the  erection  of  such,  with  the  understanding  that  the  Americans  should  have  the  privilege  of 
going  where  and  when  they  pleased  within  them,  and  beyond  them,  on  asJctng permission,  whicli 
permission  would  always  readily  be  granted.  Tire  Commodore  replied  that  he  had  no  desire  to 
interfere  with  any  plans  of  the  government,  provided  they  did  not  violate  the  stipulations  of 
the  treaty  ;  and,  reminding  them  that  the  Americans  had  a  perfect  right,  guarantied  to  them  by 
that  document,  of  moving  unmolested  within  the  limits  of  seven  U  or  ri,  said  that,  of  course, 
he  would  leave  what  was  beyond  that  distance  to  be  governed  by  their  own  regulations.*     It 


•  A  ri  is  equal  to  2  i\-„'j,  English  statute  miles  ;  G  feet  is  equal  to  1  ken  ;  60  kens  make  1  choo  ;  36  choos  make  1  ri.  T)io 
fans  of  the  Japanese  are  of  uniform  size,  six  of  tliem  making  five  Rnglish  foot.  They  are  used  as  mcitsuros,  recognised  by  tho 
laws. 


478  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

was  then  mutually  agreed  that  three  American  officers  should  accompany  the  Japanese  officers 
appointe  1  to  affix  the  boundaries,  and  regulate  the  erection  of  the  walls  and  gates  at  Simoda. 
The  Commodore,  however,  positively  refused  to  consent  that  Americans  should  ask  any  permis- 
sion of  the  Japanese  officers,  or  of  any  one  else,  to  go  anywhere  within  the  limits  of  the  seven 
ri  fixed  by  the  treaty,  they,  of  course,  conducting  themselves  properly  and  peaceably. 

The  great  discussion,  however,  was  concerning  the  boundaries  within  wliich  our  countrymen 
might  go  at  Hakodadi.  These  had  not  yet  been  settled  at  all.  The  Japanese  wished  to  confine 
Americans  within  the  city  itself;  but  as  the  Commodore  protested  most  strongly  against  this, 
the  subject  was  postponed  for  future  consideration.  Tire  commissioners  having  stated  that  a 
special  place  had  been  set  apart  for  the  burial  of  Americans,  asked  permission  to  have  the  body 
of  the  man  buried  at  Yoku-hama  removed  to  Simoda.  This  was  granted,  and  a  promise  made 
that  proper  persons  from  the  squadron  should  be  selected  to  assist  in  the  removal. 

The  suggestion  of  the  Commodore  that  pilots  and  a  harbor-master  be  appointed  was 
readily  acceded  to  by  tlie  commissioners,  who  promised  that  suitable  persons  should  be  chosen 
and  made  acquainted  with  their  duties.  The  conference  then  closed  and  was  resumed  on  the 
following  day,  in  the  course  of  which  the  question  again  came  up  in  regard  to  the  limits  at 
Hakodadi,  but  its  settlement  was,  for  the  second  time,  postponed.  A  general  conversation 
ensued  over  the  refreshments  with  which  the  Japanese  entertained  their  guests,  in  which  the 
commissioners  showed,  by  their  enquiries,  that  lively  interest  which  was  uniformly  exhibited 
among  the  educated  classes  in  the  events  transpiring  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  They 
were  very  curious  to  know  something  about  the  products  and  manufactures  of  the  United  States, 
and  asked  our  views  in  regard  to  China  and  its  revolution,  and  concerning  the  war  between 
Kussia  and  Turkey. 

Another  conference  took  place  on  the  succeeding  day,  but  without  any  definite  result  in 
regard  to  the  limits  at  Hakodadi,  although  the  question  was  discussed  for  several  hours.  An 
attempt  was  made  by  the  commissioners  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Commodore  to  a  regulation 
prohibiting  the  Americans  from  remaining  on  shore  after  sunset,  which  was  positively  refused. 
Two  (the  newly  appointed  commissioners)  had  been  chosen  expressly  to  settle  the  question  in 
regard  to  the  comparative  value  of  the  Japanese  and  United  States  currencies,  and  Pursers 
Speiden  and  Eldridge  were  selected  by  the  Commodore  to  confer  with  them  on  that  subject. 
An  important  result  ensued,  embodied  in  an  iiiteresting  and  valuable  report  made  by  those 
gentlemen  to  the  Commodore.* 

After  a  succession  of  daily  conferences,  which  continued  from  the  8th  to  the  ITth  of  June,  a 
mutual  agreement  was  finally  adjusted  on  the  latter  day,  in  regard  to  the  various  disputed 

*  Tho  following  correspondence  embraces  the  official  action  on  this  point  : 

UsMTED  States  Flag-ship  Powhatan,  Simoda,  Junt  12,  1854. 

Gevtlemex  :  You  are  hereby  appointed  to  the  duty  of  holding  communication  with  certain  Japanese  officials  delegated  by 
the  imperial  government,  in  conformity  with  the  treaty  of  Kanai^awa,  to  arrange  with  officers,  alil<e  delegated  by  nie,  tho  rate 
of  currency  and  exchange  which  shall  for  the  present  govern  the  payments  to  he  made,  by  the  several  ships  of  the  squadron,  for 
articles  that  havt  been  and  are  to  be  obtained  ;  also  to  establish,  as  far  as  can  be,  the  price  at  which  coal,  per  picul  or  ton,  can 
be  delivered  on  board  at  this  port  of  Simoda. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  the  rate  of  currency  or  exchange  which  may  be  agreed  upon  at  this  time  is  to  be  permanent ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  is  intended  only  to  answer  immediate  purposes.  Neither  you  nor  myself  are  sufficiently  acquainted  with  tho 
purity  and  value  of  the  Japanese  coins  to  establish  a  fixed  rate  of  exchange,  even  if  I  had  the  power  to  recognise  such 
arrangement. 

It  will,  however,  bo  very  desirable  for  you  to  make  yourselves  acquainted  with  all  the  peculiarities  of  tho  Japanese  currency, 


ADDITION  A  I,      REGULATIONS.  470 

points  of  detail  not  specified  in  the  treaty.     These  are  embodied  in  the  following  additional 
regulations  : 

Additional  regulations,  agreed  to  between  Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry,  special  envoy  to  Japan 
from  the  United  States  of  America,  and  Hayashi  Daigaku-no-kami  ;  Ido,  Prince  of  Tsiis-sima  ; 
Izawa,  Prince  of  Mimasaki ;  Tsudzuki,  Prince  of  Suruga ;  Udono,  member  of  the  board  of 
revenue;  Take-no-uchi  Sheifaro,  and  Matsnsaki  Jlichitaro,  commissioners  of  the  Emperor  of 
Japan,  on  behalf  of  their  respective  governments. 

Article  I. — The  imperial  governors  of  Simoda  will  place  watcli  stations  wherever  they  deem 
best,  to  designate  the  limits  of  their  jurisdiction  ;  but  Americans  are  at  liberty  to  go  through 

and  also,  if  practicable,  with  the  laws  appertaining  thereto,  as  the  information  will  be  valuable   in  facililatino-  all   future 
negotiations  upon  the  subject. 

You  will,  of  course,  before  entering  into  any  agreement  which  may  be  considered  binding,  refer  to  me. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

M.  C.  PERRY, 
Commander-in-chief  i<f  the  United  States  .\aral  Forces  in  the  East  India  and  China  Seas. 
Purser  William  Speides-,   United  States  Aory. 
Purser  J.  C.  Eldkidge,  United  States  Aouj/. 


Un-ited  States  Steam-frigate  Powhatan,  Simoda,  June  15,  1854. 

Sir:  The  committee  appointed  by  you,  in  your  letter  of  the  12th  instant,  to  confer  with  a  committee  from  the  Japanese 
commissioners  in  reference  to  the  rate  of  exchange  and  currency  between  the  two  nations  in  the  trade  at  the  ports  opened,  and 
to  settle  the  price  of  coal  to  be  delivered  at  this  port,  beg  leave  to  report  ; 

The  Japanese  committee,  it  was  soon  seen,  came  to  the  conference  with  their  minds  made  up  to  adhere  to  the  valuation  they 
had  already  set  upon  our  coins,  even  if  the  alternative  was  the  immediate  cessation  of  trade.  The  basis  upon  which  they  made 
their  calculation  was  the  nominal  rate  at  which  the  government  sells  bullion  when  it  is  purchased  from  the  mint,  and  which 
Seems  also  to  be  that  by  which  the  metal  is  received  from  the  mines.  The  Japanese  have  a  decimal  system  of  weight,  like  the 
Chinese,  of  catty,  tael,  mace,  candareen,  and  cash,  by  which  articles  in  general  are  weighed;  but  gold  and  silver  are  not 
reckoned  above  taels.  In  China,  a  tael  of  silver,  in  weight,  and  one  in  currency  are  the  same,  for  the  Chinese  have  no  silver 
coin  ;  but  in  Japan,  as  in  European  countries,  the  standard  of  value  weight  and  that  of  currency  weio-ht  differ.  We  were  told 
that  a  tael  weight  of  silver  has  now  come  to  be  reckoned,  when  it  is  bullion,  as  eqijal  to  225  candarecns,  or  2  taels,  2  mace, 
5  candareens  ;  but,  when  coined,  th«  same  amount  in  weight  is  held  to  be  worth  6  taels,  4  mace.  It  is  at  the  bullion  value  that 
the  government  has  decided  to  receive  our  dollar,  the  same  at  which  they  take  the  silver  from  the  mines  ;  asserting  that,  as  its 
present  die  and  assay  give  it  no  additional  value,  it  is  worth  no  more  to  them.  In  proportion  to  a  tael  a  dollar  wein-lis  7  mace 
1  1-5  candareen,  which,  at  the  rates  of  bullion  value,  makes  it  worth  I  tael,  6  mace,  or  1,61)0  cash.  Thus  the  Japanese 
government  will  make  a  profit  of  66j  per  cent,  on  every  dollar  paid  them  of  full  weight,  with  the  trifling  deduction  of  the 
expense  of  re-coining  it.  The  injustice  of  this  arrangement  was  shown,  and  the  proprietv  of  paying  to  the  seller  himself  the 
coin  we  gave  at  this  depreciated  rate  urged,  but  in  vain. 

For  gold  the  rate  is  more,  as  the  disparity  between  the  value  of  bullion  and  that  of  coin,  among  the  Japanese,  is  not  so  oreat. 
A  tael  weight  of  gold  is  valued  at  19  taels  in  currency,  and  a  mace  at  1  tael,  9  mace.  The  gold  dollar  weighs  almost  5 
candareens,  but  the  Japanese  have  reckoned  it  as  the  twentieth  part  of  a  $20  piece,  which  they  give  as  8  mace,  8  candareens  ; 
and,  consequently,  the  dollar  is  only  4  candareens,  4  cash.  This  weight  brings  the  gold  dollar,  wlien  compared  with  the  tael  of 
bullion  gold  worth  19  taels,  to  be  worth  83G  cash,  and  the  $20  piece  to  be  worth  10,720  cash,  or  16  taels,  7  mace,  2  candareens. 
This,  when  converted  into  a  silver  value,  makes  a  gold  dollar  worth  52J  cents,  and  a  §20  piece  %vorth  §10  45,  at  which  the 
Japanese  propose  to  take  them.  IJut  this  valuation  of  the  gold  dollar  at  52^  cents,  when  reckoned  at  8.36  cash,  its  assessed 
value  by  the  Japanese  government,  suffers  the-  same  depreciation  as  our  silver  ;  and  its  real  value,  when  compared  with  the 
inflated  currency  in  use  among  the  people,  is  only  about  17 i  cents.  Consequently,  by  this  estimate,  gold  becomes  50  per  cent, 
worse  for  us  to  pay  in  than  silver.  The  currency  value  of  a  gold  dollar,  taking  the  iehibu  as  of  equal  purity,  and  comparing 
them  weight  for  weight.  Is  only  1,045  cash,  or  nearly  22  cents  in  silver  ;  so  that  the  actual  depreciation  on  the  part  of  the 
Japanese  is  not  so  great  as  silver — being  for  the  two  metals,  when  weishcd  with  each  other,  for  silver  as  100  to  33;,  and  for 
gold  as  22  to  17.  The  elements  of  this  comparison  are  not  quite  certain,  and  therefore  its  results  are  somewhat  doubtful  ;  but 
the  extraordinary  discrepancy  of  both  metals,  compared  with  our  coins  and  with  their  own  copper  coins,  shows  how  the 
government  has  inflated  the  whole  monetary  system  in  order  to  benefit  itself. 

The  parties  could  come  to  no  agreement,  as  wo  declined  to  consent  to  the  proposals  of  the  Japanese,  who  were  decided  to 
adhere  to  their  valuation  of  a  silver  dollar  at  1  tael,  6  mace,  or  1.6  10  c.isli  ;  neither  wouM  they  consent  to  do  justly  by  us  in 
relation  to  the  moneys  paid  ihem  at  this  place  before  our  departnro  for  llakodadi,  nt  the  rale  "f  only    I  tael,  2  niaco,  or  1,200 


480  EXi'EDlTIONTOJAPAN. 

them,  unrestricted,  withia  the  limits  of  seven  Japanese  ri,  or  miles  ;  and  those  who  are  found 
transgressing  Japaaese  laws  may  be  apprehended  by  the  police  and  taken  on  board  their  ships. 

Article  II. — Tliree  landing-places  shall  be  constructed  for  the  boats  of  merchant  ships  and 
whale-ships  resorting  to  this  port ;  one  at  Simoda,  one  at  Kakizaki,  and  the  third  at  the  brook 
lying  southeast  of  Centre  Island.  The  citizens  of  the  United  States  will,  of  course,  treat  the 
Japanese  officers  with  proper  respect. 

Article  III. — Americans,  when  on  shorCj  arc  not  allowed  access  to  military  establishments 
or  private  houses  without  leave  ;  but  they  can  enter  shops  and  visit  temples  as  they  please. 

Article  IV. — Two  temples,  the  Rioshen  at  Simoda,  and  the  Yokushen  at  Kakizaki,  are 
assigned  as  resting-places  for  persons  in  their  walks,  until  public  houses  and  inns  are  erected 
for  their  convenience. 

Article  V. — Near  the  temjjle  Yokushen,  at  Kakizaki,  a  burial-ground  has  been  set  apart  for 
Americans,  where  their  graves  and  tombs  shall  not  be  molested. 

Article  VI. — It  is  stipulated  in  the  treaty  of  Kanagawa,  that  coal  will  be  furnished  at 
Hakodadi ;  but  as  it  is  very  difficult  for  the  Japanese  to  supply  it  at  that  port.  Commodore 
Perry  promises  to  mention  this  to  his  government,  in  order  that  the  Japanese  government  may 
be  relieved  from  the  obligation  of  making  that  port  a  coal  depot. 

Article  VII. — It  is  agreed  that  henceforth  the  Chinese  language  shall  not  be  employed  in 
official  communications  between  the  two  governments,  except  when  there  is  no  Dutch  interpreter. 

Article  VIII. — A  harbor-master  and  three  skilful  pilots  have  been  appointed  for  the  port  of 
Simoda. 

Article  IX. — Whenever  goods  are  selected  in  the  shops,  they  shall  be  marked  with  the  name 
of  the  purchaser  and  the  price  agreed  upon,  and  then  be  sent  to  the  Goyoshi,  or  government 
office,  where  the  money  is  to  be  paid  to  Japanese  officers,  and  the  articles  delivered  by  them. 

Article  X. — The  shooting  of  birds  and  animals  is  generally  forbidden  in  Japan,  and  this 
law  is  therefore  to  be  observed  by  all  Americans. 

Article  XI. — It  is  hereby  agreed  that  five  Japanese  ri,  or  miles,  be  the  limit  allowed  to 
Americans  at  Hakodadi,  and  tlie  requirements  contained  in  Article  I,  of  these  Regulations,  are 
hereby  made  also  applicable  to  that  port  within  that  distance. 

Article  XII. — His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan  is  at  liberty  to  appoint  whoever  he  pleases 
to  receive  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  Kanagawa,  and  give  an  acknowledgment  on  his  part. 

cafih,  to  the  dollar,  by  which  they  had  made  a  profit  of  75  per  cent,  on  each  dollar,  stating  that  the  money  paid  them  at  this 
rate  had  passed  out  of  tlicir  hands  ;  and,  moreover,  that  the  prices  placed  upon  the  articles  furnished  had  been  cluirgcd  at 
reduced  prices  with  reference  to  the  low  value  placed  upon  the  dollar. 

For  the  amount  due  and  unsettled,  for  supplies  received  at  Yoku-hama,  and  on  account  of  wliich  Purser  Eldridge  paid 
Moryama  Yenoskc,  imperial  interpreter,  $350  in  gold  and  silver,  that  they  might  be  assayed  and  tested  at  Yodo,  they  consent 
to  receive  the  dollar  at  the  valuation  now  placed  on  them  ;  that  is,  at  the  rate  of  1,630  cash  for  the  silver  dollar. 

We  carefully  investigated  the  price  of  the  coal  to  bo  delivered  to  vessels  in  this  port.  We  learn  that  10,000  catties  or  100 
piculs  have  arrived  ;  and  this,  at  the  rate  of  1,6-iO  catties  to  a  ton  of  2,340  pounds,  or  IG  l-.)  piculs,  costs  2G'2  taels,  G  mace, 
5  candareens,  3  cash,  or  fjil64  16  ;  making  the  rate  to  be  g"27  91  per  ton.  Tlie  Japanese  state  that  tlie  price  of  coal  would  be 
considerably  reduced  as  the  demand  for  it  increased,  and  their  facilities  for  mining  becacne  more  perfect. 

In  conclusion,  we  take  pleasure  in  expressing  our  thanks  to  Messrs.  Williams  and  Portman,  whoso  services  as  interpreters 
were  indispensable,  and  from  whom  we  received  important  aid  in  our  investigations. 
We  have  the  honor  to  be,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants, 

WILLIAM  SPEIDEN,  Purser  Unilid  Slates  Xavy. 
}.  C.  ELDRIDGE,  Purser  United  Stales  .Xnnj. 
Commodore  M.  C.  Perry, 

Commandevin-chief  of  llie  UnVed  Slates  J^'^ai'al  Forces  in  the  Eitst  hidia  and  China  Seas. 


JAPANESE     COAL.  481 

It  Is  .agreed  that  nothinp;  lierein  contiiincd  shall  in  any  way  affect  or  modify  the  stipulations 
of  the  treaty  of  Kanagawa,  should  that  be  found  to  be  contrary  to  these  regulations. 

In  witness  whereof,  copies  of  these  additional  regulations  have  been  signed  and  sealed  in  the 
English  and  Japanese  languages  by  the  resjiective  parties,  and  a  certified  translation  in  the 
Dutch  language,  and  exchanged  by  the  commissioners  of  the  United  States  and  Japan. 
SiiiODA,  Japax,  June  Vl,  1854. 

M.  C.  TERPtY, 
Commander-in-chief  of  (he  U.  S.  Naval  Forces,  East  India, 

China,  and  Japan  Seas,  and  Special  Envoy  to  Japan. 

These  regulations  were  agreed  to  on  the  part  of  the  commissioners  only  after  a  very  hard 
struggle.  The  question  of  limits  to  the  Americans,  both  at  Simoda  and  Hakodadi,  was  the  one 
most  difficult  of  adjustment,  in  consequence,  as  it  appeared,  of  the  trouble  in  reconciling  the 
imperial  and  local  jurisdictions.  The  commissioners  urged  that  the  authority  of  the  Empire 
did  not  extend  as  far  as  the  seven  Japanese  ri,  or  sixteen  English  miles,  guarantied  to  the 
Americans  by  the  treaty  of  Kanagawa.  The  Japanese  officers  had  pointed  out  three  positions 
to  the  American  officers,  who  had  been  designated  by  the  Commodore  to  be  present,  as  the  sites 
for  the  gates  and  walls.  Neither  of  these  was  distant  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Centre 
Island,  the  starting  point  agreed  upon  from  which  to  mark  the  boundary.  The  gates  were 
finally  erected  at  the  spots  indicated,  when  the  commissioners  formally  proposed  that  the 
Commodore  should  now  assent  to  a  regulation  making  it  necessary  for  Americans  desiring  to 
pass  beyond  them  to  obtain  permission  first  from  the  Japanese  officer  on  duty.  But  the 
Commodore  peremptorily  refused,  and  was  firm  in  resisting  all  efforts,  great  or  small,  to 
weaken,  in  the  slightest  degree,  the  concessions  already  made  to  the  Americans  by  the  treaty. 
He  intimated,  however,  a  willingness  to  assent  to  such  regulations  as  were  undoubtedly  necessary 
to  govern  the  Japanese  authorities  as  well  as  the  Americans ;  but  as  for  modifying  or  in  any 
way  altering  the  treaty,  he  wished  them  distinctly  to  understand  that  it  was  entirely  impossible. 
In  regard  to  the  limits  at  Hakodadi,  the  commissioners  at  first  wished  to  confine  them  to 
one  street,  then  to  the  whole  town,  then  to  the  projecting  promontory  extending  toward 
the  sea,  next  to  three  Japanese  ri,  and  then  to  three  and  a  half.  They  thus  contested 
the  ground,  inch  by  inch.  The  Commodore  proposed  that  the  Americans  should  enjoy 
the  same  extent  of  boundary  as  had  been  granted  at  Simoda ;  but  this  was  so  pertina- 
ciously opposed  that  it  was  thought  expedient  to  compromise  for  five  Japanese  ri,  or  twelve 
English  miles ;  and  as  the  country  in  the  neighborhood  of  Hakodadi  is  mountainous  and 
sparsely  settled,  this  restriction  will  prove  of  no  great  consequence.  Nothing,  however,  was 
more  apparent  than  that  the  Japanese,  admonished  by  their  old  Portuguese  experience,  were 
exceedingly  reluctant  to  allow  Christian  foreigners  to  come  among  them  at  all,  even  for 
temporary  purposes. 

The  Japanese  authorities  had,  in  accordance  with  their  agreement,  supplied  the  steamers 
at  Simoda  with  some  of  their  native  coal.  It  had  been  brought  from  their  mines,  at 
considerable  trouble  and  expense,  in  hampers  made  of  rice-straw.  Notwithstanding  the  country 
is  said  to  produce  large  quantities  of  this  mineral,  and  the  people  are  reported  to  have  been  long 
familiar  with  its  uses,  the  coal  they  supplied  appeared  to  be  surface  coal,  and  to  have  been 
obtained  from  mines  which  had  not  been  opened  thoroughly  and  worked.  On  being  tried  on 
61  J 


482 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


board  the  steamers,  the  engineers  reported  tliat  it  was  of  a  equality  so  inferior  that  they  were 
unable  to  keep  up  steam  with  it.  They  liave,  liowever,  very  good  coal,  and  the  experiments 
practically  made  on  specimens  brought  home  by  the  squadron  give  the  following  results.  A 
careful  chemical  analysis  made  at  the  navy  yard  laboratory,  Brooklyn,  will  be  found  in  the 
Appendix. 

"Navy  Yard,  New  York,  January  8,  1856. 

"Sir:  In  compliance  with  your  order  of  November  5,  to  subject  to  suitable  tests  samples  of 
Japan  and  Formosa  coals,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  their  respective  qualities  as  fuel,  we 
respectfullj'  report,  as  follows,  viz  : 

"  As  both  the  Japan  and  Formosa  coals  are  of  bituminous  character,  we  have  used,  as  a 
standard  of  comparison,  the  best  quality  of  Cumberland  coal,  and  conducted  the  test  upon  a 
scale  sufficiently  large,  that  incidental  causes,  of  a  minor  character,  always  attending  experi- 
ments, Avould  not  be  likely  to  materially  affect  the  correctness  of  the  results  obtained. 

"  The  test  was  made  in  a  boiler  of  the  drop-flue  form,  having  thirty -nine  square  feet  of  grate 
surface.  The  engine  worked  from  this  boiler  has  a  cylinder  of  thirty-six  inches  diameter,  with 
four  feet  length  of  stroke,  and  operates  the  machinery  in  the  machine  shop  of  this  yard  ;  the 
work  is  so  nearly  equal,  at  each  moment  of  time,  that  the  resistance  may  be  considered  constant. 

"The  experiments  were  conducted  for  consecutive  days  with  the  different  kinds  of  coal,  and 
the  quantity  consumed  at  the  expiration  of  each  day's  work  accurately  noted,  which  was 
required  to  maintain  as  nearly  an  equal  pressure  of  steam  as  possible. 

"The  following  table  embraces  the  results  obtained  of  the  comparative  evaporative  effect  of 
the  two  coals,  and  also  the  comparative  stowage: 

CUMBERLAND  COAL. 


Date. 

Hour. 

Steam 
pressure. 

Remarks. 

Date. 

Hour. 

Steam 
pressure. 

Remarks. 

1855. 
Dec.  27 

8  A.  M. 

14 

1855. 
Dec.  28 

8  A.  M. 

15 

9  a.  m. 

15 

9  A.  M. 

16 

10  A.  U. 

15 

10  A.  M. 

15 

11  A.  M. 

13 

11  A.  M. 

14 

12  A,  M. 

14 

12  A.  M. 

15 

1  P.   M. 

15 

Coal  consumed,  1,900  lbs. 

IP.  M. 

13 

Coal  consumed,  1,950  lbs. 

2  p.  M. 

13 

2  p.  M. 

15 

3  p.  M. 

14 

3  p.  M. 

14 

4  P.   M. 

14 

4  p.  M. 

14 

4.30  p.  M. 

15 

4.30  p.  M. 

13 

40  cubic  feet  displaced  for 
one  ton  of  coal. 

ArjceriiuuiXtzfiJVBii>tuiMa4-Vi 


COAL     IN     JAPAN', 
FORMOSA  COAL. 


483 


Dale. 

Hour. 

Steam 
pressure. 

Remarks. 

Date. 

Hour. 

Steam 
pressure. 

Remarks. 

18.i5. 
Dec.  29 

8  A.  M. 

16 

1855. 
Dec.  31 

8  a  m. 

16 

9  A.  M. 

14 

9  A.  M. 

15 

10  A.  M. 

13 

10  A.  M. 

14 

11   A.M. 

15 

11  A.  M. 

14 

12  A.  M. 

13 

12  a  m. 

13 

IP    M. 

14 

Coal  consumed,  2,957  lbs. 

1  P.   M. 

15 

Coal  consumed,  3,036  lbs. 

2  P.  M. 

16 

2  p.  M. 

14 

3  p.  M. 

13 

3  p.  M. 

14 

4  P.  M. 

14 

4  p.  M. 

13 

4.30  P.  H. 

14 

4.30  p.  M. 

14 

40  cubic  feet  displaced  for 
one  ton  of  coal. 

JAPAN  COAL. 


Date. 


Hour. 


Steam 
pressure. 


Remarks. 


Date.     I       Hour. 


Steam 
pressure,  i 


Remarks. 


1856. 
Jan.     2 

8  A.  M. 

9  A.  M. 

10  a  m. 

11  A.  M. 

12  A.  M. 

14 
13 
13 
12 
14 

1856. 
Jan.     3 

8  A     M. 

9  A.   M. 

10  A.  M. 

11  A.   M. 

12  A.  M. 

12 
13 
14 
13 
14 

1  P.  M. 

13 

Coal  consumed 

3,700  lbs. 

I  P.  M. 

15 

Coal  consumed,  3,648  lbs. 

2  p.  M. 

15 

2  P.  M. 

14 

3  p.  M. 

14 

3  p.  M. 

14 

4  p.  M. 

14 

4  p.  M. 

15 

4.30  p.  M. 

13 

4.30  p.  .M. 

14 

37  cubic  feet  displaced  for 
one  ton  of  coal. 

"The  Formosa  coal  burns  freely,  leaving  but  a  small  amount  of  ashes  and  scoria. 
"  The  Japan  coal  produces  considerable  scoria  and  ashes.     The  sample  of  this  coal  was  taken 
from  the  out-croppings  of  the  vein,  and  will,  undoubtedly  yield  a  much  superior  quality  at  a 
greater  depth. 

"JESSE  GAY,  Chief  Engineer. 
"WILLIAM  E.  EVERETT,  Chief  Engimer. 
"  Captain  Abrah.\m  Bigelow, 

"Commandant  Navy  Yard,  New  York." 

Whether  the  shrewd  Japanese  supplied  an  inferior  ([uality  to  deceive  their  visitors,  or 
whether  from  ignorance  of  the  article  and  want  of  mining  skill  they  innocently  brought 
that  which  was  inferior,  cannot  be  certainly  decidetl ;  but  as  good  coal  certainly  exists  in 
Japan,  and  as  the  natives  not  only  use  it,  but,  according  to  Von  Siebold,  know  very  well  how 
to  mine  it,  the  probabilities  are  that  they  purposely  furnished  tlie  poorest  samples.  When  the 
Preble  was  at  Nagasaki,  and  they  saw  the  armorer  on  board  at  work  at  liis  forge,  they 
pretended  that  they  did  not  know  wliat  coal  was,  and  actually  took  a  piece  on  shore  as  a 


484  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

t 

curiosity,  expressing,  with  well  feigned  astonishment,  their  surprise  at  seeing  a  "stone"  tha 
would  burn.  The  coal  that  was  obtained  was  cliarged  at  the  enormous  rate  of  about  $28  per 
ton  ;  but  the  Japanese  stated  that  the  price  would  be  probably  much  reduced  as  the  demand  for 
it  increased,  and  their  facilities  for  obtaining  it  improved.  We  are  inclined  to  think,  after  a 
careful  examination  of  the  particulars  of  the  interviews  and  conferences  with  them  ou  all 
topics,  that  on  no  one  subject  did  they  misrepresent  more  unscrupulously  than  on  that  of  coal. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  they  liave  an  abundance,  and  some  of  it  very  good. 

As  the  negotiations  with  the  commissioners  had  now  terminated,  the  Commodore  prepared  for 
his  final  departure,  and  accordingly  was  desirous  of  settling  the  accounts  of  the  ships  with  the 
local  authorities.  Proper  officers  were  accordingly  sent  on  shore  to  receive  from  the  governor  a 
statement,  with  the  prices  of  the  various  articles  with  which  the  squadron  had  been  furnished.* 

Among  other  accounts  was  a  bill  for  spars,  which  had  been  ordered  previous  to  leaving  for 
Halvodadi ;  but  upon  investigation  it  was  found  that,  although  charged,  they  had  not  yet  been 
prepared  or  delivered,  and  that  even  the  trees  from  which  they  were  to  be  made  had  not  yet 
been  cut  down.  The  bazaar  had  also  been  opened  for  several  days,  and  was  supplied  with  the 
various  articles  of  Japanese  manufacture  which  the  Americans  desired  to  purchase  and  take 
home  as  memorials  of  the  expedition.  The  prices  charged,  however,  were  so  exorbitant  that 
the  Commodore  was  obliged  to  protest  against  the  conduct  of  the  authorities  in  this  respect,  and 
to  rebuke  them  for  the  neglect,  not  to  call  it  b}^  a  harsher  term,  in  not  having  the  spars  ready, 
although  they  had  been  charged  for  as  if  furnished. 

The  protest  and  complaints  of  the  Commodore  having  been  laid  before  the  governor.  Prince 
Agawa,  that  functionary  sent  Moryama  Yenoske,  the  interpreter,  on  board  the  flag-ship  with  a 
respectful  rejoinder  to  the  efiect  that  the  prices  of  articles  offered  for  sale  in  the  bazaar  had  been 
arranged  at  Yedo,  and  that  they  were  not  above  the  usual  market  valuation.  It  was  then 
explained  by  the  flag-lieutenant  that,  although  the  prices  in  Chinese  ' '  cash  ' '  might  not  appear 
exorbitant  to  the  Japanese,  yet  that  they  were  really  so  to  the  Americans,  who  were  obliged  to 
pay  in  dollars,  at  a  depreciation  much  below  their  value.  Moryama  Yenoske  explained  the 
afiair  of  the  spars  by  declaring  that  he  was  responsible  for  what  he  was  pleased  to  term  the 
error,  as  he  supposed  that  all  the  Commodore  had  asked  for  was  the  cost  of  spars,  and  did  not 
understand  that  an  order  had  been  given  for  a  supply  of  them.     Subsequently,  the  Commodore 

*  Tlio  cost  of  the  various  supplies,  which  are  those  ordinarily  required  by  foreign  vessels,  is  hero  given,  us  it  may  be  of 
interest  and  value  to  future  navigators. 

Prices  of  supplies  at  Simoda. 

Six  fans  =  5  English  feel. 

1  spar,  82  fans  long,  diameter  1  fan  3.G-10  inches   -  $108  60 

2  spars,  50  fans  G  inches  long,  diameter  8  inches  -  27  00 
2  ditto,  73  fans  7  in.  long,  diameter  1  fan  2.8-10  in.  176  10 
2  ditto,  47  fans  3  inches  long,  diameter  8  inches  -  25  50 
2  ditto,  52  fans  8  inches  long,  diameter  8  inches  -  27  00 
2  ditto,  3!)  fans  G  inches  long,  diameter  G.4-10  inches  10  40 
2  ditto,  55  fans  long,  diameter  8  inches  -  -  -  30  00 
1  ditto,  GG  fnis  long,  diameter  1  fan  1.2-10  inches  -  54  40 

1  ditto,  44  fans  long,  diameter  7.2-10  inches  -         -  7  80 

2  ditto,  4!l  fans  long,  diameter  8  inches  -  -  -  25  50 
2  ditto,  4G  fans  long,  diameter  7.2-10  inches  -  -  19  50 
2  ditto,  .30  fans  8  5-10  in.  long,  diameter  7.2-10  in.  13  00 
2  ditto,  49  fans  5  in.  long,  diameter  1  fan  1.2-10  in.  95  20 
2  ditto,  33  fans  long,  diameter  4  8-10  inches  -  -  71  49 
2  ditto,  55  fans  long,  diaincler  1  fan  2.8-10  inches  1G3  20 


1,200  C«s/i  =  Sl. 

Wood $G  75. 

Kggs 7  for  10  cents. 

Chickens         -        -        -        -        39  cents  each. 
Fish        -        .        .        .        .        from  174  to  89  cents  each 
Cray -fish  -        -        -        -        3!  cents  each. 

Ditto       -----         ]li  cents  per  cattee. 
Cabbage  -        -        -        -         18  cents  per  sack. 

Radishes  -        .        -        -         12' cents  per  sack. 

Potatoes  ...         -         3a  cents  per  sack. 

Unions  -        -        -        -        10  cents  per  sack. 

(The  sack  holds  a  little  more  than  an  English  bushel.) 


SAM      PATCH.  485 

and  some  of  liis  officers  went  on  slioro  and  iiartook  of  a  liaudsorae  collation,  at  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  the  commissioners,  who,  on  the  occasion,  made  an  ample  apology  for  the  various 
errors  and  misunderstandings  which  had  interrujited  the  friendly  intercourse  between  the 
Americans  and  the  authorities.  The  Commodore  explained  that  it  was  a  principle  he  had  been 
contending  for,  and  not  the  comparatively  unimportant  consideration  of  a  few  Inmdred  dollars, 
more  or  less,  as  his  government  had  jdaced  ample  means  in  his  hands,  and  he  was  disposed  to 
pay  liberally  for  all  he  had ;  but  neither  the  United  States  nor  he  were  at  all  willing  to  bo 
imposed  upon.  Moryama  Yenoske,  who  was  always  the  most  active  of  all  the  officials,  and  was 
now  the  chief  spokesman,  said  that  the  Americans  might  purchase  any  articles  they  pleased  at 
their  own  valuation.  This  offer  was,  of  course,  rejected  ;  and  Yenoske  then  assumed,  in  behalf 
of  himself  and  his  fellow-interpreter,  Tatsnoske,  the  whole  blame,  not  only  in  regard  to  the 
spars,  but  the  exorbitant  prices  and  all  the  other  wrongs  which  had  given  rise  to  complaint. 
Indeed,  these  two  worthy  gentlemen  seemed  to  be  convenient  mediums  through  which  their 
superiors  might  render  a  vicarious  expiation  for  their  offences.  They  were  ever  ready  to 
shoulder  all  the  responsibility  for  anything  wrong.  Yenoske,  however,  was  very  civilly  told 
that,  although  the  Commodore  could  ajj^jreciate  the  self-sacrificing  devotion  with  which  he 
shouldered  all  the  blame,  yet  that  it  was  not  a  victim  that  was  sought,  but  merely  a  correction 
of  certain  evil  practices  which,  if  not  checked  in  the  beginning,  might  lead  to  disaffection  and 
serious  quarrel.  A  perfect  reconciliation  then  ensued,  which  was  appropriately  sealed  by  a 
present  from  the  commissioners  of  a  block  of  stone  for  the  Washington  monument,  which  was 
to  be  carried  to  the  United  States  as  a  tribute  from  Japan  to  the  memory  of  the  great  father  of 
our  republic.  Nothing  afterwards  occurred  to  interrupt  friendly  relations,  and  frequent 
intercourse,  which  grew  more  and  more  intimate  as  the  day  of  departure  approached,  took  place 
with  all  classes  on  shore.  Handsome  presents  were  exchanged,  and  some  choice  articles  of 
Japanese  manufacture  were  received  from  the  authorities  as  gifts  for  the  President  and  for  the 
officers  of  the  ships.  Among  the  gifts  were  three  Japanese  dogs,  sent  to  the  President.  These 
were  of  the  small  spaniel  breed,  already  alluded  to,  very  highly  esteemed  in  Japan,  and 
purchasable  only  at  a  very  large  price.  The  Commodore  succeeded  in  bringing  tliem  to  the 
United  States,  and  they  now  thrive  at  Washington.  The  Commodore  obtained  two  for  himself, 
one  only  of  which  reached  the  United  States. 

A  few  days  previous  to  the  departure  of  the  Commodore,  Moryama  Yenoske,  in  company  with 
several  other  officials,  came  on  board  the  Powhatan  to  request  that  the  Japanese  "Sam  Patch," 
of  whom  we  have  spoken,  should  be  allowed  to  remain  in  Japan.  They  were  told  that  the 
Commodore  had  no  objection  whatever  to  the  man's  remaining,  if  ho  wished  ;  but  that  it  must 
be  by  his  own  free  will,  and  that  the  commissioners  must  give  a  written  pledge  that  the  man 
should  not,  in  any  way,  be  punished  for  his  absence  from  Japan.  Moreover,  as  he  had  suffered 
shipwreck,  and  had  been  thrown,  by  God's  providence,  on  American  protection,  and  had 
entered  on  board  an  American  ship  by  his  own  choice,  he  was  entitled  to  all  the  protection  and 
security  of  an  American  citizen  ;  consequently  the  Commodore  could  allow  of  no  coercion  being 
resorted  to  to  make  the  man  remain  in  Japan.  The  Japanese  officials  ridiculed  the  idea  of  his 
suffering  any  harm  or  hurt  by  his  remaining  in  Jajjan,  and  said  that  the  commissioners  would 
cheerfully  give  any  guarantee  required  that  he  should  in  no  way  be  molested,  but  be  allowed  at 
once  to  return  to  his  friends,  who  were  very  anxious  to  sec  him.  Sam  was  now  called  up,  but 
all  the  eloquence  and  persuasiveness  of  tlie  Japanese  were  insufficient  to  induce  him  to  leave  the 


486  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

ship.  The  truth  is  that  Sam  never,  during  the  whole  stay  of  the  squadron  in  Japan,  appeared 
fully  to  understand  the  independence  and  safety  of  his  position.  Long  habit  had  so  impressed 
upon  him  the  cowardice  of  trembling  servility  before  his  .superiors  in  Japan,  that  it  was  very 
obvious  the  interview  with  the  officials  produced  no  emotion  but  abject  fear.  He  fell  on  his 
knees  before  them  after  the  manner  of  his  country,  and  would  have  remained  in  that  position  if 
Lieutenant  Bent,  who  was  determined  that  no  such  obsequiousness  should  be  shown  on  the  deck 
of  an  American  man-of-war,  and  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  to  anything  wearing  the 
human  firm,  had  not  perem])torily  ordered  him  immediately  to  rise  to  his  feet. 

Sam  had  tak«n  his  place  as  one  of  the  crew,  and  had  won  the  goodwill  of  his  shipmates 
generally  by  his  good  nature.  All  pitied  his  misfortunes,  and  one  of  the  marines  named  Goble, 
a  religious  man,  had  taken  a  special  interest  in  him  ;  finding  in  his  docility  and  intelligence 
promise  of  good  fruit  from  a  properly  directed  religious  training,  Goble  had  begun  with  him  a 
system  of  instruction  which  he  hoped  would  not  only  make  the  Japanese  a  fair  English  scholar, 
but  a  faithful  Christian.  Sam  came  to  the  United  States  in  the  Mississippi,  and  accompanied 
his  benevolent  shipmate  and  devoted  teacher  to  his  home  in  the  interior  of  Kew  York,  where 
Goble  has  property.  At  the  last  accounts  they  were  living  there  together,  and  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  hope  that  Sam,  with  the  education  of  his  faithful  American  friend,  may  be  an 
instrument,  in  tlie  event  of  his  return  to  Japan,  under  a  further  development  of  our  relations 
with  that  Empire,  of  aiding  in  the  introduction  of  a  higher  and  better  civilization  into  his  own 
country. 

It  will  be  recollected  that,  of  the  several  Japanese  who  had  been  picked  up  on  the  coast  of 
California  and  taken  to  Shanghai,  with  the  view  of  restoring  them  to  their  own  country,  Sam 
Patch  was  the  only  one  who  accompanied  the  expedition  to  Japan.  The  rest  were  all  afraid, 
and  Sam  went  with  fear  and  trembling.  On  the  return  of  the  Mississippi  to  China,  on  her  way 
home,  another  of  the  Japanese  expressed  a  wish  to  visit  the  United  States,  and  was  gratified  in 
his  desire  ;  this  was  the  young  man  whom  we  have  mentioned  on  a  former  page.  His  Japanese 
name  is  something  like  Dam-Kevitch ;  but  the  sailors,  with  their  usual  fondness  for  christening 
those  adopted  into  their  roving  family,  soon  called  him  Dan  Ketch.  It  was  fortunate  for  the 
poor  fellow  tliat  he  escaped  the  more  usual  nautical  cognomen  of  Jack;  for  that,  however 
respectable  in  itself,  would  have  made  a  much  less  reputable  combination  in  union  with  the 
Americo-Japanese  Ketch ;  and  poor  Dan  might  have  found  himself  undesirably  elevated  to  the 
office  of  a  hangman,  without  precisely  understanding  the  process  which  conferred  the  unenviable 
rank.  Dan  is  under  the  protection  of  the  Commodore,  and  evinces  great  intelligence  with  an 
eager  desire  for  knowledge.  Should  he  ever  return  to  Japan,  as  at  present  he  purposes,  after 
learning  more  about  us,  ho  will  doubtless  carry  home  with  him  no  small  amount  of  information 
about  our  country. 

The  Commodore  now  transferred  his  broad  pennant  i'roni  the  Powhatan  back  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  two  steamers  got  under  way  and  moved  down  to  the  outer  roads  of  Simoda,  where 
they  anchored  pre])aratory  to  their  final  departure.  Moryama  Yenoske,  in  company  with  some 
of  the  other  officials,  paid  a  farewell  visit  to  tlie  Commodore  on  that  day,  bringing  with  him 
the  closing  accounts  of  the  ships,  and  some  specimens  of  natural  history  as  presents.  A  hand- 
some entertainment  was  spread  before  the  visitors  in  the  cabin,  and  in  the  course  of  the  friendly 
conversation  aroimd  the  table,  a  Japanese  picture,  representing  the  punishment  of  crucifixion, 
was  shown  to  Yenoske.     This  had  been  purchased  at  Simoda,  by  some  of  our  officers,  and 


JAPANESE     PUNISHMENT     OF     CRUCIFIXION.  4S7 

its  presence  turned  the  conversation  on  the  subject  of  capital  i)unishiuents  in  Japan.  The 
Commodore  was  ghid  of  the  opportunity  to  procure  accurate  information  on  this  point,  inasmuch 
as  some  writers,  later  than  Kicmpfer,  have  denied  his  statement  that  crucifixion  is  a  Japanese 
mode  of  execution.  Yenoske  said  that  the  picture  itself  was  illustrative  merely  of  a  scene  in 
one  of  their  popular  farces  ;  but,  he  added,  that  reijicides  were  executed  somewhat  in  the 
manner  represented  in  the  picture,  being  first  nailed  to  a  cross  and  then  transfixed  with  a  spear. 
In  the  picture,  the  man  was  merely  tied  to  the  cross.  Decapitation,  however,  he  said,  was  the 
usual  mode  of  capital  punishment  for  murderers,  but  never  strangulation  or  hanging.  Upon 
Yenoske  being  asked  if  the  practice  of  the  Hari-kari  or  "Happy  dispatch"  still  j^revailed,  he 
replied  that  one  of  his  fellow  interpreters  had  committed  suicide  in  that  way,  in  his  presence, 
while  at  Nagasaki.  The  Commodore  then  inquired  if  it  were  true  that  the  governor  of  Nagasaki 
had  destroyed  himself,  after  the  visit  of  Captain  Pellew  in  1808  ;  and  Yenoske  declared  that  not 
only  the  governor  had  done  so,  but  that  two  other  high  officers  and  ten  subordinates  had 
followed  his  example.  The  Japanese,  after  a  prolonged  conviviality,  took  their  farewell  of  the 
Americans,  with  many  expressions  of  warm  attachment  to  their  visitors,  and  pulled  oS  for 
the  land. 

The  ships  were  now  all  in  readiness  for  departure.  The  Southampton,  which  had  arrived 
from  Volcano  Bay  on  the  tenth  of  June,  and  had  discharged  her  cargo  of  coal  into  the  steamers, 
the  Macedonian,  which  reached  Simoda  on  the  eleventh,  and  the  store-ship  Supply  that  had 
been  stationary  in  that  port  for  several  months,  with  the  Mississippi,  now  the  flag-ship,  and  the 
Powhatan,  composed  the  whole  squadron,  and  were  anchored  in  the  outer  bay,  preparatory  to 
sailing  for  their  respective  destinations.  Arrangements  had  been  made  to  carry  out  the  regula- 
tions agreed  to  with  the  authorities  in  regard  to  the  appointment  of  a  harbor-master  and  three 
pilots,  and  these  now,  at  the  last  moment,  were  completed  by  the  signature  of  Kura-kawa-kahei, 
the  deputy-governor,  to  a  written  contract,*  copies  of  which  were  made  in  English  and  Dutch, 

•  Regulalions  respecting  pilols,  and  the  supplying  of  .American  vessels  entering  the  port  of  Simoda. 

A  look-out  place  shall  be  established  at  some  convenient  point,  from  which  vessels  appearing  in  the  offing  can  be  seen  and 
reported,  and  when  one  is  discovered  making  apparently  for  the  harbor,  a  boat  shall  be  sent  to  her  with  a  pilot. 

And  in  order  to  carry  this  regulation  into  full  effect,  boats  of  suitable  size  and  quality  shall  always  be  kept  in  readiness  by 
the  harbor-master,  which,  if  necessary,  shall  proceed  beyond  Rock  island,  to  ascertain  whether  the  vessel  in  sight  intends 
entering  the  harbor  or  not.  If  it  may  be  the  desire  of  the  master  of  said  vessel  to  enter  port,  the  pilot  shall  conduct  her  to  safe 
anchorage,  and  during  her  stay  shall  render  every  assistance  in  his  power  in  facilitating  the  procurement  of  all  the  supplies  she 
may  require. 

The  rates  of  pilotage  shall  be  :  for  vessels  drawing  over  18  American  feet,  fifteen  dollars  ;  for  all  vessels  drawing  over  13  and 
less  than  18  feet,  ten  dollars  ;  and  for  all  vessels  under  13  feet,  five  dollars. 

These  rates  shall  be  paid  in  gold  or  silver  coin,  or  its  equivalent  in  goods,  and  the  same  shall  be  paid  for  piloting  a  vessel  out 
as  well  as  into  port. 

When  vessels  anchor  in  the  outer  harbor,  and  do  not  enter  the  inner  port,  only  half  the  above  rates  of  compensation  shall  be 
paid  to  the  pilot. 

The  prices  for  supplying  water  to  American  vessels  at  Simoda  shall  be  fourteen  hundred  cash  per  boat-load,  (the  casks  being 
furnished  by  the  vessel.)  And  for  wood  delivered  on  board,  about  seven  thousand  two  hundred  cash  per  cube  of  five  American 
feet. 

SILAS  BE.\T,  Flag  Lieutenant. 
KUKA-KAWA-KAIIEI,  Lieutenant  Governor. 

United  States  Steam-Frigate  Mississippi,  at  Sea,  June  28,  1854. 

Approved  :  M.  C.  PERRT, 

Commander-in-chief  United  States  .Voiul  Forces  East  India,  China,  and  Japan  Seas. 
UxiTED  States  Steam-Frigate  Mississippi,  Simoda,  Japan,  June  23,  1854. 

Bepalingen  met  betrekking  lot  loodsen,  en  het  leveren  van  bcnodigdhcdcn  aan  .Imerikaansche  schepen  in  Jen  haven  van  Simoda. 
Op  eene  daartos  goschikte  plaats  zal  een  uitkyk  wordcn  opgcrigt  van  waar  nchopon  in  do  nabylieid  komcndo  kunnon  worden 


488  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

and  deposited  with  the  Japanese  officials  at  Sinioda.  The  harbor-master  and  the  pilots,  after 
having  been  selected  by  the  local  authorities,  were  brought  to  the  Commodore  for  his 
confirmation  of  their  appointment.  The  Commodore,  having  signified  his  approval  of  the 
choice,  gave  to  the  harbor-master  a  spy-glass,  to  be  kept  always  at  the  look-out  place  and  to 

gczicn,  alsdan  zal  de  overheid  daarvan  verwiltigd,  en  een  boot  met  een  loods  aan  boord  naar  het  schip  afgezonden  worden  als 
lietzelvc  naar  deze  baven  scbynt  te  komen. 

Ten  einde  deze  bepaling  ten  voile  uit  te  voercn  zullen  booten  van  genoegzame  grootte  altyd  door  den  havenmcester  in 
gcreedbeid  worden  gehoviden,  welke  booten  als  zulks  nodig  mogt  zyn  zoover  als  Rots  eiland  (Mikomoto  Sinia)  znllcn  gaan  om 
to  ondcrzoeken  of  hot  scbip  in  gezigt  al  of  niet  in  den  baven  zal  komen.  Als  nu  de  scbipper  van  zulk  eon  scbip  den  baven  wil 
binnen  loopen,  zal  de  loods  betzelvo  naar  een  veiligo  ankerplaats  brengen,  en  gediirende  deszelfs  verblyf  aldaar  al  bet  mogelyko 
aanwenden,  om  het  verkrysen  van  wat  hetzelve  nodig  mogt  bebben,  gemakkelyk  te  niaken. 

Het  loon  van  den  loods  zal  zyn  voor  scbepen  meer  den  aclittien  Amerikaansclie  voeten  diep  in  het  water,  vyflien  dollars  ;  voo  r 
scliepen  meer  dan  dertien  en  minder  dan  achttien  voeten  diep  in  het  water,  tien  dollars  ;  en  vyf  dollars  voor  scbepen  minder 
dan  dertien  Amerikaanscbe  voeten  diep  in  bet  water. 

Dit  loon  zal  betaald  worden  in  gouden  of  zilveren  munt,  of  met  eeno  gelyke  waarde  in  goederen  en  evenveel  zal  betaald 
worden  voor  bet  uilloodsen,  als  voor  bet  naar  binnen  loodsen. 

Als  scbepen  niet  in  den  binnen  haven  komen,  docb  in  den  buiten  haven  ten  anker  gaan,  zal  alleen  de  lielft  van  do  bicrboven 
vastgestelde  loonen  worden  betaald. 

Amerikaanscbe  schepen  in  den  baven  van  Simoda,  zullen  kunnen  verkrygen  water  aan  boord  tegon  veertien  bondord  pitjeg 
(cash)  voor  een  volgeladcn  boot,  (de  watervaten  door  bet  scbip  geleend  wordende)  en  brandhout  aan  boord  geleverd  voor 
oncevcer  zeven  duizend  twee  honderd  pitjes  per  kubiek  iki,  of  kubick  van  vyf  Amerikaanscbe  voeten. 

SILAS  BENT,  Liji(enaii(  Jtljudant. 
KUR.\KAWA  KAHEI,  Luilenant  Gom-ernnir. 

Goedgekeurd  :  M.  C.  PERRY, 

Oppcrbcvelltehbcr  ran  de  Oorlogsmagt  van  de  Vereeniff  de  Slalen  in  de  zeeen  van  Oosl  Indie,  CliUin,  en  Japan. 

Eene  ware  vertaling,  A.  L.  C.  PORTMAN. 

V.  S    Stoom-Freg.\t  Mississippi,  Siiiiorfa,  7a;)aii,  (!c7i  23s(en  ./inii/,  1854. 


United  States  Steam-Frigate  Mississippi,  at  Sea,  June  27,  1854. 
This  is  to  certify  that  Yobatsi,  Hikoyemon,  and  D.sbirobe  have  been  appointed  pilots  for  American  vessels  entering  or 
departing  from  the  port  of  Simoda,  and  that  the  following  rates  for  pilotage  have  been  established  by  the  proper  authorities,  viz: 

For  vessels  drawing  over  eighteen  American  feet $15  00 

For  vessels  drawing  over  thirteen  and  less  than  eighteen  feet 10  00 

For  vessels  drawing  under  thirteen  feet • 5  00 

These  rates  shall  be  paid  in  gold  or  silver  coin,  or  its  equivalent  in  goods  ;  and  the  same  shall  be  paid  for  piloting  vessels  out 
as  well  as  into  port. 

When  vessels  anchor  in  the  outer  roads,  and  do  not  enter  the  inner  harbor,  only  half  the  above  rates  of  compensation  shall 
be  paid  to  the  pilots. 

By  order  of  the  Commander-in-chief: 

SILAS  BENT,  Flag  LieiUenant. 
Approved  :  M.  C.  PERRY, 

Commander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  J^aval  Forces  in  the  East  India,  China,  and  Japan  Seas. 
United  States  Steam-Frigate  Mississippi,  Simoda,  Island  of  Siphon,  Japan,  June  UH,  1854. 

Dit  dient  om  te  verklaren,  dat  Yoh.atsi,  Hikoyemon,  en  Dshirobe  bcnoomd  zyn  als  loodsen  voor  scliepenvan  do  Vereenigde 
Statcn  de  baven  van  Simoda  binnenkoraende,  of  uitgaande  ;  en  dat  hot  loon  voor  do  loodsen  door  de  bcvoegde  overheid  is 
vasgesteld  geworden  als  volgt : 

Voor  scliepen  over  18  Amerikaanscbe  voeten  diep  in  bet  water $15  00 

Voor  schepen  over  13  en  minder  d,an  18  voeten  diep 10  00 

Voor  schepen  onder  13  Am  :  voeten  deip 5  00 

Dit  loen  zal  betaald  worden  in  gouden  of  zilveren  munt  of  met  eeno  gelyko  waarde  in  goederen  ;  en  hctzelfde  zal  betaald 
worden  voor  het  binnen  komen  als  wel  als  voor  het  uitgaan. 

Als  schepen  in  den  buitenbavcn  ankeron  er  niet  naar  binnen  gaan,  zal  allccn  do  belfl  van  do  bicrboven  vastgcstcldo  loonon 
worden  betaald. 

Op  last  van  den  Opperbovelhebber  : 

SILAS  BENT,  Luitenant  .Jdjudant. 

M.  C.  PERRY, 

Opperbevelhebber  van  de  Oorlogsmagt  ran  de  Vcreenig  de  Statcn  in  de  zeccn  van  Oost  Indie,  China,  en  Japan. 
Ecnc  ware  vertaling,  A.  L.  C.  PORTMAN. 

V.  S.  Stoom-Fhegat  Mississippi,  Simoda,  Japan  den  U2sten  Juny,  1854. 


DEPARTURK     FROM     SI  MO  DA.  489 

pass  to  his  successor  in  office  ;  to  each  of  the  pilots  a  comfortable  overcoat  and  two  American 
ensigns,  to  be  displayed  on  board  the  jiilot-boats  when  going  to  any  vessels  that  may  appear  off 
the  harbor.  The  surveyors  had  marked  the  rocks,  buoys,  and  prominent  headlands  with  signal 
flags,  but  as  the  Japanese  authorities  objected  to  them  as  seeming  to  imply  some  evidence  of 
right  to  possession,  it  was  readily  conceded  that  the  Japanese  should  substitute  for  theui  their 
little  white  and  black  striped  flags. 

On  the  morning  of  the  28th  of  June,  185i,  the  whole  squadron  got  under  way  ;  but  the 
wind  shifting  to  the  southward,  the  Macedonian  and  Supply  were  obliged  to  anchor  again. 
The  Commodore,  accordingly,  ordered  these  vessels  to  warp  iuto  a  safe  berth,  and  sail  when  the 
■wind  and  weather  should  permit,  and  to  keep  company,  if  possible,  to  Kelung,  in  Formosa, 
where  they  were  bound.  There  seemed  no  occasion  to  wait  for  them,  as  their  destination  was 
difierent,  and  any  further  delay  on  the  part  of  the  steamers  would  only  result  in  an  unnecessary 
consumption  of  coal ;  so  the  Mississippi  and  the  Powhatan,  with  the  Southampton  in  tow,  stood 
out  to  sea  and  shaped  a  course  to  tlie  southward  and  westward. 

In  passing  out  beyond  Kock  Island,  a  high  sea  was  encountered,  which  gave  additional  proof 
that  the  outer  as  well  as  the  inner  harbor  of  Simoda  is  perfectly  safe.  The  violence  of  the  sea 
being  in  a  considerable  degree  broken  by  the  ledge  of  rocks  extending,  though  not  continuously, 
from  Eock  Island  to  Cape  Idzu — but  these  channels  were  not  thoroughly  explored  by  the  officers 
of  the  expedition — "I  should  not  like,"  says  the  Commodore,  "to  venture  through  either  of 
them,  and  would  not  recommend  others  to  do  so.  It  is  more  prudent  to  go  outside  of  Eock 
Island,  by  which  ships  will  not  be  so  much  endangered  by  the  influence  of  the  rapid  current 
seemingly  setting  at  all  times  to  the  eastward." 

After  leaving  Simoda,  the  Commodore  directed  the  steamers  to  be  steered  to  the  southward, 
in  order  to  obtain  another  observation  of  the  Eedfield  rocks,  discovered  on  the  passage  during 
the  previous  mouth  of  February.  On  coming  up  with  them  it  was  found  that  their  positions 
had  been  very  correctly  established  by  former  notes,  but  care  was  taken  to  verify  these  by  fresh 
observations.  From  the  Eedfield  rocks  a  course  was  made  for  the  northeast  end  of  Oho-sima, 
the  island  claimed  to  have  been  discovered  by  Commander  Glynn.  On  the  previous  passage  to 
Japan,  the  western  shore  of  Oho-sima  and  the  adjacent  islands  had  been  carefully  observed.  It 
■was  now  determined  to  examine  very  closely  the  eastern  coast,  and,  consequently,  on  the 
morning  of  the  29th  of  June,  the  northern  point  of  Oho-sima  was  made  with  this  view.  It 
was  found  that  this  part  of  the  island  bore  N.  82°  W.,  and  that  the  hearings,  therefore,  on  the 
chart,  were  erroneous.  The  steamers  continuing  their  course,  passed  between  Oho-sima  and 
Kikai-sima,  or  Bungalow  Island,  and  traversed  the  eastern  coast  of  the  former  so  closely,  that 
all  its  sinuosities,  bays,  inlets,  could  be  marked  with  much  accuracy.  Having  at  meridian 
obtained  excellent  observations  of  latitude  and  longitude,  as  the  result  of  the  notes  of  the  three 
ships,  it  was  practicable  to  determine  the  positions  of  the  most  prominent  headlands  by  a  series 
of  angles  deduced  from  these  observations. 

Before  the  visit  of  the  United  States  squadron  to  these  seas,  a  French  chart,  constructed  by 
Monsieur  N.  Guerin,  capitaine  de  vaisseau,  and  published  in  Paris  in  1848,  was  the  most 
approved  guide.  This  chart  has  been  improved  by  the  observations  and  notes  of  the  officers  of 
the  expedition,  and,  although  there  are  doubtless  many  hidden  dangers  yet  to  be  discovered  and 
accurately  reported,  it  can  be  said,  with  honest  pride,  that  the  Americans  have  contributed  very 
much  towards  the  hydrographical  information  of  that  part  of  the  world,  and  especially  of  the 
gulf  and  bay  of  Yedo,  waters  hitherto  almost  unknown  to  foreign  navigators. 
C2  J 


490 


EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 


After  the  meridian  observations  had  been  calculated,  Commodore  Perry  dispatched  two  of  the 
boats  of  the  Mississippi,  in  cliarge  of  Lieutenants  Maury  and  Webb,  to  visit  a  little  bay  of  the 
island  of  Olio-sima,  about  two  miles  distant  abreast  the  ships.  These  officers  landed,  and  found 
only  a  small  hamlet  and  a  squad  of  miserably  clad  natives  drawn  up  on  the  shore  to  meet  them, 
armed  with  clubs,  stones,  and  one  old  firelock.  The  inhabitants,  however,  notwithstanding 
their  warlike  aspect,  were  very  civil,  and  gave,  in  exchange  for  bread  and  pork,  some  fowls  and 
vegetables.  A  few  botanical  specimens  were  also  obtained,  but  there  was  no  time,  or,  what  is 
even  more  important,  no  coal  to  spare  for  any  lengthened  exploration.  This  was  probably  the 
first  time  a  Christian  had  ever  landed  upon  Oho-sima.  These  islands,  however,  deserve  a  more 
complete  examination,  and  it  is  hoped  that  our  government  will,  ere  long,  send  suitable  vessels 
for  such  a  purpose.  One  small  steamer  and  a  schooner  of  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  tons, 
with  a  store-ship  for  carrying  coals  and  provisions,  would  be  adequate  for  the  work. 

Keeping  as  near  as  safety  would  permit  to  the  chain  of  islands  lying  between  Oho-sima  and 
Lew  Chew,  the  steamers  were  steered  southward  and  westward  during  the  night,  and  at 
daylight  made  the  northern  end  of  Great  Lew  Chew  and  the  other  islands  in  the  neighborhood. 
On  rounding  the  former  a  ship  was  discovered,  about  five  miles  distant,  steering  north  with  a 
fair  wind.  As  soon,  however,  as  she  saw  the  steamers  approaching,  she  tacked  and  stood  to 
the  southward  and  westward.  The  Commodore  ordered  two  blank  cartridges  to  be  fired  as  a 
signal  for  the  ship  to  heave  to.  At  first  she  did  not  seem  inclined  to  do  so,  but  finding  that  the 
squadron  was  closing  in  upon  her  very  fast,  she  tacked  again,  and,  running  down  towards  the 
steamers,  she  finally  hove  to.  The  flag-lieutenant  then  boarded  her  in  a  boat  from  the  Mississippi, 
and  learned  that  the  vessel  was  an  English  ship  from  Shanghai  bound  to  England.  The 
captain  explained  the  cause  of  his  suspicious  movements  by  saying  that,  having  heard  of  the 
war  with  Eussia,  he  had  supposed  at  first  that  the  American  ships  were  the  Russian  squadron, 
and  was  greatly  alarmed  until  he  succeeded  in  making  out  distinctly  the  United  States  colors. 
He  showed  his  friendly  disposition  by  sending  to  the  Commodore  an  English  paper.  Within 
ten  miles  of  Napha,  and  as  night  approached,  it  became  so  dark  that  it  was  deemed  imprudent 
to  enter  the  harbor,  and  the  vessels  were  accordingly  kept  merely  under  steerage-way  until 
daylight,  when  the  Powhatan  cast  off  the  Southampton,  which  had  orders  to  proceed  direct  to 
Hong  Kong.  Both  steamers  then  entered  the  port  of  Napha,  and  came  to  anchor  on  the  1st 
of  July,  1854. 


DISPOSITION     OF     THE     SQUADRON. 


491 


CHAPTEH  XXV. 

PREPARATIONS      FOR    FINAL     DEPARTURE     FROM     THE    JAPANESE     WATERS. MACEDONIAN    AND    SUPPLY     ORDERED     TO     FORMOSA. 

INSTRUCTIO.NS    TO    CAPTAIX    ABBOT,    OF    THE    MACEDO.VIAN,    TO    TOUCH    AT    THE    PHILIPPINES    ON    HIS    WAT    FROM    FORMOSA    TO 

CHINA. MISSISSIPPI,    POWHATAN,     AND    SOUTHAMPTON     PROCEED     TO      LEW      CHEW. STATE      OF      AFFAIRS    IN     LEW     CHEW. 

SUPPOSED    MURDER    OF    AN    AMERICAN    BY    LEW    CHEWANS. TRIAL    OF    LEW    CHEWANS    FOR    MURDER    BY  THEIR  OWN  AUTHORI- 
TIES   ON    THE    commodore's    DEMAND. DESCRIPTION    OF     A    LEW    CHEW    COURT    OF    JUSTICE. ACCUSED     MADE     TO     PLEAD    BY 

PtJ.>JCHKS    IN    THE    RIBS. ACCUSED    CONVICTED    AND    BROUGHT  TO  THE  COMMODORE  FOR  PUNISHMENT. HE    HANDS  THEM   OVER 

TO    THEIR    OWN    AUTHORITIES. THEY    ARE    BANISHED. NEW    YEAR's    CUSTOMS. COAL     REMOVED     FROM     THE    DEPOT    TO    THE 

SHIPS. COMPACT    OR    TREATY    MADE    WITH    LEW    CHEW. PRESENT    FROM    THE  LEW   CHEWANS   TO   THE   COMMODORE A    STONE 

FOR    THE    WASHINGTON    MONUMENT. EFFORT    OF    A    JAPANESE    TO    COME    OFF    IN    THE     SQUADRON    TO     THE    UNITED    STATES. 

PARTING    ENTERTAINMENT    TO    LEW    CHEW    AUTHORITIES. DEPARTURE    OF    THE    SQUADRON    FOR    CHI.NA  MACEDONIAN'S   VISIT 

TO    FORMOSA. UNAVAILING    SEARCH    FOR    AMERICANS    SUPPOSED    TO    HAVE    BEEN    WRECKED     ON     THE    ISLAND. EXPLORATIONS 

BY    CHAPLAIN    JONES    FOR    COAL. FOUND    IN    ABUNDANCE    AND    OF     GOOD    QUALITY. SURVEY    OF    THE    HARBOR    OF    KELCNG. 

LYING      AND      CCNNI.NG     OF      THE      FORMOSANS. RUN     TO     MANILLA. VERY     STORMY    PASSAGE. MARINE     VOLCANOES     IN     THE 

NEIGHBORHOOD    OF    FORMOSA. INQUIRIES    AT    MANILLA  INTO  THE    MURDER   OF  CERTAIN    AMERICANS. SATISFACTORY  CONDUCT 

OF    THE    SPANISH    AUTHORITIES    IN    THE    MATTER. DELIVERY    BY    CAPTAIN    ABBOT      TO     THE     GOVERNOR     OF     SIX     SILLIBABOOS 

THAT    HAD    BEEN    PICKED    UP    .AT    SEA    BY    LIEUTENANT    COMMANDING     BOYLE,    OF      THE     SOUTHAMPTO.N,    FLOATING    IN    AN    OPEN 

BOAT. REMARKABLE     DISTANCE     THAT     THEY     HAD     DRIFTED. PHYSICAL     APPEARANCE     OF     THE    SILLIBABOOS. VOYAGE    OP 

MACEDO.NIAN    TO    HONG    KONG  CAPTAIN    KELLy's    HANDLING     OF     THE      CHINESE     PIRATES     AND     IMPERIAL     TROOPS;     FORCES 

THEM    TO    MAKE    REPARATION. CHASTISEMENT    OF    THE    CHINESE    BY    THE    JOINT    ACTION  OF  THE  OFFICERS   AND    MEN    OF   THE 

PLYMOUTH    AND    OF    THOSE    OF    HER    BRITANNIC    MAJESTy's    SHIPS     ENCOUNTER    AND     GRECIAN. THE     CO.MMODORE,    BY    LEAVE 

FROM    THE    NAVY    DEPARTMENT,    TURNS    OVER    THE    COMMAND    TO    CAPTAIN    ABBOT,    AND      RETURNS     HO.ME     BY     THE    OVERLAND 

ROUTE. ON    THE    ARRIVAL    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    IN    NEW    YORK,  ON    THE    23d    OF    APRIL,  THE  COMMODORE  REPAIRS    ON   BOARD, 

AND    FORMALLY    HAULING    DOWN    HIS    FLAG,    TERMINATES    THE    EXPEDITIO.N. 


HE  story  we  are  telling  will  perhaps  be  better  understood  if, 
before  proceeding  further,  we  recapitulate  as  to  the  disposi- 
vU\T/|Cl>'  tion  that  had  been  made  of  the  several  ships  of  the  squadron, 
ri;  ikn  '^^^  Saratoga  sloop-of-war  was  on  her  way  home,  as  we  have 
stated,  with  the  copy  of  the  treaty  in  the  custody  of  Captain 
Adams,  who  had  been  dispatched  on  the  4th  of  April,  as  a 
^^^.— -_  special  messenger  by  the  Commodore,  to  deliver  the  important 
document  into  the  hands  of  the  proper  authorities.  The 
^^_^_^  steamer  Susquehanna  had  been  sent  on  the  24tli  of  March, 
just  one  week  before  signing  the  treaty,  and  at  the  first  mo- 
ment at  which  she  could  be  spared,  to  place  herself  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  Hon.  Mr.  McLean,  our  minister  to  China.  The 
Vandalia  sloop-of-war,  instead  of  returning  with  the  other 
ships  from  Hakodadi  to  Simoda,  had  been  ordered  to  make  her 
way  from  the  former  port  to  China,  by  passing  through  the 
Straits  of  Sangar,  and  down  on  the  western  side  of  Japan 
to  Shanghai.  The  store-ship  Southampton  having  surveyed 
Volcano  bay,  and  Endermo  bay  within  it,  just  on  the  northern  or  Yesso  side  of  the  eastern 
entrance  of  the  Straits  of  Sangar,  had  rejoined  the  squadron,  and  was  now  ordered  to  China. 


492  EXPEDITION      TO     JAPAN. 

The  Plymouth,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  been  left  at  Shanghai  to  protect  American  interests 
there,  and  was  not  with  the  squadron  on  the  second  visit  to  the  Bay  of  Yedo  ;  while  the  store- 
ship  Lexington  was  sent  back  from  Simoda  to  Lew  Cliew,  during  the  previous  month  of  May. 
There  were,  therefore,  collected  at  Simoda,  after  the  visit  to  Hakodadi,  but  five  ships  of  the 
squadron,  viz :  the  steamers  Mississippi  and  Powhatan,  the  Macedonian  sloop-of-war,  the 
Southampton,  which,  having  finished  the  survey  of  Volcano  bay,  there  rejoined  the  squadron, 
and  the  store-ship  Supply,  the  last  named  having  remained  at  Simoda  during  the  absence  of 
the  others. 

As  the  discovery  of  coal  was  an  important  object,  and  as,  beside,  there  were  various  causes 
making  a  visit  to  Formosa  necessary,  the  Commodore,  as  has  been  said,  ordered  the  Macedonian 
and  Supply  to  that  island,  with  instructions  to  Captain  Abbot,  in  command  of  the  former  vessel, 
to  stop  at  the  Pliilijipines  on  his  way  back,  to  join  the  squadron  in  China.  As  to  the  steamers, 
he  proceeded  with  them  and  the  Southampton  direct  to  Lew  Chew.  This  was  the  fifth  and  last 
visit  to  Napha  ;  we  shall  first  speak  of  that,  reserving  for  a  future  page  the  results  of  the  voyage 
of  the  Macedonian  to  Formosa. 

When  the  squadron  left  Lew  Chew  on  its  last  visit,  two  master's  mates,  named  Eandall  and 
Bierbower,  had  been  left  in  charge  of  the  coal  depot  established  at  Tumai,  and  now,  on  the 
Commodore's  return,  he  found  that  matters  during  his  absence  had  not  proceeded  quite  as 
amicably  as  he  could  have  wished.  Randall  had  his  little  complaints  to  make,  and  had 
preferred  them  to  his  superior.  Lieutenant  Commanding  Glasson,  when  he  arrived  in  the 
Lexington  in  May,  and  this  latter  officer  now  reported  them  to  the  Commodore.  They 
amounted  to  but  small  grievances,  however ;  one  consisted  of  a  complaint  that  some  of  the 
children  in  Lew  Chew  had  thrown  stones,  which  fell  near  some  of  the  American  seamen  who 
were  walking  on  shore  ;  another  was,  that  a  Lew  Chew  butcher  had  quarrelled  with  one  of  the 
seamen  while  engaged  in  traffic  with  him,  and  beaten  him  with  a  club.  Lieutenant  Glasson 
had  called  on  the  mayor  of  Napha  to  ask  an  explanation.  As  to  the  first,  the  mayor  stated 
that  it  was  an  accident,  occurring  while  the  children  were  engaged  in  sport,  and  was  not  an 
intentional  act  of  aggression  toward  the  seamen.  As  to  the  case  of  the  butcher,  the  mayor 
stated  that  one  of  the  sailors  attempted  in  the  market  to  take  from  the  butcher  certain  of  his 
meats  without  paying  for  them.  The  butcher  naturally  endeavored  to  secure  his  property, 
when  the  sailor  struck  at  him  with  his  knife  ;  a  scufile  ensued,  in  whi'ch  the  sailor  was  beaten 
with  a  club.  Lieutenant  Glasson  told  the  mayor  that  the  butcher,  instead  of  resorting  to  force, 
should  have  reported  the  sailor  ;  that  he  (the  mayor)  well  knew  the  Commodore,  on  such  a  state 
of  things,  would  have  caused  the  man  to  be  punished,  and  would  have  amjily  reimbursed  the 
butcher  for  his  loss  ;  but  that  the  latter  should  not  have  violated  the  law  of  Lew  Chew  and 
resorted  to  such  desperate  remedies.  To  this  the  mayor  readily  assented.  These,  however, 
were  minor  matters,  and  the  probability  is  that  the  general  feeling  on  board  the  ships  was  that 
the  sailor  got  no  more  than  his  deserts,  as  the  matter  seems  to  have  gone  no  further. 

But  there  was  a  far  more  serious  incident  to  be  reported  by  Lieutenant  Glasson  ;  this  was  no 
less  than  the  supposed  murder  of  one  of  his  crew  by  the  Lew  Chewans.  It  seems  that,  on  the 
12th  of  June,  a  man  named  Board  was  found  dead  in  Napha,  under  circumstances  which 
justified  a  strong  suspicion  that  he  came  to  his  end  by  violence.  The  Commodore  had  not  yet 
reached  the  island,  and  Lieutenant  Glasson  appointed  five  officers  of  the  ship  to  investigate  the 
circumstances  and  report  thereon  to  him.      These   gentlemen,  after  making  a  post-mortem 


CASE  OF  BOARD,   A  SEAMAN,   AT  LEW  CHEW.  493 

examination  and  hearing  witnesi5es,  reported  as  their  opinion  that  the  man  came  to  his  death 
from  blows  inflicted  on  his  head  by  some  person  or  ]iersons  unknown  to  tliem,  and  by  subsequent 
immersion  in  the  water  for  a  considerable  time  while  insensible  from  the  blows  he  had  received. 
They  further  added,  that  the  testimony  of  the  Lew  Chew  witnesses  was  very  equivocal  and 
unsatisfactory.  Soon  after  this  tlie  Commodore  arrived,  when  Lieutenant  Glasson  immediately 
reported  to  him  all  the  facts  and  documents  in  his  possession  connected  with  the  case ;  and, 
among  the  rest,  that  he  had  demanded  a  full  and  fair  investigation  by  the  local  authorities  of 
Lew  Chew,  to  which  demand  he  had  received  no  satisfactory  answer. 

The  Commodore,  upon  enquiry,  soon  became  convinced  that  the  man's  death,  though 
unlawfully  produced,  was  probably  the  result  of  his  own  most  gross  outrage  on  a  female,  and, 
in  such  case,  not  undeserved  ;  still  he  felt  that,  for  the  security  of  others,  both  Europeans  and 
Americans,  who  might  subsequently  visit  the  island,  it  was  important  to  impress  upon  the 
authorities  the  necessity  for  the  full  investigation  and  proper  punishment,  by  the  local 
authorities,  of  acts  of  violence  committed  upon  strangers  who  might  visit  them.  He  therefore 
made  a  peremptory  demand  upon  the  regent  or  superintendent  of  affairs  to  cause  a  judicial  trial 
to  be  instituted,  conformably  to  the  laws  of  Lew  Chew. 

This  demand  was  at  once  complied  with,  the  court  consisting  of  six  superior  judges,  and  the 
regent  and  first  treasurer  giving  their  constant  personal  attendance  during  the  entire  pro- 
ceedings. 

The  facts,  as  well  as  they  could  be  ascertained,  appeared  to  be  these.  On  the  12th  of  June 
three  American  sailors,  one  of  whom  was  named  Board,  passing  through  the  streets  of  Xapha, 
forcibly  entered  the  house  of  one  of  the  inhabitants,  and  taking  therefrom  some  saki  soon 
became  intoxicated.  Two  of  them  found  a  sleeping  place  in  the  gutter,  but  Board,  clambering 
over  a  wall,  entered  a  private  house,  where  he  found  a  woman,  named  Mitu,  and  her  niece,  a 
young  girl.  He  brandished  his  knife,  threatened  the  woman,  and  attempted  the  foulest 
outrage  ;  she  cried  out  until  she  fainted  and  became  insensible.  Her  cries  brought  some  Lew 
Chew  men  to  the  spot,  and  the  circumstances  clearly  showed  the  purpose  of  Board.  Some  of 
the  Lew  Chewans  seized  him  and  threw  him  to  the  ground.  More  than  half  drunk,  he  rose 
and  fled  towards  the  shore,  seeking  to  escape.  Many  persons  had  by  this  time  assembled,  and 
pursued  Board,  throwing  stones  at  him,  some  of  which  struck  him,  and,  according  to  the 
statements  of  the  native  witnesses,  in  his  drunkenness  he  fell  into  the  water  and  was  drowned. 
Whether  this  latter  particular  was  precisely  in  accordance  with  the  fact  was  somewhat  doubtful. 

At  any  rate,  the  Lew  Chew  authorities,  declaring  that  it  was  "altogether  illegal  to  throw 
stones  and  wound  persons,  causing  them  thereby  to  fall  into  the  water  and  be  drowned," 
convicted  six  persons,  one  as  principal  and  the  others  as  accessories.  After  the  conviction  the 
regent  and  first  treasurer  appeared  on  board  the  Mississippi  with  the  ringleader  bound,  and 
desired  to  deliver  him  to  the  Commodore  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  laws  of  the  United 
States.  The  Commodore,  of  course,  declined  to  receive  him,  and  explained  to  the  Lew  Chewans 
that  it  was  not  his  wish  or  purpose  to  interfere  in  any  mode  with  the  administration  or  execution 
of  the  Lew  Chew  laws  ;  that  he  only  wished  them  to  enforce  them  on  proper  occasions,  when 
wrong  or  injury  was  done  to  any  foreigners  who  might  chance  to  visit  the  island.  He 
accordingly  remanded  the  prisoner  to  the  regent,  who  expressed  many  thanks  to  the  Commodore 
for  the  act.  The  end  of  the  matter  was  that  the  accessories  were  banished  to  a  neighboring 
island  for  a  time,  and  the  principal  was  banished  for  life.     It  seems  doubtful,  however,  whether 


494  EXPEDITION     TO    JAPAN. 

these  sentences  were  rigorously  executed,  although  the  authorities  solemnly  promised  the 
Commodore  that  they  should  be. 

The  Commodore,  however,  ordered  the  trial  by  a  court  martial  of  the  two  surviving 
Americans,  who  commenced  the  disturbance,  and  they  were  dealt  with  according  to  their 
deserts.  The  whole  affair  was  a  subject  of  deep  regret  to  the  Commodore,  and  was  the  only 
instance  of  any  seriously  unpleasant  occurrence  during  the  whole  intercourse  of  the  Americans 
with  the  Lew  Chewans,  in  their  five  visits  to  the  island. 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  lay  before  the  reader  the  forms  of  a  Lew  Chew  judicial 
proceeding,  as  the  customs  of  a  country,  in  so  grave  a  proceeding,  are  necessarily  illustrative  of 
the  national  character.  The  flag-lieutenant,  Mr.  Bent,  and  Mr.  Williams,  the  interpreter,  had 
been  selected  by  the  Commodore  to  attend  the  trial,  in  accordance  with  the  request  of  the  Lew 
Chew  authorities  that  some  of  our  officers  should  be  present.  These  gentlemen,  on  reaching 
the  hall,  were  furnished  with  seats  at  the  head  of  the  room,  immediately  opposite  to  the  regent 
and  treasurer  ;  on  their  left  sat  three  of  the  judges  on  mats  ;  and  opposite  to  them,  on  a  line 
with  the  regent  and  treasurer,  were  the  three  other  judges  similarly  seated.  The  prisoner  on 
trial  knelt  on  the  ground  outside  of  the  hall,  (which  was  open  on  that  side,)  with  his  head  just 
above  the  flooring  of  the  balcony,  and  facing  the  interior  of  the  hall.  Questions  were  put  to 
him  by  the  judges,  and  if  he  proved  intractable  or  stubborn  in  responding  his  elbows  were  tied 
together  behind  his  back,  and,  on  the  slightest  hesitation,  a  policeman  on  either  side  of  him 
punched  him  severely  in  the  ribs  with  large  sticks  about  two  inches  .in  diameter  and  four  feet  in 
length.  These  never  failed  to  loosen  the  fellow's  tongue,  but  whether  to  utter  truth  or 
falsehood  was,  to  our  gentlemen,  very  questionable.  This,  if  not  equal  in  severity  to  the  old 
'^  peine  forte  et  dure"  of  our  ancestors,  proceeds  on  the  same  principle. 

On  each  successive  visit  to  the  island  the  gentlemen  of  the  expedition  gathered  additional  scraps 
of  information  as  to  customs,  one  of  which  is  so  similar,  in  the  feeling  which  prompts  it,  to  our 
own  new  year's  congratulations,  that  it  is  worthy  of  a  passing  notice.  In  the  spring,  when 
the  new  year  opens  in  Lew  Chew,  and  perhaps  in  Japan  also,  (though  of  the  latter  we  cannot 
speak  certainly,)  the  usage  of  the  islanders  is  to  offer  the  expression  of  their  good  wishes  and 
friendly  feelings  in  the  form  of  inscriptions  attached  to  the  houses  of  each  other,  or  sent  to  the 
inmates.     Mr.  Williams  translated  several  of  these,  a  few  of  which  we  subjoin  as  specimens  : 

"  Gay  clouds  meet  the  rising,  glorious  sun  ;  ten  thousand  joys  greet  the  opening  spring. 

"  Let  all  sing  these  days  of  general  peace,  and  rejoice  together  in  the  opening  spring." 

"■  May  all  joys  clamber  about  your  happy  abode;  may  a  thousand  lucks  collect  at  this  gate." 

"  May  every  door  have  lucJc  and  joy,  and  every  land  be  blessed  with  peace." 

"  3Iay  your  felicity  be  as  broad  as  the  eastern  sea;  your  age  enduring  as  the  southern  hills." 

"  The  peach  tree  in  fairy  land  ripens  in  thirty  centuries ;  may  the  seaside  house  be  blessed  tvith 

ninety  more  autumns." 

"  We  joyfully  hope  the  brightening  year  will  meet  a  flourishing  time,  as  the  bloom  of  spring  begins 

to  shine  upon  this  humble  door. ' ' 

"  May  the  three  stars,  peace,  office,  age,  enter  your  door ;  and  sons,  riches,  honors,  bless  your 

gate." 

"  Happiness  descends  from  heaven." 

"  Js  the  wind  and  light  go  their  circuits  through  the  world,  so  does  the  gladsome  spring  from 

heaven  to  us  come  doivn." 


COMPACT      WITH      LEW      CHEW.  495 

While  the  jtnlicial  proceedings  in  the  case  of  Board's  death  were  in  progress,  the  Commodore, 
who  was  anxious  to  lose  no  time,  employed,  with  the  aid  and  approval  of  the  Lew  Chew 
authorities,  native  lighters  to  transport  to  the  steamers  all  the  coal  remaining  in  the  coal-shed 
at  Tumai ;  and  causing  the  building  itself  to  be  put  in  order,  left  it  in  charge  of  the  native 
authorities,  with  an  assurance  that  they  would  look  carefully  to  its  preservation  for  future  use, 
and  the  reception  of  any  deposit  of  coal  the  United  States  might  wish  to  make  there  in  time  to 
come. 

There  remained,  however,  one  important  piece  of  business  yet  to  be  done.  This  was  the 
making  of  a  compact  or  treaty  between  our  government  and  that  of  Lew  Chew.  Accordingly, 
the  flag-lieutenant,  Mr.  Bent,  and  the  interpreter,  Mr.  Williams,  were  deputed  by  the 
Commodore,  under  suitable  instructions  as  to  terms,  to  confer  with  the  regent  of  Lew  Chew ; 
and  these  gentlemen,  on  the  8th  of  July,  met  that  official  on  shore  by  appointment,  and 
discussed  with  him  the  proposed  compact,  a  rough  draft  of  which  they  presented.  The  preamble 
to  this  recognized  Lew  Chew  as  an  independent  nation.  To  this  recognition  the  regent 
objected,  saying  that  such  an  assumption  on  their  parts  would  get  them  into  trouble  with  China, 
to  which  country  they  owed  allegiance  ;  that,  as  to  the  articles  of  the  compact,  they  would 
cheerfully  assent  to  them,  and  faithfully  fulfil  them,  nor  would  they  hesitate  to  affix  their  seals 
to  the  instrument,  but  that  it  had  better  not  bear  on  its  face  the  assertion  or  appearance  of 
their  claiming  absolute  independence.  There  was  none  of  the  delaying,  crooked  policy  of  the 
Japanese  in  these  negotiations.  The  Lew  Chewans  were  made  fully  to  understand  what  had 
transpired  in  Japan,  and  probably  derived  confidence  and  candor  from  their  knowledge  of  the 
Japanese  treaty,  which  was  shown  to  them. 

After  the  discussion  our  officers  returned  on  board  to  report  to  the  Commodore  their 
proceedings,  and  submit  the  terms  proposed  and  accepted.  On  the  10th,  the  same  gentlemen 
were  sent  to  hold  another  interview  with  the  regent,  when  they  soon  succeeded  in  arranging  all 
the  terms  of  the  compact  satisfactorily  to  both  parties,  and  obtained  from  the  regent  a  promise 
that  a  bazaar  should  be  opened  on  shore,  on  the  succeeding  Wednesday  and  Thursday,  for  the 
officers  of  the  ships.  It  was  also  arranged  that  the  Commodore  would  visit  the  regent  at  an 
appointed  hour  on  the  morrow.  On  the  next  day,  in  the  morning,  the  Commodore  sent  on 
shore  a  number  of  presents  for  the  regent,  treasurer,  and  other  officers  of  the  island^  consisting 
of  revolvers,  lorgnettes,  a  dressing  case,  and  numerous  valuable  agricultural  implements.  He 
was  also  particularly  careful  to  send  a  handsome  present  to  the  poor  woman  who  had  been  the 
subject  of  Board's  outrage.  At  noon  he  landed  himself,  and,  with  a  small  escort  of  marines, 
visited  the  regent  at  the  town-hall. 

After  the  usual  compliments,  and  a  formal  delivery  of  the  presents  he  had  sent  on  shore,  the 
articles  of  agreement  or  compact  that  had  been  made  was  produced,  written  in  the  English  and 
Chinese  languages,  and  read,  and  the  instruments  were  duly  signed  and  sealed,  and  copies 
exchanged,  by  the  Commodore,  regent,  and  treasurer  of  Lew  Chew,  the  English  version  being 
as  follows : 

"  Compact  between  the  United  States  and  the  kingdom  of  Lew  Chew,  signed  at  Najtha,  Great  Lew 

Chew,  the  Wth  day  of  July,  1854. 

"  Hereafter,  whenever  citizens  of  the  United  States  come  to  Lew  Chew,  they  shall  be  treated 
with  great  courtesy  and  friendship.     Whatever  articles  these  persons  ask  for,  whether  from  the 


496  EXPEDITIONTOJAPAN. 

officers  or  people,  which  the  country  can  furnish,  shall  be  sold  to  them  ;  nor  shall  the  authorities 
interpose  any  prohibitory  regulations  to  the  people  selling ;  and  whatever  either  party  may 
•wish  to  buy  shall  be  exchanged  at  reasonable  prices. 

"  Whenever  ships  of  the  United  States  shall  come  into  any  harbor  in  Lew  Chew  they  shall 
be  supplied  with  wood  and  water  at  reasonable  prices ;  but  if  they  wish  to  get  other  articles 
they  shall  be  purchaseable  only  at  Napha. 

"If  ships  of  the  United  States  are  wrecked  on  Great  Lew  Chew,  or  on  islands  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  royal  government  of  Lew  Chew^  the  local  authorities  shall  dispatch  persons 
to  assist  in  saving  life  and  property,  and  preserve  what  can  be  brought  ashore  till  the  ships  of 
that  nation  shall  come  to  take  away  all  that  may  have  been  saved  ;  and  the  expenses  incurred 
in  rescuin"'  these  unfortunate  persons  shall  be  refunded  by  the  nation  they  belong  to. 

"  Whenever  persons  from  ships  of  the  United  States  come  ashore  in  Lew  Chew  they  shall  be 
at  liberty  to  ramble  where  they  please,  without  hindrance,  or  having  officials  sent  to  follow 
them,  or  to  spy  what  they  do ;  but  if  they  violently  go  into  houses,  or  trifle  with  women,  or 
force  people  to  sell  them  things,  or  do  other  such  like  illegal  acts,  they  shall  he  arrested  by  the 
local  officers,  but  not  maltreated,  and  shall  be  reported  to  the  captain  of  the  ship  to  which  they 
belong,  for  punishment  by  him. 

"  At  Tumai  is  a  burial-ground  for  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  where  their  graves  and 
tombs  shall  not  be  molested. 

"  The  government  of  Lew  Chew  shall  appoint  skilful  pilots,  who  shall  be  on  the  look-out  for 
ships  appearing  off  the  island  ;  and  if  one  is  seen  coming  towards  Napha  they  shall  go  out  in 
good  boats  beyond  the  reefs  to  conduct  her  in  to  a  secure  anchorage ;  for  which  service  the 
captain  shall  pay  the  pilot  five  dollars,  and  the  same  for  going  out  of  the  harbor  beyond  the 
reefs. 

"  Whenever  ships  anchor  at  Napha  the  local  authorities  shall  furnish  them  with  wood  at  the 
rate  of  three  thousand  six  hundred  copper  cash  per  thousand  catties  ;  and  with  water  at  the 
rate  of  six  hundred  copper  cash  (43  cents)  for  one  thousand  catties,  or  six  barrels  full,  each 
containing  thirty  American  gallons. 

"Signed  in  the  English  and  Chinese  languages,  by  Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry,  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  United  States  naval  forces  in  the  East  India,  China,  and  Japan  seas,  and 
special  envoy  to  Japan,  for  the  United  States  ;  and  by  Sho  Fu  Fing,  superintendent  of  affairs 
(Tsu-li-kwan)  in  Lew  Chew,  and  Ba  Kio-si,  treasurer  of  Lew  Chew,  at  Shui,  for  the  government 
of  Lew  Chew;  and  copies  exchanged  this  11th  day  of  July,  1854,  or  the  reign  Hien  Fung,  4th 
year,  6th  moon,  17th  day,  at  the  town  hall  of  Napha." 

As  soon  as  this  business  was  thus  happily  completed,  a  handsome  entertainment,  furnished  by 
the  Lew  Chew  authorities,  was  served,  of  which  the  Americans  partook,  and  great  kindness  and 
cordiality  characterized  the  festivities.  At  four  o'clock  the  Commodore  returned  to  his  ship. 
On  the  next  day,  the  12th,  there  was  sent  off  to  the  Commodore  a  large  bell,  as  a  present  from 
the  regent ;  whether  of  Lew  Chew  casting  is  not  known,  though  the  probability  is  it  was  made  in 
Japan,  and,  at  any  rate,  it  is  no  discreditable  specimen  of  foundry  work.  A  little  circumstance 
that  occurred  on  this  last  visit  to  Lew  Chew  was  highly  gratifying  to  the  feeling  with  which 
every  American  thinks  of  the  character  of  Washington.  Various  parts  of  the  world,  as  is 
known,  have  testified  their  appreciation  of  the  exalted  virtues  of  the  father  of  our  country,  by 


APPRECIATION     OF     "WASHINGTON."  497 

contributing  a  stone  to  be  wrought  into  the  monument  whidi  is  rising  at  Washington  to 
perpetuate  the  memory  of  one  who  presented  a  specimen  so  rare  of  the  qualities  wliich  ennoble 
humanity.  There  is  something  at  once  impressive  and  beautiful  in  such  a  tribute,  coming  from 
the  men  of  various  lands  and  tongues,  as  if  all  were  anxious  to  claim  their  kindred  share  in  a 
glorious  possessor  of  human  nature,  and  to  attest  their  respect  for  such  an  illustration  of  human 
purity.  It  serves  to  show  that  as  a  man  Washington  belonged  to  the  world,  and  men  every 
where  are  justly  proud  of  their  brotherhood  ;  such  pride  is  their  tribute  to  human  virtue;  as 
the  leader  of  our  army  who  periled  all  he  had  on  earth  for  his  country,  and  as  the  head  of  our 
republic,  he  belonged  indeed  to  us  ;  but  we  are  willing  and  glad  that  good  men  everywhere 
should  seek  to  catch  inspiration  from  his  virtues.  When  these  poor  Lew  Chewans  knew  that  a 
stone  from  their  far  distant  island  would  be  acceptable,  even  they  understood  what  it  meant,  they 
had  heard  of  "  the  great  mandarin,"  as  they  called  him,  and  the  stone  was  sent.  So,  too,  the 
rocks  of  Japan  and  Formosa  have  furnished  their  quota  of  material,  and  thus  the  broad  lands 
of  earth's  continents  and  the  remote  islands  of  oriental  seas  have  alike  brought  together  their 
enduring  tributes  to  a  memorial  which  is  meant 

"  To  give  the  \corld  assurance  of  a  mas  !" 

It  was  during  this  last  visit,  also,  that  a  circumstance  occurred  which  served  to  show  that  some 
of  the  common  Japanese,  at  least,  had  seen  enough  of  the  world  and  of  other  people  than  their 
countrymen  to  make  them  desirous  of  seeing  more.  While  the  squadron  was  lying  at  anchor 
at  Napha,  a  native  of  Japan,  who  was  in  Lew  Chew,  in  what  capacity  we  know  not,  swam  from 
the  shore  to  the  Lexington  with  a  bundle  of  clothing,  and  begged  to  be  received  on  board  and 
to  be  brought  to  the  United  States.  The  officer  in  command  of  the  Lexington  sent  him  to  the 
flag-ship  ;  and  while  the  Commodore  would  have  made  no  objection  provided  the  assent  of  the 
Japanese  authorities  had  been  obtained,  yet,  knowing  their  severe  restrictions  on  the  subject  of 
natives  leaving  the  kingdom,  and,  scrupulously  anxious  not  to  give  oflence,  he  declined,  as  before, 
receiving  the  man,  and  ordered  him  to  be  set  on  shore  again.  The  only  Japanese  who  came  home 
in  the  squadron  were  part  of  the  shipwrecked  crew  of  a  junk,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken. 
These  men  were  taken  from  San  Francisco  to  China,  and  there  two  of  them  shipped  themselves 
as  landsmen  on  board  the  Susquehanna,  and  both  are  now  in  the  United  States.  Frequent 
intercourse  with  one  of  them — a  young  man  of  some  twenty-two  years — enables  us  to  say  that 
he  is  remarkably  intelligent,  reads  and  writes  Japanese,  both  Kata-kana  and  Hira-kana,  has 
learned  to  speak  (though  imperfectly)  and  to  write  English,  is  very  desirous  of  information, 
conforms  to  our  customs  and  fashion  in  dress,  and  is  most  scrupulously  clean  and  tidy.  His 
wish  is  to  learn  more  of  our  country  and  language,  and  then  to  return  to  Japan. 

On  the  evening  of  the  14th  the  Commodore  gave  a  parting  entertainment  on  board  his  ship 
to  the  authorities  of  Lew  Chew.  All  passed  off  ])leasantly,  and  at  nine  o'clock  the  guests 
returned  on  shore,  after  uttering  many  tlianks  for  the  attentions  the  Commodore  had  shown 
them  on  his  repeated  visits,  and  expressing  and  seemingly  feeling  great  gratification  in  the 
courtesies  that  had  been  shown  them.  On  the  next  day  the  Lexington  was  ordered  to  Hong 
Kong  and  sailed  immediately;  and  on  the  ITth  the  Commodore  left  in  the  Mississippi, 
accompanied  by  the  Powhatan,  these  being  the  only  remaining  vessels  of  the  squadron,  and  the 
harbor  of  Napha  was  left  to  the  quiet  in  which  it  reposed  when  our  ships  first  anchored  in  its 
■waters. 

G3  J 


498  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

Whatever  satisfaction  their  departure  may  have  afforded  the  Lew  Chewans  was  doubtless 
enhanced  by  the  fact  that  the  ships  took  away  Dr.  Bettelheim.  This  gentleman  had  been 
superseded  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Moreton,  who  was  on  the  ground  ;  and  Dr.  Bettelhoim's  family  had 
left  some  time  before  for  China  in  the  Supply.  The  earnestness  of  application  to  the  Commodore 
to  take  Dr.  Bettelheim  away  with  him  forcibly  demonstrates  the  very  little  prospect  there  was 
of  any  useful  labors,  on  his  part,  among  the  natives  ;  and,  indeed,  their  desire  to  be  rid  of  Mr. 
Moreton  also,  would  seem  to  hold  out  but  small  hope,  at  present,  of  evangelizing  Lew  Chew. 
The  letter  addressed  by  the  authorities  to  the  Commodore  will  be  found  below.* 

The  Powhatan,  pursuant  to  orders,  took  her  course  for  Ning-po-fou,  Fuh-chow-fuh,  and 
Amoy,  on  the  coast  of  China,  to  inquire  into  the  interests  of  Americans  resident  in  those  places, 
and  was  instructed  to  proceed  from  Amoy  to  Hong  Kong.  The  Mississippi  proceeded  direct  to 
the  last  named  port. 

And  now,  while  she  is  on  her  passage,  we  will  return  in  our  narrative  to  the  expedition  to 
Formosa,  the  incidents  of  which  occurred  simultaneously  with  those  which  form  the  subject  of 
the  previous  part  of  this  chapter.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Macedonian,  Captain  Abbot, 
and  the  Supply,  Lieutenant  Commanding  Sinclair,  had  been  sent  from  Simoda,  before  the 
squadron  left  that  port,  with  instructions  to  visit  Formosa,  and  the  former  ship  was  also  ordered 
on  her  way  thence  to  China,  to  stop  at  the  Philippines.  There  was  more  than  one  object 
contemiilated  in  the  visit  to  Formosa.  Certain  of  our  countrymen,  as  our  authorities  at  home 
had  been  informed,  navigating  near  Formosa,  had  been  shipwrecked  and  thrown  upon  that 
island,  where  they  remained,  either  in  a  state  of  captivity  or  because  they  were  unable  to  get 
away.  Instructions  were  therefore  given  by  the  navy  department  to  the  Commodore  to  make 
research  and  inquiry  into  this  matter.  Again,  the  importance  of  an  abundant  supply  of  coal 
for  the  use  of  steamers,  not  only  of  our  own,  but  of  other  nations  that  may  reasonably  be 
expected  ere  long  to  throng  these  seas,  furnished  another  motive  for  the  visit  to  Formosa,  as 
there  was  reason  to  think  the  mineral  existed  in  abundance  on  that  island.  There  was  also  a 
particular  reason  for  touching  at  the  Philippines,  which  we  will  detail  presently. 

On  the  29th  of  June,  the  Macedonian  and  Supply  left  Simoda.  On  the  second  day  out  the 
Supply  disappeared,  and  was  not  seen  again  until  she  entered  the  harbor  of  Kclung  in  Formosa, 
on  the  21st  of  July,  ten  days  after  the  arrival  at  that  place  of  the  Macedonian,  which  had  made 
the  run  from  Simoda  in  about  twelve  days,  encountering  an  opposing  current,  head  winds,  and 

*  From  the  aulhorities  of  Lew   Chew  to  Commodore  Perry  : 

A  prepared  statement  Sho  Fu-fing,  general  superintendent  of  affairs  in  the  kingdom  of  Lew  Chew,  and  Ba  Rio-si,  treasurer 
at  Shui,  earnestly  heg  your  excellency's  kind  consideration  of  some  circumstances  ;  and  that,  to  show  compassion  on  our  little 
country,  you  will  take  away  bac    to  their  own  land  Bettelheim  and  Moreton,  who  have  remained  here  long.         »        «        » 

In  the  years  1844  and  1846  some  French  officers  came,  and  the  Englishman  Bettelheim  also  brought  hither  his  wife  and 
children  to  reside,  and  they  all  required  something  to  be  daily  given  them,  to  our  continual  annoyance  and  trouble.  Whenever 
an  English  or  French  siiip  came  in,  we  earnestly  represented  these  circumstances  to  them,  and  besought  them  to  take  these 
people  away  with  them.  The  Frenchmen,  knowing  our  distresses,  went  away  in  the  year  1848  to  their  own  country,  and  have 
not  hitherto  returned  ;  but  Bettelheim  has  loitered  away  j'cars  here  and  not  gone,  and  now,  further,  has  brought  Moreton  with 
his  family  to  take  his  place  anc'  live  here,  greatly  to  the  discomfort  of  the  people,  and  distress  and  Inconvenience  of  the  country. 

Wo  have  learned  that  your  excellency  has  authority  over  all  the  East  Indian,  China,  and  Japan  seas,  and  not  a  ship  of  any 
western  country  can  go  from  one  of  these  seas  to  the  other  but  you  know  and  regulate  its  movements.  Wherefore  we  lay  before 
you  our  sad  condition  in  all  its  particulars,  humbly  beseeching  your  kind  regard  upon  it,  and  requesting  that,  when  your  fine 
ships  return,  you  will  take  both  Bettelheim  and  Moreton  away  with  you.  This  will  solace  and  raise  us  up  from  our  low 
condition,  and  oblige  us  in  a  way  not  easy  to  be  expressed.  We  wish  your  life  may  be  prolonged  to  a  thousand  autumns,  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  highest  felicity. 

July  10,  1854. 


VISIT     OF      THE     MACEDOXIAN     TO     FORMOSA.  499 

tempestuous  weather  throiij^h  nearly  the  entire  voyage.  The  island  was  made  at  its  northern 
end,  and  the  entrance  to  Kelun;^  was  not  very  plain.  Certain  landmarks,  however,  were  noted 
hy  the  ofKcers,  upon  further  acquaintance  with  the  locality,  and  by  these  and  the  charts  made 
by  the  surveying  party  during  the  stay  of  the  ship,  information  was  obtained  which  may  be 
relied  on,  and  which  is  recorded  in  the  nautical  appendix.  Very  violent  currents  were  found  at 
the  north  end  of  the  L^land,  though  these  may  liave  been  stronger  than  usual  at  the  arrival  of 
the  Macedonian,  as  there  had  then  been  a  tempest  of  some  days'  continuance.  A  pilot  came 
off  and  took  the  ship  safely  into  the  harbor. 

As  to  our  supposed  shipwrecked  and  captive  countrymen,  Captain  Abbot  made  the  most 
diligent  investigation,  through  the  medium  of  his  Chinese  steward,  but  could  gain  no  intelli- 
gence, although  his  inquiries  were  made,  not  only  of  the  mandarins  or  officials  in  and  about 
Kelung,  but  also  of  all  classes  of  the  people.  Tlie  report  from  all  was  uniform  ;  they  declared 
that  they  neither  knew  nor  had  heard  of  any  shipwreck  of  any  American  or  European  vessel  on 
any  part  of  the  island ;  nor  had  they  ever  known  or  heard  of  the  existence  of  the  crew,  or  any 
part  thereof,  of  any  such  vessel  anywhere  in  Formosa,  and  Captain  Abbot  became  quite 
convinced  that,  in  this  particular,  they  told  the  truth,  and  reported  to  the  Commodore  accord- 
ingly, that  he  had  "  no  belief  that  any  of  our  missing  countrymen  are  alive  on  the  island  of 
Formosa." 

But  after  this  conclusion  had  been  reached,  and  no  doubt  correctly,  a  specimen  of  cunning 
was  exhibited,  on  the  part  of  the  island  authorities,  such  as  meets  us  at  every  turn  in  the  story 
of  our  intercourse  with  all  the  eastern  people,  and  indeed  seems  characteristic  of  oriental  nego- 
tiation. The  chief  mandarin  of  Kelung  came  to  Captain  Abbot,  just  as  he  was  about  sailing, 
(he  had  doubtless  purposely  deferred  his  visit  until  that  moment,  to  forestal  the  possibility  of 
strict  inquiry.)  and  informed  him  that  he  had  been  making  more  particular  investigations 
concerning  shij^wrecks,  and  had  learned  that  some  six  or  seven  j'ears  before  a  ship  had  been 
wrecked,  forty  or  fifty  miles  from  Kelung,  on  the  loestem  side  of  the  island,  having  a  number 
of  black  men  on  board  as  well  as  white ;  that  the  white  men  took  the  boat  and  went  off  to  an 
adjacent  island,  while  the  black  men  were  left,  and  all  died  on  board  the  ship  ;  and  that  he 
would  send  some  of  his  war-junks  with  the  Macedonian  to  show  Captain  Abbot  the  place.  This 
story  was  a  lie  too  transparent  to  deceive  Captain  Abbot  for  a  moment,  and  was  evidently  a  ruse 
by  which  he  hoped  to  induce  the  commander  of  the  Macedonian  to  do  what,  for  several  days,  he 
had  been  unavailingly  persuading  him  to  perform.  He  had  been  endeavoring  to  prevail  on  him 
to  take  the  ship,  in  company  with  some  of  his  war-junks,  to  the  western  side  of  the  island,  a 
run  that,  in  going  and  returning,  would  occupy,  he  said,  four  or  five  days  only,  and  there  assist 
him  in  driving  off  the  rebels  who  were  there  collected,  witli  whom  his  troops  had  lately  had  a 
fight  and  been  beaten,  with  a  loss  of  thirty  men  killed  and  wounded.  The  fact  was  that  he 
lived  in  constant  fear  of  an  invasion  from  Amoy.  He  told  Captain  Abbot  that  if  he  would 
render  him  this  assistance,  he  would,  immediately  on  his  return,  make  him  a  present  of  a  large 
ship-load  of  coal.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  Captain  Abbot  paid  no  attention  to  his  proposals 
for  a  moment ;  he  then  seemed  very  anxious  that  the  ship  should  prolong  her  stay  at  Kelung, 
as  he  supposed  her  presence  there  would  insure  the  place  from  any  attack  by  the  rebels  during 
her  stay. 

As  to  another  object  of  the  mission  to  Formosa,  the  search  for  coal,  this  was  confided  to  the 
chaplain,  Mr.  Jones,  of  the  Mississippi;  and  Midshipmen  Breese  and  Jones,  with  Mr.  Williams, 


500  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

master's  mate,  all  of  the  same  ship,  were  detailecl  for  special  duty  as  assistants.  The  full 
results  of  Mr.  Chaplain  Jones'  labors  will  be  found  in  his  very  interesting  report  in  the 
Ap))eiulix.  Suffice  it  here  to  say,  that  he  found  an  abundance  of  coal,  of  excellent  quality, 
admirably  situated  for  transportation  from  the  mines  to  the  water  at  very  little  expense  ;  and 
that  he  had  reason  to  believe  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  island,  around  Kelung,  at  least, 
■was  underlaid  witli  coal.  Several  tons  were  purchased  and  brought  away,  though  in  the  nego- 
tiation the  Formosans,  high  and  low,  showed  themselves  to  be  such  adepts  in  falsehood  and 
cunning,  that  even  the  equanimity  of  the  good  chaplain  was  disturbed,  and  his  really  mild  and 
amiable  spirit  was  roused  to  meet  the  prevarications  of  the  chief  mandarin,  by  bidding  the  inter- 
preter say  to  him,  "  that  he  had  trifled  with  us.  had  lied,  and  tried  to  deceive  us  from  the 
beginning,  and  that  we  would  be  trifled  with  no  longer ;"  and  this,  from  the  lips  of  Mr.  Jones, 
will  appear  to  those  who  know  his  eminently  peaceful  temper  to  be  terribly  energetic  language. 
It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  he  ever  before  told  any  body,  in  good  wholesome  English,  that 
"he  lied  ;"  and  yet  the  squadron,  probably,  did  not  contain  a  more  resolute  and  fearless  man. 

On  the  23d  of  July,  the  Macedonian  left  Kelung,  for  Manilla,  in  the  island  of  Luconia. 
The  Supply  was  ordered  to  remain,  to  take  in  the  coal  and  sail,  as  soon  as  she  could,  for 
Hong  Kong.  On  this  part  of  her  voyage,  the  Macedonian  encountered  terrible  weather,  having 
met  with  the  border  of  a  typhoon  soon  after  getting  clear  of  the  northern  shores  of  Formosa. 
This  2)rovidentially  carried  the  ship  very  rapidly  on  her  course  to  the  southward  of  the  south 
end  of  the  island  before  the  tempest  became  so  violent  that  she  could  not  run.  In  the  long 
experience  of  Captain  Abbott,  (so  he  reports,)  he  never  before  encountered  such  weather  at  sea. 
"We  had,"  says  he,  "a  constant  succession  of  heavy,  tempest  squalls,  with  hard  drenching  rains, 
some  of  them  peculiarly  severe  and  frightful  in  appearance.  The  shijj  sufiered  more,  during 
this  short  passage,  in  her  sails  and  rigging,  than  on  her  whole  passage  out  from  the  United 
States." 

But  this  is  emphatically  the  region  for  phenomena  and  convulsions  of  nature.  The  vessels  of 
the  squadron  had  a  varied  experience  in  these  waters.  Some  met  typhoons  and  some  suddenly 
found  themselves  along  side  of  marine  volcanoes.  It  was  within  ten  miles  of  Formosa  that 
Lieutenant  Commanding  Boyle,  in  the  store-ship  Southampton,  when  on  his  way  from  the 
United  States  to  join  the  squadron  at  Hong  Kong,  came  near  a  marine  volcano.  He  thus 
describes  it :  "On  the  29th  of  October,  1853,  near  the  island  of  Formosa,  I  discovered  a  volcano, 
distant  from  the  land  about  ten  miles,  in  a  violent  state  of  eruption,  throwing  out  columns  of 
vapor  to  a  great  height,  resembling  in  appearance  a  similar  phenomenon  to  which  I  was  witness 
some  years  ago  on  the  coast  of  Sicily  ;  this,  however,  was  of  greater  magnitude  and  force  than 
that,  although  no  lava  was  visible  by  reason  of  the  dense  bank  of  vapor  which  hung  around  it. 
The  depth  of  water  here  is  much  greater  than  on  the  Sicilian  coast,  and  hence  my  conclusion  as 
to  the  cause  of  not  seeing  lava.  When  last  seen,  at  3  p.  m.,  it  was  in  a  lively  state  of  activity, 
and  bore  N.N.W.,  distant  about  ten  miles.  It  was  in  latitude  about  24°  N.,  and  longitude 
121°  50'  E.  ;  there  was  no  sail  in  sight. 

"Shortly  after  passing  the  neighborhood  of  the  volcano,  we  passed  through  a  very  heavy 
over-fall  or  rip,  so  much  so,  that  the  executive  officer  and  others,  at  first,  supposed  that  there 
were  breakers.  I  had  seen  such  an  appearance  before,  and  decided  that  it  was,  what  it  proved 
to  be,  an  effect  of  the  volcano  merely.  On  arriving,  a  few  days  afterwards,  at  Lew  Chew,  I 
found  that  they  had  had  a  few  shakes.  ******* 


MARINE     VOLCANOES     OFF     FORMOSA,  501 

"On  ray  discovery  of  the  phenomenon  off  Formosa,  I  liad  at  the  mast-head,  in  addition  to 
the  nsual  kiok-out,  a  seaman,  caHeil  (Gilbert  Lee,  in  whom  I  liad  great  conlidence,  who  at  first 
thought  the  appearance  was  caused  by  a  steamer.  One  of  the  petty  officers,  A.  L.  Benton,  also 
took  particular  notice  of  it ;  several  on  deck  said  they  did  nut  know  what  to  make  of  it.  As  I 
have  before  stated,  it  had  the  same  appearance  as  when  Uraham's  island  rose  from  the  ocean  off 
the  coast  of  Sicily."* 

As  no  opportnnity  was  ever  lost  by  the  squadron  of  obtaining  accnrate  information  that  might 
benefit  nautical  men  of  all  countries,  while  the  Macedonian  was  at  Kelung,  Lieutenant  Preble 
was  employed,  under  Captain  Abbot's  orders  from  the  Commodore,  in  making  a  survey  of  the 
harbor ;  in  this  work  Passed  Midshipman  Jones  volunteered  as  an  assistant,  and  a  chart  was 
prepared  by  these  gentlemen,  the  correctness  of  which  may  be  relied  on.  The  object  of  the 
Commodore  in  directing  the  Macedonian  to  proceed  from  Kelung  to  the  Philippines  was  twofold. 
In  the  month  of  March,  1853,  a  shocking  murder  had  been  committed  by  several  Spaniards  on 
two  Americans,  at  a  rope  factory  at  Santa  Mesa,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  governor  and 
captain  general  of  the  Philippines.  Captain  Abbot  was  instructed  respectfully  to  ask  of  the 
authorities  what  measures,  if  any,  had  been  taken  to  discover  and  bring  to  punishment,  under 
the  Spanish  law,  the  perpetrators  of  the  homicide.  The  Marquis  de  Novaleches,  the  governor 
general,  in  reply  to  Captain  Abbot's  inquiries,  very  promptly  informed  him  that  the  courts  had 
been  employed,  ever  since  the  murder  occurred,  in  ferreting  out  and  punishing  the  guilty ;  that 
some  of  those  concerned  had  been  detected  and  sentenced  ;  that  two  of  the  criminals  had  not  yet 
been  found,  but  that,  if  in  the  islands,  the  court,  which  had  not  relaxed  its  zeal  and  diligence, 
would  find  and  punish  them  ;  that  instructions  had  been  received  from  the  government  at  home 
most  earnestly  to  prosecute  the  matter  to  the  fullest  penalties  of  the  law  on  all  who  were  guilty  ; 
and  finally,  that  all  which  had  been  done  had  been  fully  rejjortcd  to  the  government  of  her 
Catholic  majesty,  and  probably  through  that  channel  to  the  authorities  of  the  United  States. 

The  other  cause  for  Captain  Abbott's  visit  was  occasioned  by  an  act  of  humanity  on  the  part 
of  our  countrymen.  On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  August,  1853,  in  about  latitude  18°  46'  N., 
longitude  121°  E.,  the  store-ship  Southampton,  Lieutenant  Commanding  Boyle,  was  steering 
S.W.  by  W.,  the  wind  blowing  from  the  northward  and  westward  a  fresh  top-gallant  breeze, 
with  considerable  swell,  when  a  boat  was  discovered  to  windward.  Tlie  sliip  was  hove  to,  and 
presently  succeeded  in  getting  on  board  the  boat  and  its  contents.  When  hoisted  in  and 
measured,  the  craft  was  found  to  be  twelve  feet  long,  four  wide,  and  seventeen  inches  deep.    On 

•  It  would  seem  that  tliis  part  of  the  ocean  exhibits  this  phenomenon  with  considerable  frequency.  We  have  before  us  a 
letter  from  Lieutenant  Jones,  addressed  to  Lieutenant  Bent,  in  which  he  descrilies  a  similar  convulsion,  to  which  he  was  a 
witness,  in  January,  1850,  and  not  far  from  the  spot  designated  by  Lieutenant  Commanding  Boyle.  Mr.  Jones  was,  at  the  time, 
an  olHcer  of  the  United  States  sloop-of-war  St.  Mary's,  and  thus  writes  :  "  It  was  in  latitude  about  '2^0  56'  .\.  and  longitude 
134°  45'  E.  I  was  in  the  St.  Mary's.  We  were  bound  from  the  Sandwich  Islands  to  Hong  Kong.  The  wind  at  the  time  was 
moderate  from  the  eastward,  and  the  sea  smooth.  At  about  11  p.  m.,  the  ship  going  seven  or  cigiit  knots,  the  wind  suddenly 
died  away,  the  sea  became  troubled,  the  air  heated,  and  a  sulphurous  smell  was,  to  some  of  the  men,  very  apparent.  Tlioro 
were  putTs  of  wind  from  ditferent  quarters,  but  before  the  yards  could  be  braced  around,  it  would  be  calm  again.  This  lasted 
about  twenty-five  minutes,  when  the  wind  oaino  out  as  before  from  the  eastward,  and  when  1  camo  on  tlock,  at  midnight,  thoro 
was  nothing  unusual  in  the  appearance  of  the  sveather  or  sea.  Unfortunately,  the  ollicor  of  the  deck  did  not  take  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  air  or  the  water,  nor  did  lie  think  of  sounding. 

"  My  information  was  derived  immediately  after  the  watch,  from  the  ollicers  and  men  of  the  watch.  All  noticed  the  wind 
dying  away  suddenly,  and  most  of  them  the  heated  air.  A  number  observed  tlie  sea  and  thought  they  were  in  a  tide-rip,  but  a 
larger  one  than  they  had  ever  before  seen.  Only  a  few  remarked  the  sulphurous  smell,  but  they  wore  positive  and  to  bo  relied 
on  ;  they  were  intelligent  men.  The  officer  of  the  dock  I  think  was  one,  also  the  nuartormastor.  Though  all  did  not  give  tlio 
same  account,  there  was  no  contradiction." 


502 


EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 


board  of  the  boat,  when  the  sliip  thus  jjiukoil  licr  u]).  wore  six  males,  four  of  whom  were  adults 
and  two  were  boys,  the  one  about  ten  and  the  other  fourteen  years  of  age.  They  were  all  of 
healthy  appearance,  of  medium  stature,  of  a  dark  color,  the  hair  cut  close,  not  tattooed,  and 
did  not  appear  to  be  much  exhausted.  Captain  Boyle  supposed,  from  their  appearance,  that 
they  might  have  been  adrift  some  two  or  three  days.  They  had  in  tlie  boat  about  two  or  three 
dozen  tars  of  Indian  corn,  (maize,)  a  few  sweet  potatoes,  some  j^repared  betel  nuts,  a  cask,  two 
gongs,  a  fishing  net,  an  axe,  a  small  piece  of  grass  cloth  as  a  sail,  and  a  colored  piece  of  cloth 
supposed  to  be  a  t!ag.  Of  water  they  had  none  ;  but,  from  the  frequent  showers  encountered  by 
the  ship,  Ca2)tain  Boyle  concluded  they  had  not  suffered  much  from  the  want  of  it. 

To  what  nation  or  people  these  poor  creatures  belonged  no  one  could  tell,  as  nobody  on  board 
could  understand  the  r  language.  It  was  observed,  however,  that  tlie  word  most  frequently  on 
their  lips  was  t'il-li-Ija-boo.  The  nearest  land  to  the  ship  was  Cape  Engano,  the  N.E.  point  of 
Lnconia,  distant  about  one  hundred  miles.  The  Babuan  and  Bashee  group  were  about  one 
huiulred  and  eiglity  miles  directly  to  windward  ;  and  tiie  first  conjecture  was  that  possibly  they 
might  belong  to  these.  Their  dress  consisted  of  wide-legged  trowsers  extending  a  little  below 
the  knee,  with  a  dark-colored  gown  enveloping  the  entire  person,  and  secured  around  the  neck 
by  a  drawing  string  ;  their  heads  they  would  sometimes  bind  around  with  a  cotton  handkerchief, 
after  a  fixshion  not  unlike  that  used  by  the  blacks  of  the  southern  States.  Though  seemingly 
not  much  exhausted  when  they  were  taken  on  board  tlie  ship,  yet  they  evidently  experienced 
great  difficulty  in  walking,  from  their  long  confinement  in  a  cramped  position.  Sleep,  with 
suitable  diet,  however,  soon  restored  them  to  their  usual  condition. 


UK  »  iili  SilHbubooi,  picked  up  hy  tli>; 


PUYSICAL     APPEARANCE     OF     TUE     SILLIBABOOS.  503 

Wlien  the  s^i]1  came  near  and  passed  through  the  group  of  islands  just  named,  the 
commander  watched  closely  to  observe  if  they  showed  any  mark  of  recognition.  Their  attention 
was  called  to  them  by  signs,  and  they  seemed  to  understand  the  pantomimic  inquiry,  for  they 
invariably  shook  their  heads  as  if  to  imply  that  their  home  was  not  there,  and  pointing  towards 
the  eastward,  said  "  Sil-li-ba-boo."  Soon  after  the  ship  arrived  at  Cura-sing-moon,  in  China, 
and  here  great  pains  were  taken  to  discover,  if  possible,  where  these  poor  adventurers  belonged. 
There  were  many  ships  lying  there,  and  the  Commodore  directed  tliat  diligent  search  should  be 
made  among  them  all,  in  the  hope  that,  perchance,  some  one  miglit  be  found  who  could 
communicate  with  them.  They  were  visited  by  many  from  the  various  vessels,  and,  from  their 
timidity,  they  fell  at  first  under  the  suspicion  that  they  were  anxious  to  remain  unknown  ;  but 
Captain  Boyle  became  quite  convinced  that  their  shyness,  and  repugnance  to  leave  the  ship, 
proceeded  from  fear  alone.  They  were  taken  on  board  each  of  the  trading  ships  at  Cum-sing- 
moon,  and  out  of  the  numerous  tongues  spoken  on  board  not  one  was  found  like  that  spoken  by 
these  men.  At  length  they  uttered  some  words  when  on  the  deck  of  the  English  ship  Bombay, 
which  Captain  Jamieson,  the  commander,  thought  he  recognized  as  belonging  to  the  language 
of  the  natives  of  the  Bentinck  Isles.  On  perceiving  that  their  words  were  attracting  notice,  they 
made  their  usual  salaam,  and  uttering  8il-li-ba-boo,  afterwards  held  their  jwace.  There  is  an 
island  called  by  that  name,  and  mentioned  by  Horsburg  as  being  in  latitude  4°  N.,  longitude 
127°  E.,  but  this  is  so  remote  from  the  spot  where  they  were  picked  up,  some  twelve  or  fifteen 
hundred  miles,  that  Caj^tain  Boyle  could  not  suppose  it  possible  they  had  drifted  sucli  a  distance. 
The  wind  had,  indeed,  for  several  days  been  strong  from  the  southward  and  eastward,  just 
before  the  boat  was  seen,  though  at  the  time  they  were  picked  up  it  was  from  the  northward  and 
westward.  Xotwithstanding  this,  however,  it  seemed  most  improbable  that  in  their  frail  craft 
they  could  have  floated  so  many  miles.  Captain  Jamieson  and  his  crew  interested  themselves 
much  for  these  poor  creatures,  and  persevered  in  their  efforts  to  communicate  with  them  by 
means  of  the  slight  vocabulary  they  had  acquired  in  their  voyagings  ;  and  though  such 
communication  was  very  imperfect,  of  course,  yet  it  was  plain  some  words  were  understood,  and 
the  unfortunate  men  were  evidently  pleased,  and  sought  opportunities  of  mingling  with  those 
who  could  comprehend  any  portion,  however  small,  of  their  language.  With  these  imjierfect 
means  of  knowrcdge,  the  best  account  Captain  Jamieson  cOuld  gather  from  them  was,  that  they 
did  come  from  Sil-li-ba-boo,  distant  as  it  was  ;  that  they  left  the  land  in  their  boat  with  some 
articles  of  food  for  a  vessel  in  the  offing,  met  a  fresh  breeze  which  carried  them  out  to  sea,  and, 
by  its  continuance,  prevented  their  return  to  land,  and  that  they  had  been  in  the  boat  fifteen 
days  when  the  Southampton  picked  them  up.  By  direction  of  the  Commodore,  two  of  the 
surgeons  of  the  squadron  made  a  minute  examination  of  these  Sil-li-ba-boos,  and  reported  in 
substance  as  follows : 

"  The  Sil-li-ba-boos  are  of  medium  height  and  well  set,  with  moderate  muscular  development, 
and,  though  possessed  of  no  great  strength,  are  active  in  movement.  Destitute  of  the  fatty 
tissue  beneath  the  skin  which  generally  gives  roundness  and  fullness  to  the  forms  of  northern 
races,  the  Sil-li-ba-boos  have,  from  this  deficiency,  a  sharp  and  angular  contour  that  deprives 
them  of  all  claim  to  physical  beauty.  Their  features  have  the  irregular  expression  of  the  negro, 
though  their  color  resembles  that  of  the  mulatto.  Tlieir  heads  are  small  and  round,  with  a 
large  disproportionate  development  of  the  posterior  part  of  the  skull  ;   their  faces  are  oval, 


504  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

their  foreheads  moderately  high,  their  eyes  dark,  but  not  very  brilliant  or  intelligent,  and  their 
chins  broad  and  massive.  Their  noses  are  long  and  flat,  their  lijis  tliick  and  prominent,  and 
their  large  months  display  strong  well-formed  teeth,  which,  however,  are  generally  blackish, 
from  the  use  of  the  betel  nut.  The  skin  is  smooth,  with  a  small  supply  of  black  coarse  hair  in 
those  parts  where  it  is  usually  found,  except  on  the  head  ;  there  it  grows  profusely  and  straight, 
but  is  worn  short.  Their  limbs  are  lithe,  and  their  hands  and  feet  small.  Their  language  is 
soft  and  agreeable  to  the  ear,  but,  although  it  is  supposed  to  be  a  derivation  from  the  Malayan, 
it  is  not  intelligible  to  those  on  board  familiar  with  the  ordinary  dialect  of  the  Malays.  They 
are,  however,  believed  to  be  of  Malay  origin,  much  modified  by  the  effects  of  climate  and 
accidental  causes.  The  intelligence  of  the  Sil-li-ba-boos  is  so  far  blunted  as  to  place  them 
within  the  category  of  the  savage  races,  to  which,  in  habits  and  social  characteristics^  they  are 
closely  allied." 

One  purpose  of  the  visit  of  the  Macedonian  to  Manilla  was  to  hand  over  the  Sil-li-ba-boos  to 
the  governor  general  of  the  Philippines,  that  they  might  be  protected  and  sent  home.  The 
governor,  with  many  expressions  of  gratitude  for  the  kindness  that  had  been  shown  toward 
these  involuntary  wanderers,  received  them ;  and  we  may  indulge  the  hope  that,  long  ere  this, 
they  have  reached  their  native  island,  there  to  tell  to  their  wondering  countrymen  the  story  of 
their  providential  preservation  and  marvellous  adventures. 

On  the  17th  of  August,  the  Macedonian  (her  officers  having  been  shown  the  greatest  civility 
and  kindness  both  by  the  authorities  and  the  American  residents)  left  Manilla  for  Hong  Kong, 
and  her  voyage  presented  a  strong  contrast  to  what  she  had  experienced  in  the  run  from 
Formosa  to  Manilla.  Captain  Abbot  reported  that  for  the  first  five  days  he  had  either  a  dead 
calm,  or  light,  baffling  winds  from  the  north  and  northwest,  which  did  no  more  than  enable 
him  to  make  an  offing  from  the  land  ;  and  after  that,  either  calms  or  moderate  breezes  had 
prevailed,  with  pleasant  weather,  and  the  very  unusual  circumstance  of  scarcely  any  southing  in 
the  winds.     On  the  26th,  the  Macedonian  was  at  her  anchorage  at  Hong  Kong. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  we  left  the  flag-ship,  tlie  Mississippi,  on  her  way  from  Lew  Chew 
to  Hong  Kong.  She  arrived  after  a  short  passage,  and  the  Commodore  now  turned  his  attention 
to  affairs  in  China.  The  reader  will  not  have  forgotten  that  the  Plymouth,  Commander  Kelly, 
had  been  left  at  Shanghai  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  our  countrymen  there,  and  did  not 
accompany  the  squadron  on  the  second  visit  to  the  Bay  of  Yedo.  And  now  it  was  found  that 
the  Chinese  imperial  troops  had  given  both  the  English  and  ourselves  some  work  to  do  during 
the  Commodore's  absence.  The  first  acts  of  aggression  were  shown  in  the  latter  part  of 
February  and  beginning  of  March,  very  soon  after  our  squadron  had  left  for  Japan  on  the 
second  trij).  The  imperial  troops  were  at  that  time  encamped  around  the  settlement  of  the 
foreigners  at  Shanghai,  and  the  imperial  fleet  was  anchored  off  the  place.  They  soon  began  their 
acts  of  violence  and  robbery  on  the  land,  by  tearing  down  buildings  that  the  foreigners  were 
erecting,  and  stealing  the  materials ;  while  their  fleet,  without  the  slightest  previous  notice, 
commenced  firing  upon  and  searching  all  boats  passing  up  or  down  the  river.  Complaints  were 
made  in  the  first  instance  to  the  general  commanding  the  Chinese  troops,  and  to  the  Taoutae,  or 
commander-in-chief  of  the  fleet.  These  functionaries  at  length  acknowledged  tlieir  inability  to 
prevent  such  acts  of  aggression,  and  said  that  the  foreigners  would  have  to  protect  themselves. 

It  so  happened  that  on  the  6th  of  Marcli  a  pilot  boat,  under  tlie  American  flag,  and  belong- 
ing to  three  of  tlio  foreign  residents,  Ayers,  Linklater,  and  Donaldson,  all  American  citizens, 


CHECK   TO   CHINESE   INSOLENCE.       •  505 

was  passing  on  the  river  with  her  ensign  flying,  when^  without  hail  or  warning,  she  was  fired 
upon  by  one  of  the  imperial  fleet,  the  Sir  H.  Compton,  and  ordered  alongside.  The  order  was 
perforce  complied  with.  On  reaching  the  Compton  she  was  immediately  hoarded  from  that 
vessel  by  a  body  of  armed  men,  who  forthwith  hauled  down  the  American  ensign,  dragged  the 
crew  of  the  boat  up  the  side  of  the  ship,  and  made  them  fast  by  lashing  their  long  Chinese 
queues  to  the  mainmast.  Commander  Kelly  was  informed  of  these  facts  by  the  American 
consul  at  seven  o'clock  that  evening,  when,  in  a  very  few  minutes.  Lieutenant  Guest  had  his 
orders,  and  was  under  way  for  the  Compton,  in  one  of  the  ship's  cutters,  manned  by  eleven 
men,  armed,  and  accompanied  by  the  owners  of  the  pilot  boat.  His  instructions  were  to  release 
the  boat  and  crew,  and  demand  of  the  captain  by  what  authority  he  had  dared  thus  to  insult 
the  American  flag.  Lieutenant  Gruest,  of  course,  interpreted  his  instructions  to  mean  that,  if 
necessary,  he  should  use  force  to  release  the  boat  and  her  crew.  He  was  soon  alongside  of  the 
Compton,  and,  pursuant  to  orders,  inquired  first  for  her  captain,  to  whom  Commander  Kelly 
had  addressed  a  note  on  the  subject  of  the  outrage.  He  was  told  that  tlie  captain  was  on  board 
the  Agnes,  another  Chinese  vessel  of  war  ;  he  pulled  to  her,  and  was  there  told  that  he  was  on 
shore.  Lieutenant  Guest  did  not  suppose  it  to  be  his  duty  to  seek  for  him  any  fiirther,  and  was 
soon  back  to  the  Compton.  This  vessel  was  anchored  in  the  middle  of  the  Chinese  fleet, 
mounted  some  ten  or  twelve  guns,  and  had  about  forty  men  on  her  deck,  renegades  and  scoun- 
drels of  all  nations.  On  getting  alongside,  the  lieutenant  immediately  ascended  the  vessel's 
side^  accompanied  by  the  owners  of  the  boat,  ordering  his  eleven  men  to  remain  in  the 
cutter,  and  to  come  when  he  called  them,  but  not  before.  On  reaching  the  deck  he  asked  for 
the  ofiicer  in  command,  when  a  Portuguese  stepped  forward  and  claimed  that  rank.  Lieutenant 
Guest  then  asked  him  how  he  dared  to  fire  upon  and  make  prisoners  of  men  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  American  flag,  and  demanded  that  they  should  be  immediately  released  and  their 
boat  given  up.  He  replied  that  Tie  did  not  do  it,  and  that  in  the  captain's  absence  he  had  no 
authority  to  release  either  men  or  boat.  He  then  conferred  with  another  official,  (a  China- 
man,) and  he  confirmed  his  decision.  Lieutenant  Guest  then  called  out  to  his  men,  "  come  on 
board,"  and  with  wonderful  alacrity  and  speed  they  were  on  the  deck,  each  with  cutlass  in 
hand,  and  in  a  moment  had  released  the  prisoners  from  their  confinement  to  the  mainmast. 
About  this  time  the  crew  of  the  Com^rton  had  assumed  a  menacing  attitude,  and  Mr.  Donaldson 
called  out  to  the  lieutenant  that  some  of  the  men  on  the  poop-deck  were  levelling  their  muskets 
at  the  Americans.  Fortunately  the  Portuguese  commanding  officer  was  at  that  moment  very 
near  Lieutenant  Guest.  Instantly  drawing  and  cocking  his  pistol,  the  American  officer  levelled 
it  at  the  Portuguese,  and  told  him  that  on  the  first  shot  fired  he  would  blow  out  his  brains. 
On  hearing  this  threat,  he  called  loudly  to  his  men  on  the  poop  to  desist,  and  no  further 
obstacle  was  interposed  to  the  taking  away  of  either  boat  or  men.  One  of  the  owners  examined 
the  pilot  boat  before  her  removal,  and  reported  to  the  lieutenant  that  his  property  was  all  safe, 
and  she  was  then  taken  with  her  crew  to  a  place  of  safety,  within  gun-shot  of  the  Plymouth. 

The  next  morning  (the  7th)  Commandor  Kelly  i.iibrmed  the  Taoutae,  or  comm  'ude  of  the 
imperial  fleet,  through  our  consul,  that  as  the  Compton  had  insulted  the  American  flag,  she 
had  an  act  of  public  atonement  to  render,  which  consisted  in  her  hoisting  our  national  colors 
at  her  fore-royal  mastliead  in  open  day,  and  saluting  them  with  twenty-one  guns  ;  and  he  made  a 
demand  accordingly.  The  Taoutae  seeming  not  disposed  to  make  this  act  of  rejiaration  for 
unprovoked  insult,  Commander  Kelly,  after  the  allowance  to  him  of  a  reasonable  time,  got 
under  way  and  proceeded  to  the  anchorage  of  the  imperial  fleet  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  his 
64  J 


506  EXPEDITION     TO     JAPAN. 

demand  by  arguments,  less  gentle  indeed,  but  probably  more  effective  than  any  be  bad  yet 
used.  The  Plymouth,  however,  had  scarcely  gained  her  position,  before  the  captain  of  the 
Compton  came  on  board  and  informed  Commander  Kelly  that  he  was  ordered  by  the  Taoutae 
to  make  any  concession  he,  the  American  captain,  might  demand,  and  that  on  the  following 
day  he  would  hoist  the  American  flag  at  the  fore,  and  at  noon  salute  it  with  twenty-one  guns. 
Commander  Kelly  thought  he  might  as  well  stay  where  he  was  and  see  it  done,  as  be  was 
determined  it  should  be,  and  on  the  next  day,  at  noon,  it  was  done  according  to  promise,  when 
the  Plymouth  returned  to  her  old  anchorage  ofi'  the  American  consulate. 

One  would  have  supposed  that  the  Chinese  might  have  learned  from  this  transaction  that 
there  was  a  limit  to  the  patience  and  forbearance  of  the  foreigners  at  Shanghai;  but,  though 
we  hear  of  no  more  of  their  insolence  on  the  water,  the  aggressions  of  tlie  land  troops  still 
continued  in  the  outskirts  of  the  settlement ;  and  although  they  were  frequently  warned  by  the 
consul  of  every  nation  of  the  probable  consequences  of  such  conduct,  it  availed  nothing,  and 
at  last  the  old  reply  came,  that  the  foreigners  must  take  care  of  themselves.  The  foreigners 
then  resolved  to  take  the  Chinese  at  their  word,  and  protect  themselves. 

The  marauding  celestials  were  not  long  in  forcing  them  to  execute  their  resolution.     On  the 
third  of  April  some  of  the  imperial  troops  commenced  destroying  a  building,  which  one  of  the 
foreigners  was  erecting,  and  carrying  off  the  timbers.     The  owner,  on  hearing  of  it,  repaired 
with  a  friend  to  the  spot,  where  his  remonstrances  were  answered  by  an  attack  on  both  the 
gentlemen  tcith  siuords.     Providentially  one  of  them  had  a  revolver,  with  which  he  defended 
himself  and  wounded  two  of  his  assailants,  who  then  retreated.     Very  soon  after,  however, 
they  began  to  assemble  from  the  different  camps,  and  attacking  a  lady  and  gentleman,  compelled 
the  former  to  flee  for  her  life,  pursued  by  these  miscreants,  and  inflicted  several  wounds  on  the 
latter.     It  was  now  obvious  that  the  time  had  come  to  deal  with  these  vermin,  and  the  alarm 
was  given.     Her  Britannic  Majesty's  ships  Encounter  and  Grecian  were  in  the  harbor,  as  well 
as  the  Plymouth,  and  from  the  former  a  small  body  of  marines  had  been  previously  put  on 
shore  for  the  purpose  of  giving  protection.     As  soon  as  the  alarm  was  given,  these  repaired  to 
the  race  course,  where  the  Chinese  were  assembled  in  large  numbers,  and  were  immediately 
fired  upon.     The  ground  in  the  vicinity  is  literally  covered  with  tombs,  and  behind  these  the 
little  handful  of  marines  were  obliged  to  seek  temporary  shelter  until  reinforcements  could  arrive. 
The  blue  jackets  and  marines  were  soon  landed  from  the  English  ships  and  from   ours,  and  the 
Chinese  were  driven  back  to  their  encampments,  one  of  which  was  captui'ed  and  destroyed.     The 
English  and  Americans  then  retired  for  the  night,  keeping  up  strong  patroles.     The  next  morn- 
ing early  a  conference  was  held  by  the  English  and  American  consuls,  Captain  O'Callaghan,  of 
the  English  service,  and  Commander  Kelly,  who  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  necessary  for 
the  safety  of  the  foreign  settlement  and  population  that  the  entrenched  encampments  of  Chinese, 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  race  course,  should  be  abandoned  by  them  ;   and  the  gentlemen  resolved  to 
inform  the  Chinese  general  and  the  commander  of  their  fleet  that  they  must  be  so  abandoned  by 
four  o'clock  on  that  day,  failing  which  they  would  be  destroyed.    To  this  communication  no  reply 
had  been  received  at  half  past  three,  when  the  foreigners  proceeded  to  their  work.     Captain 
O'Callaghan,  with  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  sailors  and  marines  from  the  English  ships,  and 
the  Shanghai  volunteers,  occupied  the  right ;    the  sailors  and  marines  from  the  Plymouth,  in 
number  about  sixty,  together  with  thii-ty  men  from  the  American  merchant  ships,  and  two  private 
field  pieces,  worked  by  American  citizens^  who  placed  themselves  under  Captain  Kelly,  occupied  the 
left,  the  whole  of  this  detachment  being  under  the  orders  of  Commander  Kelly.     This  detachment 


CLEANING      RICE      IN      CHINA. 


507 


had  also  a  twelve-pound  howitzer,  with  which  at  four  o'clock  it  commenced  throwing  shells  into 
the  encampment.  This  was  continued  for  some  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  when,  no  return 
heing  made  from  the  entrenchment,  Commander  Kelly  ordered  the  firing  to  cease,  with  the  view 
of  charging  into  the  camp.  The  men  advanced  accordingly,  when  they  found  themselves  sepa- 
rated from  the  encampment,  at  a  distance  of  ahout  thirty  yards  from  it,  by  a  creek  twenty  feet 
wide  and  seven  deep.  Here  the  Chinese  opened  a  smart  fire  of  musketry  and  gingals  from 
behind  their  mud  walls,  while  our  men  were  totally  unprotected.  The  fire  continued  here 
about  ten  minutes,  when  Commander  Kelly  directed  a  flank  movement  to  the  left,  where  were 
numerous  mounds,  which  would  aflbrd  the  assailants  some  protection,  and  whence  they  could 
also  throw  their  shot  into  the  enemy's  camp.  lu  about  eight  minutes  the  Chinese  fled  in  great 
disorder,  leaving  behind  them  a  number  of  wounded  and  dead. 

While  these  things  were  passing  on  the  left  Captain  O'Callaghan  had  assaulted  them  on  the 
right,  captured  their  entrenchments  on  that  side,  and  set  their  encampment  on  fire.  He  then 
marched  up  to  the  rear  of  that  entrenchment  which  Commander  Kelly  had  attacked  in  front,  so 
that  it  was  between  the  two  detachments,  and  set  fire  to  that  encampment  also.  The  English 
and  Americans  then  retired  for  the  night.  The  next  morning  at  daylight  they  were  again  on 
the  spot,  when  a  hundred  Chinese  coolies  were  set  to  work,  and  soon  levelled  all  the  embank- 
ments. The  casualties  to  the  English  and  Americans  were  equal ;  each  had  one  man  killed 
and  three  wounded      After  this  the  Chinese  behaved  themselves  quietly. 

Our  artists,  as  usual,  busied  themselves  in  sketching  scenes  and  objects  of  interest  on  this 
their  last  visit  to  China,  and  directed  their  attention  particularly  to  the  manipulations  connected 


iiiikiii'; 


■'.iiwi!!    m 


\h 


!•■ 


- J^^Kl  :  .Jims  J 


CliLucae  Uicc  llulliug  .Mit«:liiu«. 


with  the  preparation  of  agricultural  products  for  market.     TIic  rice  hulliu','^  machine  falls  far 
I'diiiid  tliat  of  the  .Tapnnf^e  worked  by  watr>r. 


508 


EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN. 


Nor  is  the  mode  of  whipping  cotton^  which  fell  under  their  ohservation,  more  worthy  of 
admiration.  It  is  a  coarse  and  laborious  contrivance,  which  Yankee  ingenuity  would  soon 
supersede,  provided  the  Emperor  of  the  celestials  would  grant  a  "patent  for  the  invention," 
which  could  he  protected.     Without  that,  Jonathan  will  not  tax  his  ingenuity. 


Cotton  Whipping,  Hong  Kong. 

And  now  the  Commodore,  having  finished  the  work  assigned  him  hy  his  country,  and  worn 
down  hy  long-continued  anxiety  of  mind,  ill  health  of  body,  aggravated,  doubtless,  hy  his 
solicitudes  and  cares  for  many  months,  and  an  increasing  debility,  began  to  look  toward  the  rest 
of  home,  which  he  so  much  needed.  He  had  written  to  the  Hon.  Secretary  some  time  before, 
asking  leave,  when  his  work  was  done,  to  turn  over  the  command  to  the  officer  next  in  rank, 
and  return  to  the  United  States.  At  Hong  Kong  he  found  awaiting  him  dispatches  from  the 
Navy  Department,  conveying  the  leave  he  asked,  leaving  it  optional  with  him  to  return  in  the 
Mississippi,  or  by  the  overland  route  from  India.  He  cliosc  the  latter,  and,  delivering  to  Captain 
Abbot  the  command  of  the  squadron,  now  composed  of  the  Macedonian,  Powhatan,  and  Vandalia 
only,  (the  rest  having  all  been  ordered  home,)  after  a  most  friendly  acknowledgment  of  his 
services  by  his  countrj'men  living  in  China,  and  a  kind  farewell  expressed  in  a  correspondence 
between  himself  and  the  commercial  houses  of  Russel,  Nye,  Wetmore,  King,  and  indeed  all  the 
American  firms  and  residents,  which  will  be  found  at  length  in  tbe  Appendix,  he  embarked,  in 
company  with  his  flag  lieutenant,  in  the  Englisb  mail  steamer  Hindostan,  and  arrived  in  New 
Yoik  on  the  12th  day  of  January,  1855,  having  been  absent  from  the  United  States  two  years 
and  two  months. 

On  the  23d  of  April,  1855,  the  Mississippi  reached  the  navy  yard  at  Brooklyn,  and  on  the 
next  ("  y  i  ?  Commodore,  repr'ving  on  bof:-d  and  .om  tilly  hauling  down  his  flag,  thus  cou»"m- 
niated  the  final  act  in  the  scory  of  the  United  States  Expedition  to  Japan. 


C  O  >1  M  A  N  P  K  li     ADAMS     A  K  It  1  \'  E  S     WITH    T  U  E    TREATY. 


009 


SUPPLEMENTARY   CHAPTER. 


COMMANDER    ADAMS    ARRIVES     IN    THE     UNITED    STATES    WITH     THE     TREATY. SUBMITTED     BY    THE     PRESIDENT    AND    RATIFIED    BY 

THE     SENATE. COMMANDER     ADAMS      SENT     BACE      WITH     ADTHORITY     TO      EXCHANGE     RATIFICATIONS    —ARRIVES     AT     SIMODA 

AFTER    AN    ABSENCE    OF    LITTLE    MORE    THAN     NINE     MONTHS  ALTERED    ASPECT     OF    THE    PLACE    FROM    THE    EFFECTS    OP    AN 

EARTHdCAEE. JAPANESE    ACCOUNT    OF    THE    CALAMITY  LOSS    OF    RUSSIAN    SHIP-OF-WAR    DIANA. RUSSIANS    MAKE  A  TREATY 

EXACTLY    LIKE    OCRS,    WITH    A     SUBSTITUTION    MERELY    OF     NAGASAKI    FOR     NAPHA    AS    ONE    OF     THE    THREE    PORTS. FRENCH 

SHIP    BRINGS    IN    TWO    SHIPWRECKED    JAPANESE. AUTHORITIES    REFUSE  TO    RECEIVE    THEM    EXCEPT    FROM    UNDER    OCR    FLAG- 
HAVING    NO    TREATY    WITH     FRANCE. MEN     TAKEN    ON     BOARD    THE     POWHATAN,    AND     THEN     RECEIVED     BY    THEIR    COUNTRY, 

MEN. ENERGY    OF    JAPANESE    IN     REBUILDI.VG    SIMODA  FREEDOM    OK    INTERCOURSE    WITH     THE    PEOPLE. NO    MORE    ESPION- 
AGE.  BRISK     TRAFFIC    AT     THE     SHOPS. DELIVERY    TO     CAPTAIN    ADAMS     OF    SOME      RELIGIOUS    TRACTS    LEFT    AT     SIMODA    BY 

MR.    BITTINGER. JAPANESE    HAD    LEARNED    TO    MANAGE    THE    LOCOMOTIVE,    BUT    NOT     THE    TELEGRAPH. MORYAMA    YENOSKE 

PROMOTED. MESSAGE    FROM    THE    COMMISSIONERS    TO    COMMODORE    PERRY. RATIFICATION'S    EXCHANGED. 


HE  Narrative  of  the  Japanese  Expedition,  properly  speaking, 
ended  with  the  act  recorded  in  the  closing  sentence  of  the 
last  chapter  ;  but  for  the  completion  of  the  story,  it  is 
thought  it  will  prove  not  unacceptable  to  our  countrymen  to 
present  the  subsequent  transactions  connected  with  the  treaty 
up  to  the  exchange  of  ratifications  by  the  respective  repre- 
sentatives of  Japan  and  our  own  government. 

Commander  Adams,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  dispatched 
home  with  the  copy  of  the  treaty,  on  the  4th  of  April,  1854, 
in  the  Saratoga.  On  the  1st  of  May,  he  reached  Honolulu, 
and  took  the  first  vessel  that  offered  for  San  Francisco,  and 
thence,  taking  the  usual  route,  via  Panama,  reached  the 
City  of  Washington  on  the  12th  of  July,  thus  making  the 
travel  from  Japan  to  our  seat  of  government  in  three  mouths 
and  eight  days.  The  treaty  was  submitted  by  the  President 
to  the  Senate,  and  was  by  that  body  promptly  and  unani- 
mously ratified  ;  and  on  the  30th  of  Septemlier  Commander 
Adams  left  New  York  with  the  ratified  copy  for  Japan.  On  reaching  England,  he  took  the 
overland  route,  and  arrived  at  Hong  Kong  on  the  1st  of  January,  1855.  The  Powhatan  was 
ordered  by  Commodore  Abbot  immediately  to  convey  Commander  Adams  to  Simoda,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  26th  of  January,  1855,  with  full  powers  as  the  representative  of  the  United 
States  to  exchange  with  the  Japanese  authorities  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty.  The  journey 
back  to  Simoda  occupied  three  months  and  twenty-seven  days,  and  the  whole  time  that  elapsed 
between  the  signing  of  the  treaty  and  the  arrival  of  it  in  Japan,  duly  ratified  by  the  President 
and  Senate,  was  nine  months  and  twenty-two  days. 

On  the  arrival  of  Comrrander  Adams  at  Simoda,  he  found  a  great  and  sad  change  in  the 
physical  aspects  of  the  place.     In  the  iiteiral  during  his  absence  from  Japan,  (on  the   23d  of 


510 


EXPEDITION      TO      JAPAN. 


December,  1854,)  an  earthquake  had  occurred  which  was  felt  on  the  whole  coast  of  Japan, 
doing  some  injury  to  the  capital,  Yedo,  completely  destroying  the  fine  city  of  Osaca  on  the 
southeastern  side  of  Niphon,  and  leaving  abundant  evidences  of  its  ruinous  effects  at  Simoda. 
One  who  should  now  visit  the  place  would  find  the  description  of  it  given  in  our  narrative  and 
the  pictured  illustrations  of  our  artists  no  longer  appropriate.  They  represent  Simoda  as  it  was. 
Every  house  and  public  building  on  the  low  grounds  had  been  destroyed  ;  a  few  temples  and 
private  edifices  that  stood  on  elevated  spots  were  all  that  escaped,  and  but  sixteen  structures 
were  all  that  was  left  of  what  was  once  Simoda.     The  inhabitants  told  Commander  Adams  that 


W.Meint  du —  SSi 


Temple  of  Ben-ting,  Simoda. 

the  destruction  was  not  caused  by  the  immediate  agitation  ot  the  earth,  but  by  the  action  of  the 
sea  which  it  occasioned,  and  which  regularly  followed  the  shocks.  According  to  the  statements 
of  the  Japanese,  the  waters  in  the  bay  and  near  the  shore  were  first  observed  to  be  violently 
agitated  ;  they  soon  began  rapidly  to  retreat,  leaving  the  bottom  of  the  harbor,  where  usually 
there  were  five  fathoms  of  water,  nearly  bare.  The  sea  then  rushed  in  upon  the  land  in  a  wave  five 
fathoms  above  its  usual  height,  and,  overflowing  the  town  up  to  the  tops  of  the  houses,  swept 
everything  away.  The  frightened  inhabitants  fled  to  the  hills  for  safety,  but  before  they 
could  reach  their  summits  they  were  overtaken  by  the  climbing  waters  and  hundreds  were 
drowned.  The  waters  retreated  and  returned  in  this  manner  five  several  times,  tearing  down 
everything,  and  strewing  the  adjacent  shores  with  the  wrecks  and  ruins  of  houses  prostrated, 
and  vessels  torn  from  their  anchorage.  The  Russian  frigate  Diana,  bearing  the  flag  of  Admiral 
Pontiatine,  was  lying  in  the  harbor  at  the  time.     Tlie  Russian  officers  told  Commander  Adams 


LOSS      OF      UrSSIAN      S  II  I  P-O  F  -  W  A  U      DIANA.  511 

that,  when  the  waters  retreated,  the  mud  boiled  up  from  the  bottom  in  a  thousand  springs. 
When  they  came  in  they  boiled  like  a  maelstrom,  and  such  was  their  velocity  and  force  that  the 
frigate  actually  made  forty-three  com])lete  revolutions  in  the  space  of  thirty  minutes.  The 
officers  and  crew  were  made  giddy  by  this  rapid  turning.  Their  anchor  had  been  let  go  in  six 
fathoms  ;  when  the  waters  retreated  they  could  sec  it,  and  had  but  four  feet  of  water  alongside. 
The  ship's  rudder,  stern-post,  and  a  great  part  of  her  keel,  were  knocked  off  and  lost,  and  her 
bottom  was  very  much  injured.  After  the  effects  of  the  earthquake  had  somewhat  subsided, 
and  the  sea  became  comparatively  tranquil,  she  was  found  to  leak  badly.  Her  guns  were 
landed,  and  as  there  was  no  suitable  place  in  Simoda  to  heave  her  down,  Admiral  Pontiatine 
sent  to  look  for  some  contiguous  spot  fit  for  the  purpose  ;  and  it  may  subserve  the  interests  of 
navigation  here  to  record  that  he  informed  Commander  Adams  that  he  found  a  most  excellent 
and  sheltered  harbor,  resembling  that  of  Hakodadi,  but  smaller,  and  completely  land-locked 
with  an  abundance  of  water.  It  is  about  sixty  miles  from  Simoda,  at  a  jjlace  called  Hed-do, 
situated  at  the  head  of  the  bay  which  lies  westward  of  the  peninsula  of  Idzu.  Here  the  Russian 
admiral  attempted  to  take  his  disabled  ship  and  repair  her,  but  a  gale  came  on,  and  she 
foundered  near  the  shore,  the  officers  and  crew  with  difficulty  saving  their  lives.  They  were 
all  in  Japan  during  the  stay  of  Commander  Adams,  and,  at  that  time,  with  little  prospect  of 
getting  away.  They,  however,  subsequently  chartered  the  American  schooner  Foote,  as  we 
have  related  on  a  previous  page,  and  sailed  in  her  for  Petropaulowski.  The  Russians  were  in 
distress,  and  Captain  McCluney,  of  the  Powhatan,  generously  supplied  them  with  all  the 
provisions  he  could  spare  from  his  ship.  The  object  of  the  admiral  was  to  make  for  his  country 
a  treaty  with  Japan,  and  it  was  concluded  after  the  loss  of  his  ship  and  during  the  stay  of 
Commander  Adams,  who  was  informed  by  the  admiral  that  it  was  exactly  like  that  made  by 
Commodore  Perry  for  ic~s,  with  the  single  change  of  a  substitution  of  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki  for 
that  of  Napha  in  Lew  Chew ;  this,  we  venture  to  suggest,  is  no  improvement,  inasmuch  as  the 
long  continued  and  tame  submission  of  the  Dutch  at  Dezima  has  taught  the  Japanese  officials 
there  to  be  very  arrogant  and  insolent  toward  foreigners.  But,  although  Admiral  Pontiatine 
thus  succeeded  in  making  a  treaty,  to  Commander  Adams  the  Japanese  "  appeared  to  entertain 
no  goodwill  toward  the  Russians."    They  are  probably  suspicious  of  their  ultimate  purposes. 

While  the  Powhatan  was  at  Simoda,  a  French  ship  arrived  there  and  anchored  in  the  outer 
harbor,  having  on  board  two  Japanese  seamen  wlio  had  been  taken  off  the  wreck  of  a  junk 
about  three  years  before  by  an  American  whale-ship.  The  authorities  ordered  the  vessel  off, 
would  permit  none  of  their  people  to  go  on  board  of  her,  and  positively  refused  to  receive  the 
shipwrecked  seamen.  They  had,  they  said,  no  treaty  with  France,  and  French  vessels  had  no 
right  to  come  there  under  any  pretext.  At  the  intercession,  however,  of  Commander  Adams 
and  Captain  JlcCluney,  they  agreed  to  receive  their  shipwrecked  countrymen  from  the 
Powhatan,  if  Captain  McCluney  would  first  receive  them  on  board  his  ship,  and  then  deliver 
them  as  coming  from  an  American  man-of-war.  This  plan  was  adopted.  The  men  were  kept 
all  night  on  board  the  Powhatan,  and  landed  the  next  morning.  They  were  immediately, 
however,  compelled  to  lay  aside  their  European  clothing,  and  conform  in  all  respects  to  the 
Japanese  costume  ;  besides  which  they  were  placed  under  a  strict  surveillance,  which  continued, 
at  any  rate,  as  long  as  the  ship  remained. 

Notwithstanding  the  calamities  caused  by  the  earthquake,  there  was  shown  a  resiliency  in  the 
Japanese  character  which  spoke  well  for  tlieir  energy.     They  did  not  sit  down  and  weep  over 


512  EXPEUITIONTOJAPAN 

their  misfortunes,  but,  like  men,  went  to  work,  seemingly  but  little  dispirited.  They  were 
busily  engaged,  when  the  Powhatan  arrived,  in  clearing  away  and  rebuilding.  Stone,  timber, 
thatch,  tiles,  lime,  &c.,  were  coming  in  daily  from  all  quarters,  and,  before  the  Powhatan  left, 
there  were  about  three  hundred  new  houses  nearly  or  quite  completed,  though  occasional  and 
some  pretty  strong  shocks,  during  the  ship's  stay,  were  admonishing  them  of  a  possible 
recurrence  of  the  calamity. 

The  outlines  of  the  harbor  of  Simoda,  Commander  Adams  states,  were  not  altered  at  all  by 
the  earthciuake,  but  the  holding  ground  seems  to  have  been  washed  out  to  sea,  leaving  no 
bottom  scarcely  but  naked  rocks.  This,  however,  will  be  resupplied,  as  it  was  furnished  in  the 
first  instance,  by  the  washings  from  the  land,  which  will  probably  accumulate  rapidly.  Tlie 
Powhatan,  for  want  of  holding  ground,  dragged  with  three  anchors  ahead,  the  wind  blowing 
across  the  harbor,  and  no  sea.  Indeed,  she  was  obliged  to  rely  on  her  steam  to  keep  off  the 
rocks. 

From  the  place  we  now  turn  to  the  people.  The  Japanese  were  much  more  disposed  to  be 
friendly  and  sociable  than  on  the  former  visit.  The  officers  of  the  ship  roamed  over  the  country 
undisturbed,  went  into  the  villages,  and  were  received  with  a  welcome  everywhere.  Espionage 
seemed  to  have  been  laid  aside,  for  there  was  no  attempt  to  follow  or  watch  them.  The  shops 
having  all  been  destroyed,  and  not  yet  replaced,  a  bazaar  was  opened  in  a  temple  repaired  for 
the  purpose,  and  was  soon  filled  with  a  variety  of  beautiful  articles  brought  from  Yedo  and  the 
interior  towns.  The  ofScers  were  not  only  invited  but  importuned  to  buy,  which  they  did  very 
fi-eely.  An  anxious  wish  was  expressed  by  the  people  to  Commander  Adams,  that  trading 
vessels  from  America  would  soon  begin  to  visit  them,  and  the  governor  of  Simoda  (who  was  one 
of  the  commissioners  that  made  the  treaty)  intimated  to  the  commander  that  it  would  be  very 
agreeable  to  him,  personally,  if  a  consul  from  the  United  States  should  be  appointed  to  reside 
at  Simoda. 

The  Japanese  were  exceedingly  desirous  of  obtaining  English  books,  particularly  on  medical 
and  scientific  subjects  ;  and  many  valuable  works  were  given  to  them  by  our  officers.  But  thay 
coveted  our  books  on  any  subject  except  religion.  One  circumstance  occurred  which,  says 
Commander  Adams,  "made  me  feel  a  little  ashamed."  "The  governor  of  Simoda  sent  off  a 
bundle  of  religious  books  which  he  said  '  Bittinger'  (one  of  the  chaplains  of  Commodore  Perry's 
squadron)  had  left  there  clandestinely,  which  was  contrary  to  Japanese  law,  and  '  not  right ;' 
and  he  begged  me  to  take  them  away  with  me,  which  I  agreed  to  do." 

Commander  Adams  found  that  they  had  learned  to  manage  the  locomotive  which  the 
President  had  sent  to  the  Emperor  ;  they  had  also  the  life-boat  afloat  with  a  trained  crew,  but 
the  magnetic  telegraph  they  said  was  too  hard  for  them  yet.  Every  day,  when  Commander 
Adams  was  not  employed  on  shore,  the  lieutenant  governor  or  some  official  of  high  rank  came 
off  to  visit  him,  and  their  meetings  were  those  of  old  friends.  Some  of  them  indeed  were  old 
acquaintances  ;  the  governor  of  Simoda  was  Isawa,  Mimasaki  Nokami,  one  of  the  treaty 
commissioners,  and  our  old  friend  the  interpreter,  Moryama  Yenoske,  who  assisted  in  making 
our  translation  of  the  treaty,  (he  understood  English,)  was  also  at  Simoda,  having  been  very 
deservedly  promoted  ;  others  of  the  commissioners  were  also  there  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging 
ratifications,  and  Commander  Adams  was  not  allowed  to  feel  as  if  he  were  among  strangers. 
The  commissioners  inquired  with  great  interest  about  Commodore  Perry,  sent  many  messages 
of  friendship  and  remembrance,  and  charged  Commander  Adams  to  say  to  him  that  his  "  name 
would  live  forever  in  the  history  of  Japan." 


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FINAL     CONSUMMATION     ON      WASHINGTON'S     BIRTH     DAY, 


513 


As  to  the  exchange  of  ratifications^  the  Japanese,  at  first,  interposed  two  objections  ;  these, 
however,  did  not  arise  from  unwillingness  to  abide  by  their  engagements,  but  were  rather 
technical,  and  founded  iipon  their  scrupulous  interpretation  of  the  terms  of  a  written  contract, 
and  upon  their  profound  respect  for  ceremonials.  The  objections  were,  first,  that  their  copy  of 
the  treaty  said  it  was  to  be  ratified  after  eighteen  months  ;  ours  said  loithin  eighteen  months  ; 
but  as  the  Dutch  and  Chinese  translations  agreed  with  our  English  copy,  and  as  that  had  been 
taken  as  the  original,  from  wliich  all  the  translations,  including  their  Japanese  version,  had 
been  made,  they  became  convinced  that  the  discrepancy  arose  from  the  ignorance  of  their 
translator,  and  having  had  explained  to  them  what  was  meant  by  our  English  word  "  within," 
as  here  used,  they  very  gracefully  withdrew  all  objection  on  this  score.  The  other  objection  was 
to  the  Emperor's  affixing  his  sign  manual  to  the  Japanese  copy  for  our  government.  They  said 
the  Emperor  never  signed  any  document,  but  the  supreme  council  only.  Commander  Adams 
represented  to  them  that  the  President  and  Secretary  of  State  had  signed  the  copy  he  had 
brought  for  them,  and  beside,  the  Emperor  was  the  party  named  in  the  instrument  as  having 
made  the  treaty,  and  therefore  he  wished  his  signature.  Finally,  it  was  concluded  that  both 
the  Emperor  and  supreme  council  should  sign  it,  and  it  was  accordingly  done.  On  the  21st  of 
February  the  exchanges  were  formally  made,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  done,  the  Powhatan 
immediately  showed  the  Japanese  flag  at  the  fore,  and  fired  a  salute  of  seventeen  guns. 

The  commissioners  also  gave  Commander  Adams  a  ratijied  copy  of  the  "additional  regula- 
tions" made  between  the  Commodore  and  the  Japanese  commissioners,  which  they  seemed  to 
consider  part  of  the  treaty,  with  a  request  that  he  would  deliver  it  to  the  President,  and  ask 
him  to  send  out,  by  some  American  ship,  the  American  ratification  as  soon  as  it  was  completed. 
On  the  day  after  the  ratification,  February  22,  the  Powhatan  left  Simoda,  and  our  new  and,  as 
we  trust,  enduring  friendly  relations  with  Jajjan  are  thus  associated,  in  date  at  least,  with  the 
name  of  Washington. 


Graves  of  American  Dt-atl  in  Jupan. 


65  J 


INDEX. 


Page. 

Abbott,  Captain,  misled  by  Von  Siebold's  charts.-  326 

inquiries  at  Formosa 499 

report  of  squalls  near  Formosa..  500 

Abbey  Point,  Lew  Chew 152,  195 

Adams,  William,  pilot  of  the  Ducth  fleet,  his  ac- 
count of  his  visit  to  Japan 27 

his  letters  sent  to  England 34 

Adams,  Commander,  his  MS.  journal iv 

interview  with  the  governor 

of  Uraga 237 

interview  with  the  governor 

of  Uraga 244 

interview  with  the  mayor  of 

Xapha 276 

conversation  with  Japanese  of- 
ficials respecting  the  death 

of  the  Emperor 331 

discussion  respecting  Uraga  .  332 
interview  with   the  Japanese 

officials  at  Uraga 333 

conversation  with  Yezaiman.  341 
conferences     with     Japanese 

officials 355,356 

delivers  American  presents  to 

the  .Japanese 372 

bearer  of  the  treaty  to   the 

United  States 393 

arrives  home 509 

returns  with  the  ratified  trea- 
ty to  Simoda 509 

his  numerous  visitors  at  Si- 
moda   512 

leaves  Simoda 513 

Admiral,  title  of  used  for  that  of  commodore,   in 

treating  with  the  Japanese 246 

Agriculture  of  the  Japanese,  their  grains 52 

tea 52 

Advanced  state  of  Lew  Chew 220 

Agiiculturist,  his  share  in  the  products  of  the  land  220,  22G 

Ainos,  Ycsso 454,469 

Ale.'iandcr  the  Great,  fleet  of,  visits  Ceylon 116 

Althca,  Lew  Chew 168 

Amahs,  Chinese  nurses 291 

Auiakirima  islands,  near  Lew  Chew 274 

Auaral,  Portu^u^se  governor,  Macao  plot  ogointt.  3Ul 


Page. 

America.  Japanese  knowledge  of 464 

American  commercial   houses,    high   character    of 

among  the  Chinese 136 

merchants  at  Shanghai  claim  protection-  148 

anchorage,  the  bay  of  Uraga 265 

anchorage,  bay  of  Yedo 328 

meichants  at  Hong  Kong,  application  of 

the  to  Commodore  Perry 287 

sailor  captive  in  Japan 340 

ships,  intercourse  of,  with  Japan 351 

limits  in  Japan- 385, 387 

ships  in  Japan,  supplies  for 385 

intercourse  with  the  Japanese 474 

intercourse  with  Japan,   treaty   regula- 
tions respecting 479 

Americans  shipwrecked  at  Formosjv 498,  499 

Amphitheatre,  Japanese  drawing  of  an 461 

Anatomical  drawing,  Japanese 462 

Antidote  for  poison  in  use  in  the  Indian  seas 119 

Arch,  peculiar,  at  Xagaguska,  Lew  Chew 171 

Architecture,  Japanese -  463 

Areca  tree,  Bonin  islands 198 

Argonaut,  visit  of  the  ship,  to  Japan 39 

Arms  of  "Izawa,  emblazoned. 344 

Arrack  tree,  Bonin  islands 198 

Art,  Japanese 459 

Arts  of  design  in  Japan 59 

Arzobispo,  a  name  given  to  the  Bonin  islands 200 

Astronomical  knowledge  of  the  Japanese 57 

Awa,  province  of  Japan 232 

capes  of 427 

Ayahs,  Chinese  nurses -- 291 

Baby,  Japanese --  396 

Bache,  Professor,  charts  of  the  coast  survey 429 

Baggass,  or  crushed  sugar-cane 314 

Bailey  islands 197,  199.283 

Ballastier,  Mr.,  visit  to  Siam 121 

Bamboo  range  of  mountains,  Mauritus 108 

Bamboo,  Lew  Chew 312 

fences.  Lew  Chew 178 

Banner  Rock,  Lew  Chew 168 

Banyan,  Lew  Chew 175,312 

Barometrical  observations  in  the  Indian  ocean 104 

Barrels,   Hakodadi 456 

Barrows  bay.  Lew  Chew 165, 167, 173, 176 


516 


INDEX 


Page. 
Bastions,  substitutes  for  in  the  fort  of  Nagaguska, 

Low  Chew 171 

Baths,  public,  Simoda 405 

Battas,  a  tribe  of  the  Malays,  their  dainty  canni- 
balism   - 130 

Batteries,  Japanese,  bay  of  Yedo 343 

Beacon-fires,  Japanese,  bay  of  Uraga 236 

Beard,  a  full  black,  a  distinctive  mark  of  the  Ja- 
panese and  Lew  Chewans -- 315 

Beech  tree.  Peel  island --  210 

Beechey,  Captain,  names  the  Bonin  islands 197 

his  nomenchiture  of  the  islands 

disowned 199 

position  of  Port   Lloyd  in   his 

chart,  erroneous 202 

account  of  the  Lew  Chewans 221 

Beggars,  commutation  with.  Canton 292 

Begging,  mode  of.  Canton - 293 

Belcher,  Captain,  account  of  the  Lew  Chewans —  221 
Bell,  a  large,  presented  to  Commodore  Perry  by  the 

regent  of  Lew  Chew 496 

Bellows,  Napha.  in  blacksmith's  shop. 220 

Japanese - 456 

Bent,  Lieutenant,  his  MS.  journal iv 

pilots   the  expedition  in  Napha 

harbor 150 

survey  of  the  bay  of  TJraga 238,  241 

conversation  with  Japanese  re- 
specting America.  - -  464 

rebukes  servility  of  "SamPatch"  486 
commissioner  of  treaty  with  Lew 

Chew.. 495 

Bettelhcira,  Dr.,  a  missionary  at  Lew  Chew 152 

visits  Commodore  Perry 153 

remark  on  the  old  regent  of  Lew 

Chew 215 

believes   Lew    Chew  a  part  of  Ja- 
pan   222 

remarks  respecting  education  in 

Lew  Chew 223 

history  of,  and  of  his  missionary 

operations  in  Lew  Chew 225 

a  layman 225 

removal  of -- 320 

leaves  Lew  Chew 498 

Lew  Chew,  official  communication 

respecting 498 

Bing,  Japanese  rouge 395 

Birds,  scarcity  of.  Lew  Chew 175 

Bonin  islands 203 

Bishop's  bay,  Macao 140 

Bittinger,  Rev.  Mr.,  visits  Kanagawa,  Japan 360 

his  excliange  of  American  for 

Japanese  coin 360 

his  kind  treatment  by  the  Ja- 
panese   300 

coins  obtained  by,  returned..  365 

Blacksmiths,  Japanese 456 

Blacksmith's  shop,  Napha 220 


VdQr, 

Blunt,  Cape,  near  Hakodadi 430 

Boar,  wild.  Lew  Chew 182 

Peel  island 206 

Board,  supposed  murder  of,  at  Napha 492 

Boas  of  Ceylon 119 

Boatmen,  Canton 294 

Boats,  Japanese 450 

Bocca  Tigris,  Canton  river 137 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  remark  on  war  to  Basil  Hall.  318 
Bonham,  Sir  George,  conference  with  Commodore 

Perry  respecting  the  Bonin  islands 303 

Bonin  islands 196,  197 

discovery  of  the,  by  the  Japanese..  197 
advantages  of  establishing  a  naval 

station  at  the 212 

described 200 

sovereignty  of  the 213 

Captain  Kelly's  visit  to  the 282 

English  claim  to  the 304 

Books  in  Japan 58,  59 

in  Lew  Cliew,  Chinese 224 

Japanese 463 

Borodino  islands 214 

Bosquette,  M.,  a  writer  on  hurricanes 113 

Boundaries,  American,  Simoda 477 

Hakodadi 478,481 

Boundary  of  American  intercourse  in  Japan 468 

Bourboulon,  M.  de,  French  minister  to  Canton 300,303 

Boyle,  Lieutenant,  assists  the  Macedonian,  aground 

in  the  bay  of  Yedo 327 

places  a  buoy  on  a  rock,  bay  of 

Yedo 401 

visits  Olasou  island 469 

report  of  a  marine  volcano  near 

Formosa 500 

treatment  of  the  Sillibaboos 503 

Brabant  mountains,  Mauritius 108 

Broom-corn,  Lew  Chew. 173 

Broughton  rocks,  bay  of  Yedo 325 

Brown,  Mr.,  daguerreotypist 154 

Buchanan,  Commander,  conducts  regent  of  Lew 
Chew  over  the  Susque- 
hanna   216 

interview  with  the  gover- 
nor of  Uraga 237 

interview   with   governor 

of  Uraga 244 

leads  the  escort  of  Com- 
modore Perry 253 

first  American  who  lands 

in  Japan 254 

conversation  with  the  gov 

ernor  of  Uraga 263 

Buddha,  statues  of,  in  grave-yard,  Simoda 407 

Buddhism,  extent  of  Hs  influences - 21 

in  Ceylon. 120 

Buddhist  priest  at  a  funeral,  Japan 354 

temples,  Simoda 406 

offerings  ..., i-----. '*0'-' 


INDEX 


517 


rage. 

Buddhist  gardens .-  409 

apartments 409 

religious  services 476 

temples,  Hakodadi 442 

occasionally  used  as  places  of 

concourse 443 

Building  erected  to  receive  the  letter  of  the  Pres- 
ident, Japan. 254 

Burial  customs.  Lew  Chew. 319 

of  a  sailor  at  Kaki-Zaki 425 

Butting  a  part  of  Japanese  wrestling .-  371 

Buttons,  Japanese  taste  for  American -  358 

Cabinets  d'aisance,  public,  Japan 452 

Caffre  war,  consequences  of  the -     99, 103 

Caffires,  description  of 101 

Camelias,  bay  of  Yedo 394 

Camoens,  history  of 143 

cave  of 142 

monument  to - 299 

Camp  Perry,  Lew  Chew 167 

Camphor  tree  in  Japan 61 

Cannibalism,  daintiness  in.- 130 

Canton,  visit  to 135 

annual  trade  of. 138 

charitable  asylums  of 294 

river -  135 

Cape  Colony,  population  of 101 

Cape  de  Verde  islands,  the  Harmattan  observed  at  89,  90 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  route  to,  from  Ejiglaud 98 

Cape  Town,  visit  to 98 

Cards,  Japanese  game  of 465 

Cassa  sent  to  Japan  by  Sir  Stamford  Raffles -  44 

Castles  of  Lew  Chew 185 

Cats  and  dogs,  wild,  hunted  in  the  Bonin  islands  .  203 
Catherine,  Empress  of  Russia,  directs  shipwrecked 

Japanese  to  be  sent  home 45 

Cattle  at  Simo<ia 424 

Cecille,  Admiral,  explores  Lew  Chew 229 

Cedars,  Japanese,  large  size  of 61 

Centipede  boats 158 

Centre  island,  Simoda  harbor -  416 

Ceylon,  visit  to 116 

Chairs,  Lew  Chew 190 

Chama  gigas,  Bonin  islands 202 

Chang- Yuen,  the  Lew  Chew  guide 172 

Chapin,  Aldin  B.,  visits  the  Bonin  islands 200 

an  early  settler  of  the  Bonin  islands 305 

Charcoal,  Japanese  custom  respecting 369 

Charitable  institutions.  Canton 294 

Charms  on  grave-stones,  Yoku-liama 408 

Charts  of  Japanese  waters  in  use,  incorrect 325 

Chess,  Japanese  game  of 465 

Chimneys,  absence  of,  Siraoda. 404 

Chin-Chin  to  Commodore  Perry 153 

China,  laws  regulating  etiquette  on  the  death  of 

an  emperor 323 

benefit  of  American  trade  to 352 

American  treaty  with 382 

sea,  na\igation  of  the 132 


Page. 

China  street.  Canton 1,36 

China,  imitation  of,  in  Lew  Chew. 223 

Chinese,  their  claims  to  have  colonized  Japan 8 

language  not  understood  by  the  Japanese  8 

commerce  with  Singapore 125 

traders,  activity  of,  at  Hong-Kong 135 

coolies,  inefficient 174 

coolie,  treatment  of  a  sick.. 181 

lack  of  sympathy  for  a  dying  comrade 196 

emigrants,   Commodore   Perry's  remarks 

on  the  transportation  of,  to  California.  212 

claim  sovereignty  over  Loo-Choo 221 

account  of  the  origin  of  the  Lew  Chewans.  221 

treated  as  strangers  in  Lew  Chew 222 

emigrants  to  Lew  Chew 223 

books  in  Lew  Chew 224 

handwriting  in  use  in  Lew  Chew 224 

revolution,  inquiry  of  a  Japanese  respect- 
ing..   261 

abstemiousness  of  the 289 

servants 290 

comprador 290 

feet,  women  averse  to  showing 292 

higher  classes 295 

preponderance  in  Macao 297 

treaty  with  the  U.  States,  a  copy  of  fur- 
nished to  the  Japanese  commissioners.  350 
imperial    troops,   conduct    to    American 

citizens 504 

imperial  troops,  assaults  on  American  mer- 
chants, Shanghai ;  English  and  Ame- 
rican attack  upon 506 

Chow  Hwang,  his  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Lew 

Chewans 221 

Christianity,  its  early  introduction  into  Japan  doubt- 
ful   22 

early  introduced  into  Ceylon 120 

the  common  people  of  Lew  Chew  fa- 
vorably disposed  towards. 225 

introduction  of,  into  Japan 446 

in  Japan 475 

Chung  Ching,  castle  of.  Lew  Chew 185 

Cleanliness  of  Lew  Chew 193 

Cleopatra  islands,  Lew  Chew 324,325 

Clergyman,  treatment  of  a,  in  Japan 446 

Clifford,  Lieutenant,  forms  the  Lew  Chew  naval 

mission 225 

Climate  of  St.  Helena 92 

Climate  of  Simoda 413 

Clipped  Camelia,  Lew  Chew 176 

Clock,  Japanese 54 

Contce,  Lieutenant 155 

Coal,  abundant  in  Japan 60 

supplies  of,  a  prominent  object  of  the  Japa- 
nese c.tpedition 75,  77 

depots 97 

opportune  supply  of 114 

depot  at  Singapore.. 129 

at  Lew  Chew 280 


518 


INDEX. 


Page. 

Conl  depot  at  Bonin  islands 304 

the  U.  States  desirous  to  procure,  from  Japan-  257 

building  for  storing,  Lew  Chew 282 

at  Shah  bay,  Lew  Chew - 311 

Japan - 311,350 

at  Simoda 481 

analysis  of 482 

supply  of,  from  Formosa 498,  499 

Cockes,  Kichard,  first  director  of  the  English  fac- 
tory in  Japan 36 

Cocoa-nut  in  Ceylon 11" 

Coi35ii.  Captain,  visits  the  Bonin  islands -  197, 199 

Coffin  islands -   199,283 

Color  printing.  Japan 460 

Columbus,  examines  Marco  Polo's  ^rritings 5 

Columbus,  visit  of  the,  to  Japan 233 

Commercial  treaty,  the  Japanese  decline  making  a  383 

Comprador,  a  household  official -- 140 

Compradors  of  European  households  in  China 290 

Compton,  the  Sir  H.,  of  the  Chinese  imperial  fleet, 
attack  on  an  American  pilot- 
boat 504 

forced  to  make  reparation  —  505 

Conference  at  Hakodadi 434 

Confucian  temples,  schools  at .- 223 

wTitings,  text-books  in  Lew  Chew 224 

remark  of  the  Bishop  of  Victoria  on 224 

Congress  water  at  Shanghai 145 

Constantia  vineyards,  visit  to -  100 

Consul,  American,  In  Japan 374,383 

date  of  appointment  of 385 

Consular  fees  of  the  United  States  often  insufficient 

for  support 116 

Consuls,  American,  in  Japan 377 

Contee,  Lieutenant,  his  MS.  journal- -  iv 

conference   with    the    deputy 

governor  of  Uraga 234 

conversation    with    the   gov- 
ernor of  Uraga 263 

Coolies  at  Mauritius 109 

of  Lew  (hew  commended 163, 164, 174, 179 

Coopers,  Hakodadi 456 

Copper  abundant  in  Japan 60 

mode  of  casting 60 

Coral  in  Kapha  harbor,  Lew  Chew 154 

reef,  Chinasea - 132 

reefs 429 

rock,  Lew  Chew  - 311 

walls,  Lew  Chew 312 

Corpse,  Japanese  official  inspection  of  a 425 

Costume  of  the  sexes  similar  in  Lew  Chew 158 

Cotton  weaving,  Japan 458 

whipping,  Hong  Kong 508 

Courses  of  a  Japanese  entertainment 191 

Courteous  deportment  of  Japanese  officials -  247 

Crows,  precautions  against,  Simoda - 404 

Crucifixion,  Japanese,  punishment  of 486 

Crumeno,  a  tree,  Bonin  islands 210 

Crustacea,  Bonin  islands 202 


Piige. 

Cultivator,  an  jVmerican,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  101 

Cumberland  coal,  analysis  of 482 

Cum-sing-moon,  China - 503 

near  Hong  Kong,  rendezvous  of 

the  squadron  at- 288 

Cung-qaa,  or  Khan,  Lew  Chew -163,  174, 179 

Cunning  of  Mandarin  of  Kelung 499 

of  the  inhabitants --  500 

Currency,  the  Lew  Chewans  do  not  possess  a 227 

Current  at  sea  observed 81 

at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 103 

between  Lew  Chew  and  Japan 230 

southeast  of  Formosa 308 

near  Hakodadi  - - 430 

Currents - - 90 

near  Japan 272 

Custom  dues,  Uraga - 237, 242 

Cutlery,  Japanese,  inferior  - 456 

Cyclone  near  Mauritius-- 113 

Daguerreotypists  of  the  expedition 194 

Dai-ho-saki,  or  White  Cape 429 

Dairi,  or  ecclesiastical  Emperor  of  Japan. 270 

Dans  Kevitch,  a  Japanese 486 

Dead,  respect  for  the,  in  Lew  Chew 226 

Death  of  a  Chinese  opium  eater 195 

Decorations  of  the  Treaty  House,  Japan 344 

Defences,  military,  at  Uraga 239,  240 

Demons,  boxes  for  feeding  hungry,  Simoda 407 

Dezima,  factory  at-- 4 

the  residence  of  the  Dutch  iu  Japan 7 

described 32 

Diamond,  Cape,  Simoda  harbor- 416 

Diana,  the  Kussian  frigate,  at  Simoda 390 

Diaz,  discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 98 

Diet,  Simoda - 405 

Dinner  to  the  regent  of  Lew  Chew,  on  board  the 

Susquehanna - 217 

Dinners,  Japanese,  unsubstantial .- 380 

Disappointment  island,  position  of 213 

Discipline  of  the  expedition  in  Japan -  417 

Disembovvelment,  practice  of,  among  the  Japanese.  17 

Dishes  served  up  in  Lew  Chew 191 

Divine  service  at  sea 196 

Docks,  Simoda 403 

Doeff,  a  writer  on  Japan - 4,7 

his  intrigues  against  the  English  in  Japan. .  64 

his  treatment  of  the  expeditions  of  Raffles.  42,  44 

Dogs,  Peel  island,  poor  hunters 206 

presented  by  the  Japanese 369 

Japanese 369 

introduced  in  England 369 

Dogwood,  tree  resembling  the,  Peel  island 210 

"Dollar  boats,"  Whampoa 135 

Domestic  animals  running  wild,  Bonin  islands 203,211 

Domestic  life.  Lew  Chew 172 

Dosia,   a  preparation   imparting   flexibility   to   a 

corpse,  also  administered  to  the  living 57 

Doty,  Mr.,  his  letters  respecting  the  treatment  of 

Americans  at  Simoda 390 


INDEX. 


519 


Page. 

Drainage,  Japanese 453 

Drawings,  Japanese - - -  462 

Dress  of  dignitaries  at  Lew  Chew 217 

the  Japanese 396 

Duer,  lieutenant,  observation  of  a  meteor,  bay  of 

Uraga 236 

Duggan,  Professor,  remarks  on  Japanese  art 466 

Dutch,  intercourse  of  the,  with  Japan 4,27,381 

extent  of  their  linowledgc  of  Japan 7 

expedition  to  Japan,  W.  Adams's  account 

of. 27 

deny  the  authority  of  papal  grants. 27 

and  English  carry  on  joint  buccaneering 

enterprises 27 

aid  the  Japanese  in  making  war  on  the  na- 
tive Christians 31 

removed  to  Dezima 32 

concessions  to  Japanese  opinion. 32 

do  not  trample  on  the  cross. 33 

ofBcials  formerly  visited   the  Emperor  of 

Japan 33 

intercourse  out  of  their  factor)*  with  the 

Japanese 33 

induce  Japanese  to  refuse  intercourse  with 

the  English 39 

their  foothold  in  India  destroyed  by  CUve 

and  Hastings - 39 

answer  to  their  claim  to  have  assisted  the 

Japanese  expedition 63,67 

in  1844  recommend  Japan  to  abolish  her 

exclusive  system 64,  65 

proposed  treaty 65 

possession  of  St.  Helena 91 

possession  of  Mauritius 107 

possessions  in  Ceylon. 116 

treaty  with  Japan 389 

nostrum  for  sale  in  Japan. 404 

Duyong,  alleged  mermaid  of  Singapore 131 

Dwarf  trees  of  the  Japanese 53 

Earthquake,  Japan 510 

East  India  Company  construct  roads  in  St.  Helena.  92 

Education  in  Japan 68 

of  the  Lew  Chewans,  Dr.  Bettelheim's 

evidence  respecting 223 

Ehrenberg,  his  examination  of  the  Harmattan 90 

Eldridge,  J.  C. ,  purser,  report  on  Japanese  curren- 
cies   478 

Elephants  of  Ceylon 118 

hunting 118 

"Elevated  enclosure  of  fragrant  festivities,"  Shui, 

Lew  Chew 190 

Emperor  of  Japan,  death  of  the 321,  331 

the  new 350 

reception  of  his  reply  to  the 
letter  of  the  President  of  the 

United  States 346 

his  official  signature 513 

Endermo  harbor,  survey  of ;  beauty  of  its  shores. .  468 

Engines,  disconnecting 105 


Fife. 

English,  intercourse  of  the,  with  Japan 4,34 

deny   the  authority  of  Papal   grants  of 

newly  discovered  countries 27 

trade  with  Japan  at  first  unprofitable 36 

trade  closed  voluntarily  in  1623 36 

attempts  to  reopen  trade 37 

refused  intercourse  with  the  Japanese 39 

colonial  policy  hinders  their  progress  in 

Japan 40 

in  1808  send  a  man-of-war  to  Japan  in 

pursuit  of  Dutch  ships 40 

treaty  with  Japan 63,387,388 

possession  of  Mauritius. 107 

possessions  in  Ceylon. 116 

temporary  possession  of  the  Bonin  islands  200 

Japanese  restrictions  upon  the 384 

ship  encountered  by  the  Expedition 490 

Epitaphs,  Simoda 408 

Escort  of  Commodore  Perry  at  Uraga  chosen  by 

lot 252 

Espionage,  official,  in  Japan 15 

effects  of. 16 

anecdote  of 16 

Ethiopian  Minstrels,  Japanese  interest  in  their  per- 
formances   470 

Ethnological  resemblances  between  Lew  Chew  and 

Japan 223 

European  periodicals  read  and  translated  in  Japan .  463 

Everett,  Edward,  his  reply  to  Commodore  Perry . .  87 

Exchange,  rate  of,  established  with  the  Japanese.  424 

Exclusive  policy  of  the  Japanese,  its  origin 19 

Executioners  in  Japan,  how  selected 14 

Factories  at  Canton 136 

Fahs',  Dr.,  exploration  of  Peel  island 204 

survey  of  Peel  island 209 

report  on  the  ethnology  of  Lew  Chew.  315 

Fans,  Japanese 268 

Farm-houses  near  Simoda 413 

Fatsicio  island,  Japan 271 

Fatcisko  Tokushumo,  Japanese  interpreter 244 

Fees  at  "show  places" 112 

Feki,  a  prince,  story  of 20 

Female  servants  in  China 291 

Ferns,  Lew  Chew 312 

Fertility  of  Peel  island 206,  209 

Fi-ija,  a  stream  in  Lew  Chew 183 

Filial  reverence,  the  chief  of  virtues  in  Lew  Chew 

and  China - 224 

Fillmore,  Millard,  liis  Japanese  diplomacy 74 

letter  of,  to  the  Emperor  of  Ja- 
pan . 256 

letter  of  credence  of  Commo- 
dore Perry  from,  as  President 

of  the  United  States 259 

Fine  arts,  Lew  Chew 317 

Fingoos,  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  described 101 

Fir  trees  forced  to  an  enormous  size 53 

Firando,  first  factory  of  the  Dutch  at 30 

Firatatsi,  Cape *2^ 


620 


INDEX. 


Page. 
Fire-arms,  astonishment  of  the  Lew  Chewans  at 

the  American - — 182 

Fischer,  a  writer  on  Japan 4,7 

account  of  the  ingenuity  of  a  Japanese 

fisherman 65 

Fish  in  Kapha  harbor,  Lew  Chew 154 

Japanese  mode  of  presenting 368 

in  Japanese  waters 450 

a  favorite  gift 452 

Fisherman,  I>ew  Chew 219 

Fishing  boats,  near  Macao. 133 

Fishing  at  Port  Lloyd,  Bonin  islands 202 

Flora  of  Peel  island 210 

Flowers,  Lew  Chew --  175 

in  grave  yard,  Simoda 408 

Fogo,  indistinct  view  of - 89 

Fogs  off  the  Chinese  coast 144 

common  on  the  Japanese  coast 231,249 

Foot-balls,  Lew  Chew 318 

Foote,  C.  E.,  the  American  schooner  at  Simoda 390 

Forcade,  Father,  remark  of  Siebold  on 72 

Foreigners,  Japanese,  jealousy  of 386 

Forks,  bamboo  sticks  used  ao.  Lew  Chew. 191 

Formosa  coal,  analysis  of 483 

expedition  to 498 

Fortifications,  Japanese 398 

Fortress  of  J>i  agaguska.  Lew  Chew 1C9 

Forts,  Chinese,  at  the  mouth  of  Canton  river 137 

bay  of  Uraga 237,239 

Fourth  of  July,  1853,  celebration  of  by  the  Expe- 
dition   230 

Fox,  Japanese  ideas  respecting  the. 451 

Francis,  John  W.,  anecdote  of  Basil  Hall 318 

Frassinet,  his  opinion  on  Pinto's  visit  to  Japan 23 

acquits   the  Dutch  of  persecuting  the 

Japanese  Christians. 31 

Frederick,  visit  of  the  ship,  to  Japan 39 

Free  negroes  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 103 

at  Mauritius 109 

French,  intercourse  of  the  with  Japan 4 

possession  of  Isle  of  France,  or  Mauritius..  107 

inhabitants  of  Mauritius 110 

Fryers,  Lieutenant,  a  writer  on  hurricanes 113 

Fudsi-Jamma,  a  mountain  of  Japan 7 

Funchal 82,84 

Funeral,  American,  at  Hakodadi 475 

of  amarine,  Japan 353 

Fusi  the  Great,  a  mountain,  Japan 231,232 

Mount,  Japan 271 

Fusi-Yama,  bay  of  Jedo,  summit  of 326 

Gale  experienced  by  the  expedition  on  entering  Yedo  325 

Garden  seeds  distributed  to  settlers,  Bonin  islands  211 

Geological  features  of  Lew  Chew 311 

formation  of  the  Bonin  islands 202 

Geology  of  Lew  Chew,  Rev.  Mr.  Jones's  report  on  184 

of  Peel  island 209 

Gingerbread,  tough,  Shui,  LewChew 190 

Giumarafcs,  governor  of  the  Portuguese  navy,  Hong 

Kong 300 


Page. 

Glass,  manufacture  of,  by  the  Japanese 51 

Glasson,  Lieutenant,  at  Kapha. 492 

Glynn,   commander,  enforces  release  of  American 

seamen  in  Japan 48 

urges  intercourse  with  Japan .  77 

discoveryofOho-Simain  1846  324 

Gneiss,  Lew  Chew 175 

Goats,    wild,    number   of,    on    Stapleton    island, 

Bonins 211 

Goble,  Mr.,  his  interest  in  "Sam  Patch". 486 

Goebrokcn  Eilandtr 230 

Gohei,  an  ornament  of  the  Japanese  temples 19 

Gokai,  or  "five  laws' '  of  Buddism 21 

Goku-zhen-zhi,  a  monastery,  Simoda 411 

Gold  abundant  in  Japan GO 

Golownin,  Captain,  his  account  of  Japan 7 

his  visit  to  Japan 47 

gays  scurvy  is  prevalent  in  Ye.sso  454 

Gomara  indistinctly  seen 87 

Gordon,  Captain,  of  the  British  navy,  visits  Japan 

in  1818 44 

Gori-Hama,  village  of,  Japan 253 

Government  of  Japan 15 

Gozeman,  a  book-keeper  of  the  Dutch  factory,  car- 
ried off  by  the  English 40 

released 41 

Grades,  classification  of  the  Lew  Chewans  into  four  219 

of  Lew  Chewan  population 226 

Granaries,  Lew  Chew 314 

Grand  Port,  Mauritius Ill 

sea  flight  at 105 

Granite,  Lew  Chew 178 

Gniss-cloth  robes  worn  by  dignitaries  at  Kapha..  216 

jackets,  Lew  Chew 184 

Grasses,  Peel  island 210 

Grave  yards,  Simoda. 407 

Hakodadi 444 

Green,  Dr.,  account  of  mineral  water,  Hakodadi..  447 

Green  turtle,  Bonin  islands 202 

Guerin,  N. ,  chart  of  Japanese  seas 489 

Guest,   Lieutenant,  his   course  with   the  Chinese 

vessel  of  war  the  Sir  H.  Compton 505 

G  uilds  of  porters.  Canton 292 

of  beggars 292 

Gulf  Stream,  analogy  with  the  Kuro-siwo 428 

Gutzlaff,  remark  of  Siebold  on 72 

Hachiman,  a  Sintoo  deified  hero 409 

Sintoo  temple,  Hakodadi 445 

Hail  Columbia,  at  Shui,  Lew  Chew 190 

Hair,  Lew  Chew,  mode  of  wearing  the 223 

pin,  LewChcw 225 

Hakodadi,  opened  to  trade  by  the  United  States..     69,  365 
governor  of,  reply  to  Messrs.  Reed  and 

Dougherty 391 

harbor  of 431 

survey  of 434 

negotiations  respecting  the  reception  of 

the  expedition  at 435 

products  of 435 


INDEX. 


Pace 

Uakodndi,  environs  of 436 

stone  quarries,  resemblance  to  Gibraltar  437 

streets  quiet  and  cleanly 4.'i7 

buildings,  roofs,  precaution  against  fire, 

fire-engines 438 

walls,  sliding  partitions,  shops 439 

fire-engines (...  438 

internal  decorations  of  houses,  furni- 
ture, stools,  tables,  cooking-appara- 
tus, tea  and  tea-cups,  fuel 440 

kitchens,  stoves,   out-ho\ises,  gjiidens, 

lire-proof  warehouses 441 

shops,    commodities,    signs,    shopmen, 

fixed  prices,  Buddhist  temples 442 

grave  j'ard,  epitaphs,  prayer  wheel 444 

Sintoo  temples,  roadside  shrines 445 

defences  ot 446 

environs,  observatory,  telescope 447 

geology  of.  mineral  spring,  cave 447 

vegetables,  trees,  trade,  junks 44S 

birds,  animals,  a  depot  for  whalers 451 

t      cattle,  horses,  roads,  sedans,  mountains, 

climate,  fogs 452 

temperature,  healthy  climate 453 

ship  yards 457 

Ha-koo-shoo,  pe.isants,  Lew  Chew 226 

Hall,  Captain  Basil,  occupies  a  house  at  Lew  Cliew  158 

erroneous  statements  of 160 

erroneous  description   of   the 

Ix!w  Chew.ins 220 

remark   on   the  Lew  Chewans 

to  Napoleon  l>onap,irte 318 

his   remark  on  his   account  of 

Lew  Chew 318 

Hampton,  Mr.,  taken  sick   during  the  exploration 

of  Peel  island 206 

Hansiro,  a  Japanese  convert  to  Christianity 24 

Hara-kiri,  or  discmbowelment 215 

Harmattau,  a  wind  pa.-ising  over  Africa 89 

its  alleged  effects 89 

H:irris,  Purser,  his  MS.  journal iv 

Hatchce-matchee,  or  red  cap.  Lew  Chew 189,  216 

Hayashi-daijaku-no-kami,  prince   of  Daijaku,  Ja- 

p.in 335 

letter  of  to  Com.  Perry.  337 

Japanese  commissioner.  347 
distribution  of  Japanese 

presents  by. 368 

at  the  dinner  given  by 

Commodore  I'crry 375 

enjoys  negro  minstrelsy  376 

Haze  noticed  at  sea — 89 

Hed-do,  harbor  of,  Japan 511 

Heine,  Mr.,  arti.st  of  the  expedition 149 

sketches  Pino 165 

Heraldic  devices  of  the  Japanese  Emperor  and  com- 
missioners   318 

Hiilc-yosi,  or  I'ide-yosi,  his  history 12 

Higher  classes  in  China 295 

GO  J 


Hindoo  idolatry  in  Lew  Chew 314 

Hirakana,  Japanese 224 

Hog  lane,  Canton l.tG 

Honesty,  a  conventional  virtue  with  the  Chinese.  2fl.") 

Hongo,  near  Simoda 412 

Hongs,  at  Canton 136 

Hong  Kong 133 

Horsburgh,  remark  on  the  action  of  the  barometer 

in  the  Indian  ocean 104 

s.iiling  directions 124 

remark  on  tides  in  the  tropics 132 

mention  of  Sillibaboo  island. 503 

Horse,  the  points  of  a,  Japanese  drawings  of 459 

Horses,  humane  treatment  of,  at  Singapore 130 

of  Lew  Chew 158 

Lew  Chew _ 192 

Japanese 254 

Horticulture  of  the  .lupauese ....  53 

Hospitality   at    Englisli    colonial    settlements  to' 

United  States  oflicers -  110 

of  foreign  merchants  in  the  East 139 

Host,  incident  of  disrespect  to  the  at  Macao 4  301 

Hot  water  drunk  in  Lew  Chew .  179 

House  at  Lew  Chew  refused  to  the  expedition 159 

House  court  yards,  Simoda 404 

Houses,  construction  of,  Uraga. 240 

at  Simoda ;  404 

interior  arrangements  of,  Simoda. 405 

number  of,  Simoda 405 

uniformity  of,  in  Japan 456 

Howland  &  ^Vspinwall.  acknowledgment  of  their 

services  by  Commodore  I'erry 114 

Hue,  JI.,  account  of  the  Portuguese  settlement  at 

Macao ^ 140 

travels  in  China 296 

description  of  a  praying  machine 444 

Humboldt,  B;iion.  remark  on  Teneriffe 88 

Hurricanes  at  Mauritius. 105, 112 

Huts  of  natives,  Lew  Chew 167 

Hydrographic  survey  of  the  harbor  of  Lew  Chew . .  161 

report  on  the  bay  of  Uraga 239 

Ichirazichi,  court  intei-preter,  Lew  Chew 192.  216,  281 

Ido-Iwami-no-kami,  (Prince  of   Iwami,)  Japanese 

commissioner 255 

Ido,  prince  of  Tsusima,  Japanese  commissioner 347 

Idsu  or  Negatsu  cape,  Japan .  230 

Ingenuity  of  the  Japanese 55 

Inodzu-gama,  the  ri  ver  Japan 412 

Inquisition  at  Macoa. 299 

Internal  trade  of  the  Japanese 63 

Interpreter,  court.  Lew  Chew 192 

Iron  in  Japan 60 

Irrigation,  I/?w  Chew 220,311 

Ischiraschi,  bridge  of.  Lew  ( 'hew 2sl 

Isliee,  or  Lingam,  Lew  Chow 173 

Isitza,  Lew  Chew 175 

Isoniura,  Jji|>an 429 

Itrhalioo,  a  .Japanese  coin 436 

lyeyas,  his  history J2 


522 


INDEX, 


rage. 

lycyas,  his  letter  to  tlio  Kiiifc  of  England 35 

Jamestown,  St.  Helena !t2 

nnchorage  at 95 

Jamicson,  commander  of  the  English  ship  Bom- 
bay . 603 

Japan,  derivation  of  the  name --  6 

its  extent -  7 

divisions 7 

olijeets  of  curiosity  relative  to 3 

writers  on - 4 

physical  aspect  of -  7 

rivers  of 7 

roads 8 

hridges 8 

canals 8 

climate 8 

colonized  by  the  Chinese -. 8 

duplicate  sovereignty  of 11 

its  political  subdivisions 15 

its  Council  of  State 15 

its  governor  of  the  Empire 15 

introduction  of  Christianity  into 22 

visited  by  Pinto  - 22 

Portuguese  intercourse  with 24 

missions 24 

letter  of  Emperor  of,  to  the  King  of  Eng- 
land  35 

progress  of  industrial  arts  in,  as  workers  in 

metal  work 50 

silver,  copper,  quicksilver,  lead,  tin,  iron, 
coal,    sulphur,    precious  stones,    pearls, 

found  in BO 

Russian  expedition  to,  in  1853 62 

Admiral  Sterling  concludes  a  treaty  with..  63 
treaty  between  and  other  nations,  pioposed 

by  the  Dutch 65 

sui)posed  laws  regulating  etiquette  on  the 

death  of  an  emperor 323 

an  American  sailor  captive  in 340 

coal  abundant  in 341 

polygamy  unluiown  in 397 

Japanese  people,  origin  of 8 

language  not  understood  by  the  Chinese.  8 

alphabet  or  syllabarium 9 

dialects 9 

construction  of  language 9 

pronunciation 9 

Kcempfcr's  theory  of  their  origin .  9 

language,  its  analogies  with  otlier  lan- 
guages    10 

color  of  the 10 

of  rank  resemble  Europeans  in  color 10 

resemblance  to  the  Tartar  family 10 

their  claims  to  antiquity  as  a  nation 11 

hereditary  rank  among  the 13 

priests,  rank  of  ;  merchants  ;  peasantry  ; 

leather  manufacturers  ;  executioners-.  14 
government  secretaries  ;  official  espionage 

among  the 15 


rngu. 
Japanese,  disemhowelment ;  reason  of  their  un- 
changeable customs  ;  interdiction  of  in- 
tercourse with  Europeans ;  falsehood 
among  offi(  ials  a  result  of  their  system  ; 
not  common  to  the  people  in  general..  17 

severity  of  their  laws ;   mode   of  trial ; 

cage;  prisons 18 

religion,  known  as  Sintoo ;  diflficulty  of 

obtaining  information  respecting 19 

liberal  in  their  religious  views ;  number 
of  sects  among ;  refusal  to  banish  Jes- 
uits and  monks 21 

proclamation  expelling  the  Portuguese  ..  26 

their  reception  of  the  Dutch 28 

extirpate  the  native  Christians 31 

officials  dealing  with  the  Dutch  required 

to  trample  on  the  cross 33 

intercourse  with  the  English  ;  license  to 

East  India  Company 34 

intercourse  with  Russia 44 

refuse  to  take  back  their  sailors  ship- 
wrecked on  the  Eussian  coast 45 

decline  the  overtures  of  Kesanoff 46 

officials,  conversation  with  the  leaders  of 
the  English  expedition  to  that  country 

in  1673. 37 

refuse  intercourse  with  the  English 39 

imprison  Golownin  ;  intercourse  with  the 
United  States  ;  refuse  to  take  back  their 
sailors  shipwrecked  on  the  United  States 

coast 47 

treatment  of  the  ships  Morrison,  Vin- 
cennes,  and  Preble ;  refuse  trade  with 
any  nation  but  Holland  ;  imprison  Uni- 
ted States  seamen 48 

tabular  view  of  the  attempts  at  inter- 
course with  the 49 

their  skill  in  lacquered  wood-work  and 

carving 50 

manufacture  of  glass,  porcelain,  paper- 
woven  fabrics,   and  leather ;   shoes  of 

straw 51 

agriculture;  livestock 52 

horticulture  ;  dwarfed  trees 63 

marine  navigation  ;  vessels  ;  compass 53 

their  scientitic  knowledge  ;  clock 54 

ingenuity;  mermaids 65 

knowledge  of  medicine  ;  post  mortem  exam- 
ination not  permitted 66 

medical  works 56 

Dozia 67 

their  astronomical  knowledge 67 

similar  to  that  of  the  Muiscas,  of  Bogota..  68 

colleges;  schools.. 68 

books,  music,  drawing,  painting,  wood- 
engraving,  bas-reliefs,  architecture  ;  sy- 

akfdo,  or  enamel 59 

cedars 61 

camphor  tree 61 


INDEX, 


523 


.lapanpse,  conduct  to  lie  oliscrved  towards  the,  by 

the  expedition    150 

embassy  at  Lew  Cliew. 153 

junks 153 

official,  Lew  Chew  conversation  with 158 

possess  fire-arms  ;  spies IfiO 

guide,  LewChew Ifi2 

cultivation.  Lew  Chew I(i5 

discovery  of  the  Bonin  islands lil" 

account  of  the  Konin  islands 198 

junk  driven  into  Port  Lloyd  ;  wrecked  on 
Stapk'ton  island  ;  survivors  taken  off 
by  a  French  ship ;  wrecli  seen*  by  ofti- 

cers  of  the  Susquehanna 199 

garrison  at  Napha,  Lew  Chew ;  domesti- 
cated at  Lew  Cliew ;  officials,  conjec- 
tured at ;  inform  Commodore  Perry  tliat 

they  claim  jurisdiction  over  Lew  Cliew  222 
expedition  makes  the  first  full  exploration 
of  the  coast  of  the  northern  Lew  Cliew 

islands 230 

at  Yedo,  admiration  of  the  Susquehanna 

by  the.. 231 

coasting  vessels,  bay  of  Tedo 232 

gtiard-boats 233 

crews 233,243 

oars 233,243 

flag. 233 

forts 237,239 

uniform 237 

artists 237 

diplomacy 238 

soldiers,  TTraga 239 

defences,  Uraga. .-  239,240 

junks,  Uraga 241 

attempt  to  interrupt  the  survey  of  the 

bay  of  Uraga 241 

officials,  courteous  deportment  of 247,249 

fond  of  whiskey  and  brandy 248 

their  geographical  knowledge 248 

officials,  their  inspection  of  the  Susque- 
hanna   248 

swords 248 

internal  trade,  activity  of. 249 

official  etiquette 251 

preparations  for  the  reception  of  the  let- 
ter of  the  President  of  the  U.  States..  251 

standards  ;  official  uniform 252 

stTcens  of  painted  cloth 252 

oarsmen,  dexterity  of.. 254 

army,  appearance  of  the ;  horses 254 

cannon;  imiform 255 

concession  of  the,  in  the  reception  of  the 

letter  of  the  President  at  Uraga 263 

friendly  intercourse  with  Americans  of 
the  squadron  ;  intercourse  with,  forbid- 
den by  Japanese  officials  ;  officials  carry 
away  remnants  of  a  collation  in  their 

sleeves 2C7 


Page. 
Japanese  lacquered  ware  ;  silks;  fans;  pipes 2tiK 

curiosity  respecting  steam-vessels --  271 

comparison  of  the,  with  the  Lew  Chcw- 

ans 314 

black  beards  of  the ;  vocab\dary  com- 
pared with  that  of  Lew  Chew ;  har- 
bors, provision  for  securing  vessels ; 
charts,  slight  value  of ;  mode  of  navi- 
gation    32fi 

courtesy  and  scrupulous  honesty,  in- 
stance of;  offers  of  assistance  to  the 
Macedonian  ;  officials  prevented  from 
boarding  the  American  ships 327 

officials  received  by  Captain  Adams 328 

officials  change  the  place  of  delivery  of 

the  Emperor's  letter 329 

commissioners  endeavor  to  prevent  a  sur- 
vey of  the  bay  of  Yedo 330 

officials,  frequent  visits  of  the ;  return 
naval  buttons ;  urge  removal  of  the 
American  squadron  to  Uraga ;  offer 
supplies  as  presents 331 

etiq)iette  respecting  presents  ;  officials  re- 
fuse to  receive  Commo<lore  Perry,  ex- 
cept at  Kama-kunior  Uraga 332 

officials  treat  invitation  to  "  bring  their 
ladies  with  them"  to  the  celebration 
of  Washington's  birth-day  as  a  joke 333 

boats  steady  in  a  rough  sea  ;  curiosity  re- 
specting the  Americans  ;  present  rem- 
nants of  feasts  to  their  guests 336 

intercourse  with  Americans 340 

crew  rescued  by  an  American  merchant- 
man    340 

ambassadors,  creden  tials  of 341 

winter  ;  boatmen,  rugged  health  of 342 

batteries,  bay  of  Yedo 343 

commissioners,  arrival  of,  at  Yoku-hama.  345 

their  personal  appearance  346 

deference    to    rank ;     heraldic    devices ; 

mode  of  obeisance  ;  interpreter 348 

reply  to  the  letter  of  the  President  of  the 

United  States.. 349 

drinking  custom -. 353 

respect  for  the  dead 355 

interest  in  the  American  railroad  and  tel- 
egraph   357 

curiosity  respecting  American  dress  ;  taste 
for  pictures  ;  taste  for  sketching  ;  inter- 
course with  the  American  scjuadron ; 
taking  noti^s- 358 

non-communicative  ;  common  people 
more  disposed  than  the  officials  to 
intercoursi'  with  the  Americans ;  imi- 
tative like  the  Chinese 359 

commissioners,  note  of  the,  to  Commo- 
dore Perry 3C1 

report  of  conference  rrlalivc  to  the  treaty 

with  the  United  SUtes 365 


524 


INDEX. 


Japanese  neatness 368 

wrestlure oGO 

interest  in  the  Amcricnn  railroad  and  tel- 
egrapli ;  presents  to  the  United  States 

placed  in  the  store-Bliij)  Supply 372 

use  of  paper  ;  officials,  conviviality  of,  at 

the  dinner  given  hy  Commodore  Perry.  375 
OilScials  carry  away  fragments  of  a  feast ; 
officials'   appreciation  of   negro    min- 
strelsy   37G 

entertainment  in  honor  of  the  treaty  ; 

dinners  unsubstantial 380 

commissioners,  notes  of  their  conferences 

with  Commodore  Perry 383 

unlike  the  Chinese 385 

qualifications  of  the  treaty 386 

jealousy  of  foreigners 386 

treaty  with  Russia 387 

treaty  with  Englaml 387,  388 

treaty  with  the  Dutch 389 

curiosity  respecting  American  women ; 
treatment  of  Americ-ans  and  Russians  at 

Simoda 390 

proclamation  to  the  Americans  at  Si- 
moda  - 391 

tooth  dye  ;  women 395 

women  rouge  their  lips 395 

women  work  in  the  fields  ;  dress  ;  baby  ; 
common  jjcoplo  ;  courtesy  of  the  com- 
mon people.. 396 

women  good  looking 397 

women,  social  position  of.. 397 

policy  towards  the  expedition 398 

stone  dressing,  Ixiat  liuilding  yards 400 

buildings  uniiuintcd.- 410 

inclined  to  intercourse  witli  the  members 
of  the  expedition,  restrained  by  their 

officials - 418 

scholars,  t»vo,  request  to  sail  with  the  ex. 

pedition 420 

confmed  in  a  cage 422 

official  inspection  of  a  corpse 425 

officials'  insult  to  American  officers 425 

apology  for 426 

boat,  Hakodadi. 433 

vessels.  Commodore  Perry's  account  of. .  448 

navigation. 449 

boats,  sculling,  ro>ving,  ship  models,  tools, 

war  junks,  fisheries 450 

ideas  of  the  fox,  of  demoniacal  influence.  451 

cabinets  d'aisance,  public ;  cattle,  horses, 

roads,  sedans 452 

drainage 453 

dexterity  in  the  mcchanicAl  arts,  curi- 
osity respecting,  neat  workmanship 455 

houses,  carpentry,  masonry,   stone  cut- 
ting,  coopers'    barrels,   steel,    swords, 
cutlery,      razors,       blacksmiths'      bel- 
lows    45,S 


Page. 
Japanese  cotton  fabrics,  silks,  lacquered  ware,  por- 
celain   458 

art 459 

spoctacles,  drawings 4C2 

drawings  of  steam-engine. 462 

screen  painter 462 

primer 462 

sculpture 463 

architecture,  books,  knowledge  of  Euro- 
pean periodicals 463 

of  America 464 

curiosity 464 

chess  civrds 465 

game  of  Loto 466 

official  uniform 469 

respect  to  the  dead 469 

officials,  their  interest  in  the  armament 

of  the  expedition 471 

embassy  respecting  bovnularies  at  Hako- 
dadi, official  commimication 473 

respect  for  the  dead. 476 

cmrencies,  exchange  of. 478 

commission,  Simoda 477 

knowledge  of  European  afl'airs 478 

coal  -- - 481 

mining 483 

pretend  to  be  ignorant  of  coal 483 

prices,  accounts 484 

dogs  sent  to  the  President  of  the  United 

States --  485 

in  the  United  States 486,497 

capital  punishments 487 

treaty  with  Russia ;  shipwrecked  sejimen  ; 

energy 511 

friendliness   to   Americans ;    anxious   for 
trade ;  for  English  books ;  send  away 

religous  tracts 512 

technicalities  respecting  ratifications 513 

(See  Ilakodddi  and  Simuda.) 
Jesuits  endeavor  to  destroy  the  Dutch  visitors  to 

Japan 28 

Jewels  in  Japan GO 

Johnson,  Charles,  visits  the  Bonin  islands. 200 

an   early  settler  of  the   Bonin 

islands 305 

Jones,  Lieut.,  report  of  volcanic  phenomena  at  sea.  501 

Jones,  Rev.  Mr.,  his  MS.  journal iv 

observations  of  the  zodiacal  lights. .  91 

zodiacal  observations 132 

sketches  a  plan  of  the  fortress  of 

Nagaguska 170 

report  on  geology  of  Lew  Chew 184 

conducts  an  exploration  of  the  in- 
terior of  Lew  Chew 311 

reads  the  burial  service  in  Japan..  354 
views  on  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity into  Japan 446 

observations   on   Japanese   paint- 
ings   462 


INDEX 


52l 


Pngc. 
Jones,  Rev.  Mr.,  applies  for  directions  respecting 

funeral  services 475 

conversation   with  Japanese    on 

prayer 476 

exploration  for  coal  at  Formosa  .  600 
Journal  kept  by  the  peclilng  of  the  exploration  of 

Lew  Chew 17fi 

Journals,  MS. ,  of  the  expedition iii 

officers  of  the  expedition  invited  by 

Commodore  Perry  to  prepare 88 

prohibition  of  the  publication  of  by 

members  of  the  expedition 79, 88 

"Judge,"  the  Peel  island. . 205 

Junf;le-weod,  Peel  island 210 

Junks,  Japanese -- 153,231,241 

large  number  of  in  the  bay  of  Vraga 248 

Ka-ei^silsi-neu,  letter  of 341 

Koempfer 7 

a  writer  on  Japan 4 

his  theory  of  the  derivation  of  the  Japan- 
ese    9 

remark  on  profits  of  Portuguese  commerce 

with  Japan 25 

agency   of   the  Dutch  against  Japanese 

Christians 31,32 

concessions  of  the  Dutch  in  religious  ob- 
servances   32 

remark  on  the  population  of  Japan 53 

account  of  Japanese  minerals . 60 

account  of  the  Bonin  islands .-  197 

account  of  Japanese  vessels 448 

on  Japanese  crucifixion 487 

Ka-goo,  or  Lew  Chew  chair 172, 181,  310, 452 

Kakekigo,  a  general,  storj'  of 20 

Kaki-zaki,  Simoda - 411 

Kama-kura,  Japan 329 

Kami,  divinitiesof 19 

Kami-musi,  or  priests  of  the  temple 20 

origin  of 20 

Kanagawa,  bay  of  Ycdo 267,343,344 

Kanaka  inhabitants  of  the  Bonin  islands  - 204 

Kangsayu,  Matsmai,   interview  with   Commodore 

Perry 467 

Kan-to-sits,  chronicles,  accinacy  of  the 281 

Kelly,  Lieutenant,  harbor-ma.ster  of  Port  I»uis 106 

Kelly,  Commander,  of  the  Plymouth,  forces  the  Sir 
H.  Compton  to  salute  the  American  flag ;  attacks 

Chinese  intrenchments  at  Shanghai 506 

Kelimg,  Formosa 498 

survey  of  the  harbor - 499,501 

mandarin  of 499 

Kcppcl,  Captain,  British  navy,  rescue  of  an  Eng- 
lishman from  justice  at  Macao -  301 

Kcttal-trce  of  Ceylon.. 118 

Kikai-sima,  or  Bungalow  island,  survey  of 4^9 

Kindaka,  Ix;w  Chew 283 

King,  C.  W.,  account  of  the  visit  of  the  "  Morri- 
son"  to  .Japan --  47 

King,  Cajie.  near  the  Gulf  of  Yedo-. 427 


Page. 
Kings  of  the  central,  southcm,  and  northern  hills, 

Lt^w  Chew 221 

Kingfisher  descrilied 149 

Kiu-siu,  an  island  of  Japan 7 

color  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast  of..  10 
Kiycmon,  a  Japanese  fisherman,  raises  a  simken 

vessel 55 

Klaproth,  comparison  of  the  Jai>anese  witli  other 

languages 10 

translation  of  a  Japanese  account  of  the 

Bonin  islands 198 

account  of  the  sovereignty  of  Lew  Chew  221 
Kockebecker,  a  Dutch  director,  aids  the  Japanese 

against  tliu  native  Christians 31 

Komaga-daki,  near  Hakodadi. 431 

Konazaki,  bay  of  Yedo 267 

Kono-zlii,  a  Buddhist  temple,  Hakodadi 443 

Koyanagi,  a  Japanese  wrestler 370 

Koye,  the  Chinese  dialect  of  Japan 9 

Kuan-tong 137 

Kung-K was,  n.^  schools  in  the 223 

Kura-kawa-kahie,  a  Japanese  official 328, 349 

visits  the  American  squadron  ..  355 

frequent  visits  to  the  expedition  359 

Kurilcs,  hairy 454 

Kurosiiki,  cape 429 

Kuro-siwo,  a  current,  Lieut.  Bent's  report  on 427 

Laboring  classes  of  China 295 

Laboring  class.  Lew  Chew 219 

Lacquered  ware,  Japanese 50,  268,367,458 

Liimpayao,  Portuguese  merchants  of,  settle  Macao.  140 

Land,  tenure  of,  Lew  Chew 311 

held  by  the  government.  Lew  Chew 220 

Land  crabs.  Peel  island 205 

Limguage  of  Lew  Chew 224 

Latham,  Dr.,  remark  on  the  origin  of  the  Japanese  10 

Laxnian,  a  Itussian  officer,  his  visit  to  Japan 45 

Lead  in  Japan 60 

Leather  manufacturers,  treatment  of,  in  Japan 14 

Lennox,  Lieut.,  of  the  garrison  at  Point  de  Gallc, 

his  elephant  hunt  ing 118 

Letter  of  credence  of  the  Emperor  of  Japim   to 

Toda,  Prince  of  Idzu 2J0 

of  the  President  of  the  I'nited  States 254 

delivery  of,  to   the  Japanese   commis- 
sioners   25G 

Lew  Chew  islands,  Com.  Perry  proposes  the  occu- 
pation of  the  ports  of  tho 85 

acceded  to  by  the  United  States 87 

visit  to 151 

officers  startled  by  report  of  cannon 155 

explomtion  of . 158 

view  from  the  summit  ridgo  of  the  isl- 
and   167 

exploration  of,  by  a  gentleman  atUicheU 

to  tlie  Saratoga 218 

origin  of  the  population  of. 220 

Boveriignty  of 221 

their  statement  of 222 


526 


INDEX 


rage. 
Lew  Chew,  Japanese  garrison  at,  trade  confined  to 

Japan 222 

pay  tribute  to  China 223 

invitation  of  the  Chinese  in 223 

autlioritics  endeavor  to  drive  Dr.  Bet- 

tellieini  from  the  island 225 

naval  mission 225 

afcrit'ultural   products,   live  stock,   and 

firtility  of - - -  227 

condition  of  the  laboring  classes  in 227 

a  portion  of  the  coast  unvisitcd 229 

its  northern  islands  first  fully  explored 

by  the  Japanese  expedition -. 230 

regent  of,  letter  to  Commodore  Perry..  277 

Commodore  Perry's  fourth  visit  to 309 

explorations  of  the  inteiior  of -  311 

its  soil,  climate,  temperature,  salubrity, 
tenure  of  land,  agriculture,  irriga- 
tion.   311 

products 312 

sugar  mills 313 

granaries,  rats,  population,  origin,  com. 

parisonwith  the  Japanese -  311 

vocabulary  compared  with  that  of  Japan  315 
commerce  of,  Sakee,  fine  arts,  arehitec. 

ture,  dwellings 317 

furniture,   food,  amusements,  football, 

unarmed,  government 318 

youth  of,  sent  to  China  for  education..  319 
espionage,  literati,  religion.  Bonzes,  bu- 
rial customs,  fabrics 319 

spies 320 

contemplated  "surveillance"  of,  by  the 

American  expedition 321 

islands,  northern  group  of.. 324 

Japanese  control  over 364 

trial  at 493,494 

New  Year  compliments 494 

treaty  with  the  United  States 495 

Lew  Chewan,  a,  desires  to  join  the  American  squad- 
ron   497 

Lew  Chewans  induced  to  accept  pay  for  provisions  194 
inexpert  in   the  use  of  knives  and 

forks 217 

appreciation  of  a  European  dinner..  217 

social  grades  among 219 

terror  of  spies 219 

their  personal  appearance 223 

black  beards  of  the 315 

good  figures,  courtesy,  learning,  com- 
merce   316 

Licentiousness  of  Japanese  towns 398 

of  Japanese 405 

Licou  Kieou,  or  Lew  Chew 151 

Light-house  Board  of  the  United  States,  remark  on  106 

Lignite,  Lew  Chew 173 

Lingam,  Lew  Chew 173 

Literary  men,  Lew  Chew 219 

Literati  of  Lew  Chew  wear  gold  and  silver  hair  pins  226 


Page. 

Literature  in  Japan 58 

Live  stock  in  Japan 52 

Ijodgers,  arrangements  respecting,  Simoda 405 

Leather,  manufacture  and  use  of  by  the  Japanese.  51 
Lee,    Commander,    services    to    the    Macedonian 

aground  in  the  bay  of  Yedo 326 

Left  hand,  the  Japjinese  place  of  honor 335 

Leite,  Lieutenant,  attack  on,  at  Macao. 302 

Lemons,  Peel  island 20C 

Longwood,  St.  Helena,  visited 92 

Loo  rock,  anchorage  at  the 82 

Loom,  Lew  Chew 173,219 

Lorchas,  Macao,  Portuguese  boats 299 

Loreiro,  Captain,  of  the  Portuguese  navj-.  Hong 

Kong 300 

Loto,  Japanese  game  of 466 

Lutkc,  Captain,  of  Russian  navy,  takes  possession 

of  the  Bonin  islands 200 

MacFarlane,  remark  on  Japanese  deception 18 

on  the  Sintoo  worship 19 

McLaue,  R.  M.,   United  States   commissioner  to 

China 306,307 

McLcod,  Captain,  of  the  Alceste,  inaccurate  account 

of  the  Lew  Chewans 221 

Macao,  visit  to 140 

salubrity  of 289 

population  of. 297 

Macarenhas  discovers  Mauritius 106 

Macedonian,  the.  run  aground  in  the  bay  of  Tedo.  326 

Machinatoo,  Lew  Chew 184 

Madeira,  coast  of 81 

Mahommedans  in  Ceylon 120 

Mail  routes  from  England  and  the  United  States  to 

China,  letter  of  Commodore  Perry  on.. 212 

Malabars  of  Ceylon 120 

Malacca 126 

straits  of,  passage  through 122 

Malaria,  burning  wood  a  defence  against 289 

Malay  race,  extent  of 131 

Mamasaki,  Prince  of,  receives  the  American  pres- 
ents to  tlie  Japanese 372 

Man  milliner,  China,  much  esteemed  by  American 

residents. 292 

Mandarin,  Japanese,  enjoying  a  railroad  ride 358 

dialect    understood    by   tlie    educated 

classes  in  Japan 8 

Mangustecn,  fruit  of  tlie,  Singapore 130 

March,  J.  H. ,  his  hospitiility 83 

Marco  Polo,  his  account  of  Lipangu 4 

account  of -  5 

visits  Ceylon -  116 

Marine  volcano  near  Formosa 500 

"  Mariners'  Temple,"  Simoda 410 

Market,  Lew  Chew 281 

Marquesas,  native  of  the,  at  Peel  island 205 

Marshall,  Humphrey,  his  intercourse  with  the  ex- 
pedition   148 

JIarshes  imknown  inLewChew 311 

Mats  used  as  floor-cloths  and  beds.  Lew  Chew 218 


INDEX. 


527 


Page. 

Uatsmai,  a  port  of  Yesso 7 

incident  in  the  liistory  of 16 

(liscHssion  relative  to  opening  the  port  of.  36-t,  3G5 

road  to 437 

Blatsusaki,  Michitaro,  Japanese  commissioner 347 

his  conviviality 375 

friendly  in  his  cups 370 

Mataiimon,  Tcndo,  governor  of  Hakodadi. 434 

Matzouri,  a  religious  festival,  Simoda 410 

Mauritius,  visit  to 103 

Maury,  M.  F.,  observations  on  the  Gulf  Stream  ..  428,429 

Maury,  Lieut.,  survey  of  the  bay  of  Yedo  by 330 

Massara,  Mattheo,  visits  the  Bonin  islands 200 

an  early  colonist  of  the  Bonin 

islands.- 304,305 

Mcac-Sima,  island  of 417 

Medical  knowledge  of  the  Japanese 56 

Men  the  drones  of  Lew  Chew 219 

Merchandise,  a  term  not  understood  In  Japan 386 

Merchants,  rank  of,  in  Japan  _ 14 

Mermaid  manufacture  in  Japan 55 

Metal  workers,  Hakodadi 456 

Metals  found  in  Japan 50 

wrought  by  the  Japanese. -  50 

Meteor,  bay  of  Uraga 236 

Meylan 4,7 

description  of  a  Japanese  clock 54 

on  the  Japanese  religion 19 

speaks  of  a  fourth  Japanese  religion 22 

Mia,  or  Siutoo  temples,  Hakodadi 445 

Simoda 406,409 

Miako,  the  chief  seat  of  learning  in  Japan  . 58 

Mijako-sima,  Lew  Chew 325 

ilikados,  the  founder  of  the 11 

mode  of  government 11, 13 

history  of  the  dynasty 11 

MUdtchamp,  Richard,  visits  the  Bonin  islands 200 

an  e;irly  colonist  of  the  Bo- 
nin islands 304 

Mills,  Lew  Chew - 314 

Mima-saki,  prince  of,  Japanese  commissioner 347 

Minerals  of  Japan 60 

Ming  dyna.sty,  China 221,222 

Missikya,  Lew  Chew -  174 

Missionary  station,   an  American  colony  at  Port 

Lloyd  would  form  a  desirable 213 

Missionaries  at  Lew  Chew -  225 

in  China,  their  observations 295 

Mississippi,  the,  her  good  conduct  at  sea 81 

Molva,  LewChew 168 

Monasteries,  Buddhist,  Simoda 406 

Money  value  of  foreign  coins  understood  in  Lew 

Chew 160 

Monsoons  at  Ceylon 117 

Montravel,  M.  de,  French  commodore  at  Canton.  300 

Mooring  vessels,  mode  of,  at  Port  Louis,  Mauritius  105 
Moreton,    Rev.    Mr.,   succeeds  Dr.    Bettelheim   at 

Lew  Chew 498 

Moro,  a  Portuguese,  plots  against  the  Japanese...  26 


Mosquitoes,  annoying  at  Ja.w  Chew 167 

Moustache  worn  in  Lew  Chew  and  Japan 315 

Music  in  Japan 59 

Muster,  or  Chinese  pattern 292 

)Iijako-sima  islands.  Lew  Chew 325 

Nagagusko  fortress.  Lew  Chew 169 

castle  at 221 

Nagasaki. 4,7 

first  occupied  by  the  Portuguese 30 

Japanese  endeavor  to  restrict  American 

commerce  to 363 

port  regulations  of. 389 

Kagazima  Saboroske,  vice-governor  of  Uraga 234 

appearance  of,  in   his   state 

dress 253 

Napha,  Lew  Chew 154 

visit  to. 156 

mayor  of,  visits  the  E.xpedition 155 

the  mayor  of,  invites  Commodore  Perry  to 

a  fea.st 187 

return  to.. 214,215,274 

new  regent  of 214 

school  at 223 

interview  of  Commander  Adams  with  the 

mayor  of.. 277 

view  of - 280 

diflSculties  with  the  inhabitants  of 492 

Napoleon  at  St.  Helena 92 

conduct  of  England  to 93 

tomb  of 94 

Navigation  of  the  Japanese  by  sea,  inland 53 

of  the  Chinese  coast 144 

of  the  Japanese  close  in-shore 449 

Navy  of  the  United  States,  backward  in  adopting 

improvements  in  steam-vessels 105 

Negatsu,  or  Idsu,  cape,  Japan 230 

Negro  guards  of  Commodore  Perry 255 

New  Year  congratulatory  phrases.  Lew  Chew 494 

Night  signals  of  the  Expedition,  picturesque  effectof  196 

Nippon,  a  work  on  Japan  by  Sicbold 4 

volcanoes  of. 7 

the  modem  Zipangu 4 

Dai,  Japanese  name  of  Japan 6 

an  island  of  Japan 7 

Novaleches,  marquis  of,  governor  of  the  Philippine 

Islands 50 1 

Ny-komnia,  Lew  Chew 179 

Oars,  Japanese  management  of 243 

Observatory,  Japanese 447 

O'Callaghan,  Captain,  of  British  navy,  attack  on 

Chinese  intrenchmcnts,  Shanghai 506 

Officers  of  state,  Lew  Chew .  219 

of  the  expedition  requested  to  keep  jour- 
nals    88 

Oho-sima 229,  231,  271,  825,  416,  427 

discovery  of .  324 

Commodore  Perry's  visit  to 419 

visit  to 490 

Oki-nawa-sima,  or  Great  Lew  Chew 325 


''.o 


28 


INDEX, 


ragi-. 

Olftson  island,  Eudcrmo  harbor. 46!) 

Oo-ban?,  public  slaves,  Lew  Chew  - 226 

Opium  e.itor,  deatli  of  a  Chinese -  195 

Orsa,  a  Japanese  village 268 

Osaca,  Japan,  destruction  of,  by  an  earthquake —  510 

Otahcitan  at  Peel  island 205 

Otsu,  village  of.  Bay  of  Yedo 328 

Overfalls,  Simoda  harbor 415 

Owari,  the  prince  of,  his  histoi-y. -  12 

Oxen  used  in  drawing  carriages  in  Funchal 84 

teams  of  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 100 

Oysters,  presented  by  the  Japanese  to  Com.  Perry.  3,52 

Pacific  mail  routes 212 

Palace,  Shui,  Lew  Chew 190 

Pallisadcs  in  front  of  Yedo 398 

Palma  latina,  Peel  island 206 

Palmer,  A.aron  IT.,  an  early  advocate  for  au  expe- 
dition to  Japan 77 

Palms,  Peel  island 210 

Palmyra  palm  in  Ceylon -  117 

Panama,  isthmus  of,  intcroccanic  communication 

at  the,  known  to  the  Japanese 218 

Pandanus,  Peel  island 206 

Lew  Chew 174, 176 

Paper,  manufivcture  of,  by  the  Japanese 51 

burnt  by  the  Lew  Chewans 186 

Paps,  the  mountains  on  the  Ikinin  islands 209 

Parasitic  plants,  thick  growth  of.  Peel  island 204 

Parker,  Dr.,  Canton 292 

Patriarchal  authority  the  basis  of  the  government 

of  Lew  Chew 225 

Paul  and  Virginia,  foundation  of  the  story  of 111 

Pavement,  Lew  Chew  — 185 

Payment  made  for  supplies,  Lew  Chew 194 

Peacock,  visit  of  the,  to  Siam —  121 

Pearl  fishery  of  Ceylon — 118 

Pearls  found  in  Japan 61 

Peasantry  of  Lew  Chew  .  — •. 19.*! 

rank  of,  in  Japan 14 

Pe-ching,  or  Lew  Chew  guide 166 

the,  escort  of  Cora.  Perry 189 

or  guide,  Lew  Chew,  keeps  a  journal 177 

presents  to  the 194 

Peel  island 196 

European  settlers  at 203 

colony  of,  Bonins 283 

Pellew,  Capt. ,  Japanese  remarks  on 384 

visit  to  Japan 487 

Perry,  Com.  M.  C,  wishes  in  regard  to  this  pulili- 

cation,  his  MS.  journals iii 

his  revision  of  the  narrative .  i v 

attestation v 

declines  admitting  Russian  ships  in 

the  American  squadron 62 

avoided  interconrse  with  the  Dutch 

in  Japan 67,69 

declines  giving  Sicbold  a  place  in  the 

expedition 70 

never  saw  Sicbold's  letter  of  adncc.  73 


Page 
Perry,  Com.,  expresses  the  wish  to  the  Japanese 
commissioners  that  other  nations 
should  share  in  the  benefits  of  the 

treaty 74 

first  to  formally  propose  an  expedi- 
tion to  Japan 77 

aids  in  the  adjustment  of  the  fishery 

question 78 

declines  applications  from  at  home 
and  abroad   for  situations  m   the 

expedition 78 

departure  from  Annapolis 79 

letter  written  at  5Iadeira  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy 85 

his  view  of  the  objects  of  the  expe- 
dition  85 

order    forbidding    the    transmission 

home  of  journals 88 

requests  oiScers  to  prepare  joinnals.  88 
shows  how  St.  Helena  could  be  at- 
tacked   95 

economy  in  the  use  of  coal 97 

visits  a  Con.stautia  vineyard 100 

remark  on  treatment  of  savage  abo- 
rigines   101 

visits  a  captive  chief  at  the  Cape  of 

Good  Hope 102 

opinion  as  to  the  best  course  from 

the  Cape  to  Mauritius 104 

hospitality  extended  to,  at  Mauritius  11 

letter    of    to    Phar-Pen-CIow-Chow- 

Yon-Hon,  a  prince  of  Siam 121 

endeavors    to  open    communication 

with  Siam 122 

visits  a  Chinese  temple  at  Singapore.  128 
remark  on  hospitalities  of  foreign  na- 
tions, and  "table  money" 133 

remark  on  Canton  river ;  disappoint- 
ed in  the  ajipearance  of  the  city..  135 
liospitable  treatment  of  at  Canton..  139 
opinion  of  Shanghai  as  a  naval  depot  144 
his  visit  to  the  Taou-tai  of  Shangliai  147 
his  views  on  the  revolution  in  China  148 
admits  Bay'd  Taylor  in  the  expedition  152 
receives  a  chin-chin  at  Lew  Chew ; 
visited    by    Mr.    Bettelheim,     by 

Whang-cha-ching 153 

directs  an  exjiloration  of  Lew-Chew.  154 

receives  the  mayor  of  Lew  Chew 155 

announces  an  intention  to  return  the 

visit 156 

directs  a  sick  officer  to  occupy  a  house 

at  Tum.ii 159 

letter  of  Shang-ta-mu  to 159 

declines  invitation  of  the  mayor  of 
Lew  Chew  ;  receives  banquet  sent 

on  board  ship 187 

refuses  to  abandon  his  visit  to  Shui.  187 

his  progress  to  Shui 188 


INDEX, 


529 


Pnge.      I 
PeiTV,  Com.,  cuiiosilT    of   the    I^w    Tbewans    to 

witness,  with  his  escort 189 

his  interview  with  the  regent  of  Lew 

Chew -  190 

healths  proposed  hy,  at  Shui -  192 

remark   on  the  cleanliness  of  Lew 

Chew 193 

happy  effects  of  his  determination..  193 

reliance  of  the  Japanese  on 193 

remark  on  acceptance  of  payment  hy 

the  Lew  Chewans- 194 

sends  presents  to  the  queen,  regent, 

and  other  dignitaries  of  Lew  Chew  194 

attends  a  burial  at  sea 195 

observations  on  the  anchorage  of  Port 

Lloyd  harboV 202 

leaves  live  stock  on  Peel  and  North 

islands,  Bonin  island 203 

orders  an  exploration  of  Peel  island.  204 

orders  an   exploration  of  Stapleton 

island,  Bonins -  211 

recommends  Peel  island  as  a  stopping 
place    for   steam-vessels    between 

California  and  China. .  - 211 

distributes  garden-seeds  to  settlers, 

Bonin  islands 211 

purchases  land  for  a  landing-place 

and  coal  depot 211 

letter  of  to  the  Navy  Department, 
on  steam  navigation  and  mail- 
routes  in  the  Pacific 211 

remark  on  the  commercial  importance 

of  Shanghai 212 

note  on  the  ad  van  tagesof  establishing 

a  naval  station  at  the  Bonin  islands.  212 

proposes  the  establishment  of  an 
American  colony  at   Port  Lloyd, 

Bonin  islands 213 

determines  the  position  of  Disap- 
pointment island 213 

dinner  to   the  new  regent  of  Lew 

Chew  on  board  of  the  Susquehanna.  215 

presents  garden-seeds  to  the  regent 

of  Lew  Chew 218 

entertains  him  with  the  music  of  the 

band 218 

classifies  the  Lew  Chewans  in  four 

grades 219 

remarks  on  the  miserj-  of  the  Mex- 
ican peons,  of  the  lower  classes  of 

the  Lew  Chewans 219 

remark  on  the  investigations  of  Hall, 
McLeod,  Beeehcy,  Belcher,  and  the 
Japanese  expedition,  respecting  the 

origin  of  the  Lew  Chewans 221 

information  obtained  hy,  respecting 

the  ownership  of  Lew  Chew 222 

his  opinion  on  the  mixed  origin  of 

the  Lew  Chewans 223 

67  J 


Page. 

Perry,  Com. ,  leaves  Napha  for  Japan 228 

prepares  for  action  on  entering  the 

bay  of  Yedo 231 

forbids   the    Japanese    to    visit    the 

squadron  at  Japan 233 

prevents  the  Japanese  from  boarding 
or  surrounding  the  squadron  in  the 

bay  ofUraga. 233,234,235 

bis  reception  of  the  deputy  governor 

of  Uraga 234 

his  policy  towards  the  Japanese 235 

remark  on  a  meteor,  hay  of  Uraga. .  235 

reception    of    Keyamon    Tezaimen, 

governor  of  Uraga 237 

enforces  a  survey  of  the  bay  of  Uraga.  238 

refuses  to  go  to  Nagasaki. 233 

threatens  to  land  at  Yedo 233 

despatches  the    Mississippi    towards 

Yedo 240 

his  letter  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan..  244 

refuses  to  communicate  with  the 
Japanese    through   the   Dutch  or 

Chinese 244 

refuses  to  go  to  Nagasaki.. —  244 

stipulations  with  the  governor  of 
Uzama  relative  to  tlie  delivery  of 
the  letter  of  the  President  of  the 

United  States 244,245 

preparations  for  the  delivery  of  the 
letter  of  the  President  of  the  Uni- 
ted States 251 

delivery  of  his  credentials  and  the 
letter  of  the  President  to  the  Ja- 
panese  254 

letters  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan 258,259 

letter  of  credence 258 

announces  his  departure  and  return.  261 

orders  the  squadron  up  the  bay  of 
Uraga,  after  the  reception  of  the 

letter  of  the  President 263 

insists  on  his  right  to  take  soimdings 

in  the  bay  of  Uraga 266 

advances  to  within  ten  miles  of  Yedo.  267 

presents  American  seeds  and  cases  of 

wine  to  the  governor  of  Uraga 269 

refuses  presents  from  the  Japanese 
unless  they  receive  presents  in  re- 
turn   269 

desirous  of  protecting  American  com- 
merce in  China 270 

his  reasons  for  not  waiting  for  a  re- 
ply from  the  Emperor  of  Japan 270 

names  islands  near  the  coast  of  Japan.  271 

departure  from  the  bay  of  Uraga  —  271 

concessions  obtained   by,   from    the 

Japanese - 272 

orders  the  Saratoga  to  Shanghai 272 

«rdcrs  the  Plymouth  to  explore  the 

shore  of  Oho-Sima 272 


530 


INDEX. 


Perry,  Com.,  his  policy  respecting  etiquette,  pres- 
ents   

negotiations  at  Lew  Chew  respecting 

intercourse  with  strangers 

propositions  to  the  authorities  of  Lew 

Chew - 

letter  to  the  Tsungli-kwan  of  Lew 

Chew - 

interview  with  the  regent  of  Kapha, 
directs  survey  of  Melville  harbor  — 
instructions  to  Com.  Kelly  respecting 

Lew  Chew 

his  remarks  on  the  effects  of  liis  inter- 
course upon  the  Lew  Chewans 

his  arrangements  for  the  protection 
of  American  commerce  in  China- - 

takes  a  house  at  Macao 

examines  foot  of  a  Chinese  woman., 
his  opinion  of  the  laboring  classes  of 

Chma 

fevorable  opinion  of  Chinese  hoitesty. 

residence  at  Macao 

proposes  forming  a  naval  station  at 

Hong  Kong 

his  sojourn  at  Macao 

arrangements  for  the  protection  of 

American  interests  at  Japan 

recognition  of  this  service  by  the 
American  merchants  at  Canton  — 

departure  from  Hong  Kong 

his  letter  to  Sir  J.  G.  Bonham  respect- 
ing the  Bonin  islands 

letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.. 

his  second  visit  to  Shui 

endeavors  to  obtain  Japanese  coins  in 

exchange  at  Lew  Chew 

objects  accomplished  by  him  in  Lew 

Chew 

receives  information  of  the  death  of 

the  Emperor  of  Jajjan 

letter  respecting  the  death  of  the  Em- 
peror of  Japan  

suspects  the  rumor  to  be  a  ruse 

course  contemplated  by  him  in  case 
of  a  refusal  by  the  Japanese  to  ne- 
gotiate  

objects  of  his  mission  to  Japan 

return  to  the  bay  of  Yedo 

directions  for  the  relief  of  the  Mace- 
donian,   aground    in    the    bay   of 

Yedo 

refuses  to  go  to  Kama-kui-a,   or  to 

Uraga 

refuses  to  interrupt  the  exploration 

of  the  harbor  of  Yedo 

letter  respecting  removal  of  the  squad- 
ron to  Uraga. 

proposes  to  visit  Yedo 

letter  to  the  Japanese  authorities 


Page. 
273 
275 
275 

276 

277 
282 

282 

284 

288 
288 
292 

295 
295 
297 

299 
300 

302 

302 
303 

305 
307 
309 

312 

319 

321 

322 
323 


323 
323 
321 


326 

329 

330 

331 
333 
333 


Perry,  Com. ,  refuses  to  go  to  I'raga 333 

asks  for  wood   and   water  from   the 

Japanese 338 

refuses  to  go  to  Uraga,  his  letter  on 

the  subject 338 

policy  adopted  by,  in  his  intercourse 

with  the  Japanese -  339 

consents  to  receive  the  Emperor's  let- 
ter at  Yoku-hama  . 339 

letter  of,  to  the  Japanese  commis- 
sioner   - 339 

refuses  to  allow  the  men  of  the  expe- 
dition to  land  in  Japan 340 

causes  screens  surrounding  the  ' '  trea- 
ty-house "  to  be  removed 344 

preparations  for  the  reception  of  the 

Emperor's  letter 345 

his  interview  with  the  Japanese  com- 
missioners   - 349 

proposes  the  formation  of  a  treaty  to 

the  Japanese  commissioners 350 

notes  by,   handed   to  the   Japanese 

commissioners 350 

requests  permission  for  the  members 
of  the  expedition  to  land  in  Ja- 
pan   ■■  350 

reasons  presented  to  the  Japanese  in 

favor  of  a  treaty 351 

arrangements  for  the  burial  of  a  ma- 
rine   353 

proposes  to  purchase  a  burial-place 

for  Americans  in  Japan 353 

communication   respecting  a  treaty 

with  the  Japanese  government.  . .  356 

meets  Japanese  commissioners  at  the 

treaty-house 362 

his  replies  to  the  terms  proposed  for 

the  Japanese  treaty 362 

discussion  of  the  treaty  with  the  Ja- 
panese commissioners. 364 

assents  to  the  substitution  of  Hako- 

dadi  for  Matsmai 366 

reception  of  the  presents  of  the  Em- 
peror of  Japan 367 

presents  to  Japanese 368 

presents  of  the  Japanese  government 

to 369 

remarks  upon  Japanese  dogs - .  369 

examhies     Koyanagi,     a     Japanese 

wrestler - -  370 

conversation  on  the  treaty  with  Ye- 

noske. - 372 

claims  jirivileges  for  members  of  the 

expedition 374 

dinner  to  the  Japanese  commission- 
ers   374 

conference  respecting  the  treaty 376 

signs  the  treaty  between  thg  United 

States  and  Japan 377 


J  N  1)  E  X . 


531 


r«ge. 
Beny,  Com.,  proposes  the  American  limits  in  Ja- 
panese iferts. 377 

presents  Hyashi  with  an  American 

flag 379 

Japanese  entertainment  to,  in  honor 

of  the  treaty. 380 

scope  of  his  instruct  ions 381 

tircuhites  a  Japanese  translation  of 

the  China  treaty 382 

novelty  of  his  position 382 

notes  of  his  conferences  with  the  Ja- 
panese commissioners 383 

refuses  to  allow  communications  to 
pass  through   the   hands   of    the 

Dutch. 383 

his  proposals  to  the  Japanese  respect- 
ing an  American  consul 383 

j-emark  on  Japanese  jealousy  of  for- 
eigners  386 

looks  forward  to  a  commercial  treaty 

with  Japan 387 

does  not  interpret  the  treaty  as  a 

commercial  treaty 392 

sends  the  treaty  to  the  United  States.  393 

his    walk   in    the   neighborhood    of 

Kanagawa 394 

his  visit  to  a  Japanese  mayor 395 

sails  towards  Yedo 598 

his  reasons  for  not  ^Hsiting  Yedo 399 

explores  'Webster  island 359 

leaves  the  bay  of  Yedo 400 

remark  on  the  bay  of  Simoda 401 

lodged    in    a    Buddhist    temple    at 

Simoda 409 

orders  a  survey  of  the  harbor  of  Si- 
moda   415 

visit  to  Kura-Kawa-Kahei,  at  Simoda  417 

his  visit  to  Oho-Sima  . 419 

remonstrance  against  the  spy  system  419 
declines    to     allow    two     Japanese 
scholars  to  sail  with  the  expedi- 
tion    421 

incommoded  by  Japanese  officials 423 

lodged  in  the  Rio-shen-zhi,  Buddhist 

temple 423 

sails  for  Hakodadi 427 

account  of  Japanese  vessels 448 

interview  with  Matsmai  Kaagsayu..  467 

visits  Matsmai  Kangsayu 470 

directions    respecting     funeral    ser- 
vices    475 

returns   to  Simoda,  interview   with 

Japanese  comraissiuners 477 

suggests  appointment  of  pilots,  Si- 
moda   477 

letter     respecting      Japanese     cur- 
rencies  478 

his     course     respecting     American 

iKmndaries,  JapoD 481 


Page. 

Perry,  Com.,  re^sts  imposition  at  Simoda  ..^ 484 

his  course  respecting  "Sam  Patch".  48S 
approves  Japanese    pilots,   Simoda ; 
presents  the  harbor-master  with  a 

spyglass 488 

remark   on    navigation    near    Bock 

island 489 

course  regarding  Lew  Chewan  crimi- 
nals   493 

proceedings  respecting  the  killing  of 

Board,  a  seaman 493 

repairs  coal  depot  at  Tumai 49i 

presents  to  the  regent  of  Lew  Chew, 

signs  treaty  with  Lew  Chew 49» 

parting  entertainment  to  the  authori- 
ties, Lew  Chew 497 

exertions  in  behalf  of  the  SilUbaboos  503 
directs  a  surgical  examination  of  the 

Sillibaboos 503 

correspondence  with  American  mer- 

chant.s,  China;  returns  home 508 

respect  for,  in  Japan 512 

Perry,  Mr. ,  his  MS.  journal iv 

Perry  island,  bay  of  Uraga 268,400 

Persimmon  point,  Simoda 411 

Perspective,  Japanese  knowledge  of 462 

Petrel,  Bonin  islands 203 

Photon,  British  ship-of-war,  visit  to  Japan. -  40 

Pbalic  worship,  emblems  of.  Lew  Chew 173 

Physical  conformity  of   the  Japanese    and  Lew 

Chewans 314 

Pickering,   Dr.,  considers   the  Japanese   of  Malay 

origin 19 

Pictures,  Simoda 407 

Pigs,  sacred,  at  Canton 137 

Pi-ko,  Lew  Chew 183 

Pilotage,  rates  of,  Simoda 488 

Pilots,  danger  of  trusting  entirely  to 123 

Pine,  Lew  Chew 163 

Pines,  large.  Lew  Chew .-.  181 

Pino,  Lew  Chew -..i  164 

Pinto,  his  visit  to  Japan 2t 

Pipes,  Japanese 268 

Pirate,  the,  land  crab,  Bonin  islands 202 

Pirates,  Chinese,  on  Canton  river.. 137 

Plains,  fertile,  Bonin  islands. 209 

Plj-mouth,  the,  left  at  Shanghai 149 

Point  de  Galle,  Ceylon,  visit  to 114 

Polygamy,  non-existent  in  Japan -...  397 

Pontiatine,  admiral  of  the  Russian  navy  in  Japan. .  5 1 1 

Pope,  Commander,  letter  respecting  Simoda 376 

Population  of  Lew  Chew,  origin  of 220 

Porcelain,  Japanese 51,458 

Port,  tlic  United  Status  desirous  to  obtain  access 

to  a  Japanese 257 

Ports,  .Japanese,  open  to  Amvricans ..........  355 

Port  Lloyd,  lioiiiu  islands 202 

the  crater  of  an  extinct  volcano 209 

Port  Louis,  Mauritius HI 


5S2 


INDEX, 


rngc. 

Port  Louis,  Mauritius,  visit  to 105 

Portman,  Mr.,  Dutcli  interpreter,  conversation  of, 

witli  a  Japanese —  234 

Portuguese,  intercourse  of  the,  with  Japan 4 

missionaries,  their  information  respect- 
ing Japan 7 

discovery - 22 

intercourse  with  Japan 23 

how  interrupted -. 25 

insult  the  Japanese 26 

their  naval  system 27 

attribute  their  expulsion  to  Dutrh  in- 
trigues   --  27 

possession  of  Mascarenhas,  afterwards 

Mauritius 107 

possession  of  St.  Helena -  -  -  91 

possession  of  Ceylon IIC 

possession  of  Macao - 140 

in  Macao 297 

fortifications,  Macao 298 

Japanese  restrictions  upon  the 384 

Postal  service  of  the  Japanese 54 

Prayer,  Japanese 476 

wheel,  Hakodadi 444 

Praying  machine,  Japanese  — - 476 

"Praying  man,"  Japanese  respect  for  a 446 

Preble,  United  States  man-of-war,  her  visit  to  Japan  48 

Preble,  Lieutenant,  survey  of  harbor  of  Kelung —  501 

Precipices,  Peel  island. 207 

Presents  to  the  Japanese,  quality  of,  proposed  by 

Commodore  Perry 86 

of  Japanese,  refused  .- 155 

from  the  United  States  to  the  Emperor  of 

Japan  »... i- -» 257 

of  the  American  government  to  the  Em- 
peror of  Japan - 270 

policy  of  the  expedition  respecting. .  -  —  273 

law  respecting  Japan -  355 

to  the  Japanese,  list  of-. 356 

delivery  of - 357 

of  the  Japanese  to  the  United  States 369 

President  of  the  United  States,  letter  of  the,  to 

the  Emperor  of  Japan - 238,245 

Prices  of  labor  in  Canton -  292 

Priests,  support  of,  Simoda 411 

Priesthood,  Lew  Chew 219 

Primer,  Japanese - 462 

Prince,  young,  of  Lew  Chew 190 

Princeton,  the,  unable  to  join  the  squadron 78 

Prisons  in  Japan 18 

Proas  of  Malacca,  beauty  of  models  of 126 

Queen  dowager,  Lew  Chew 188,190,193 

Quicksilver  in  Japan 60 

Kaffles,   Sir  Stamford,  attempts,   as  governor  of 
Java,  to  oust  the  Dutch 

from  Japan 42 

his  services  to  Singapore 127, 128 

Eailroads  of  the  United  States  known  to  Japanese 

officials  at  Uraga 248 


Page, 

Riijali  of  Jahore  and  Singapore 129 

liank  indicated  by  dress  in  Lew  Chew 225 

Ruts,  how  served  up  in  China  - 290 

abundance  of,  Lew  Chew 314 

Eaven  with  a  broad  beak,  Lew  Chew 167 

Razor,  Japanese 456 

Receipt,  the  Japanese,  for  tiie  letters  transmitted 

to  the  Emperor 260 

Red  card,  presentation  of  a 310 

Kcdlield,  W.  C,  observations  on  the  Gulf  Stream.  428 

Eedfield  rocks,  near  Simoda. 417 

survey  of 489 

Reed  and  Dougherty,  Messrs,   communication  to 

tlie  governor  of  Hakodadi 391 

Reed,  Mr.,  his  letters  respecting  the  treatment  of 

Americans  at  Simoda 390 

Regent,  Lew  Clicw,   his  reception  of  Commodore 

Perry 189 

entertainment  liy  the,  to  Com.  Perry 191 

dignity  of  proof  against  the  effects  of  good 

liquors 213 

new,  of  Lew  Chew  _ 214 

Religion,  Simoda 406 

Resanoff,  a  Russian  officer,  his  visit  to  Japan 45 

orders  a  hostile  attack _ 46 

Residence,  American,  in  Japan 377 

Reviews  and  military  exercises  of  the  expedition 

at  Lew  Chew 194 

Rhubarb,  plant  resembling 46U 

Rice,  Japanese  custom  respecting. 368 

bearded.  Lew  Chew 163 

cultivation  of.  Lew  Chew.. 311 

cultivation,  Simoda. 40& 

fields.  Lew  Chew 168 

hulling  machine,  China 507 

mills,  Hongo 412 

Rioboo-Sintoo,  a  Sintoo  sect 21 

Rio-shen-zhi.  a  Buddhist  temple.  Simoda 409 

Rocks,  remarkable  masses  of.  Lew  Chew. 168 

at  entrance  of  the  bay  of  Yedo 325 

Rock  island,  near  the  bay  of  Yedo 23 1 

Simoda  harbor 415,  416 

near  Simoda . 489 

Rodgers,  Commander,  letter  to  Messrs.  Reed  and 

Dougherty 391 

Roman  Catholic  missionaries  at  Lew  Chew 225 

Japanese   dislike  of. .  446 

Roofs  of  dwellings,  Sunoda 404 

Rociuemausel,  Commodore,   of  the   French  navy, 

pleasant  intercourse  with 133 

Rosario,  identity  of.  with  Disappointment  island..  213 

Rouge,  applied  by  Japanese  women  to  their  lips  ..  395 
Russia  apparently  desirous  of  sharing  the  honors  of 

the  Japanese  expedition 62 

Russian  intercourse  with  Japan 44 

possessions  adjacent  to  Japan 44 

advantages  to  her  from  the  possession  of 

Japan - 45 

visit  to  Japan  in  1853 62 


INDEX. 


633 


Page. 

Bussian  temporary  possession  of  the  Bonin  islands  200 

aml)<i*sa<;lor,  application  of  the 350 

expedition  to  Nagasaki 365 

treaty  with  Japan  similar  to  the  American  388 

expedition  at  Simoda 511 

Russians,  intercourse  of  the.  with  .Japan 4 

Saboroskc.  impertinent  curiosity  of,  on  board   the 

Su.squehanna 26-t 

Saddles  ishinds,  near  Shanghai 149 

Sagami,  cape 2.il 

shores  of - - 232 

Sago  palm,  Peel  island 201 

Sail-boats.  Lew  Chew 179 

Sailing  directions  for  Simoda 416 

Sailing-fish  of  Singapore 131 

observations -  229,272 

Sailor  epitaph,  Japan  - - -  470 

Sailors  of  the  expedition,  misconduct  of  three  of, 

at  Lew  Chew. 493 

Sakee.. - - 191 

Sakee,  Lew  Chew 317 

Saki,  Lew  Chew 219 

Saki 380,396 

Saltness  of  sea-water.  Lew  Chew 175 

Salute.  Chinese,  three  guns. 147 

"Sam  Patch,"  a  Japanese 340,  450 

before  the  Japanese  o£Bcials 342 

the  Japanese 485 

Samuns,  the,  teachers  in  Lew  Chew 224 

Sandwich  islands,  expedition  to  the  Bonin  islands 

from - - 200 

islanders  on  the  Bonin  islands. 204 

Sangar,  straits  of,  fogs  about 429 

strait  of,  navigation  of. 430 

San  Kolp  Tsoir  Ran  To  Sits,  a  Japanese  writer,  ac- 
count of  the  Bonin  islands 198 

Santa  Mesa,  Philippine  islands,  murder  of  an  Ame- 
rican at 501 

Saris,  John,  an  English  sea  captain,  visits  Japan..  34 

has  an  interview  with  the  Emperor  ..  34 

his  visit  to  Japiin  in  1613 369 

Satskai.  the  rainy  season  of  Japan 8 

Satsuma,  prince  of  Lew  Chew,  a  dependency  of —  151 

Japanese  prince  of,  his  revenue 325 

Savory,  Nathaniel,  an  American  resident  at  the  Bo- 
nin islands 200 

robbed  by  sailors  under  the  Ame- 
rican flag 200 

an  early  settler  of  the  Bonin  isl- 
ands   305 

Sayka-Sinka,  founder  of  Buddhism 21 

Scientific  knowledge  of  the  Japanese 64 

men,  not  of  the  navy,  applicationa  of  to 

join  the  expedition  declined 78 

Scott,  Mr.,  his  intercourse  with  the  LewChewans..  194 
Screens  of  cloth  set  up  as  mock  fortifications  by 

the  Japanese 237 

of  painted  cloth,  Japanese 252, 2C5 

of  cloth,  Japanese -  336 


Page. 

Scribe,  Jap.incisc. 347 

Sculling,  Japanese 450 

Sculls  and  oars. 336 

Sculpture,  Jap.ancsc 463 

Simoda 407,409,410,411 

Scurvy  in  Yesso 454 

Sea-weeds  of  the  Kurosiwa 429 

Sedan  chair  of  Commodore  Perry.. 188 

at  Lew  Chew. 279 

Sedgcwick,  Mr.,  a  writer  on  hurricanes 113 

Sennimar,  founder  of  a  fraternity  of  the  Japanese 

clergy 20 

Serofama,  Cape 427 

Serpents  of  Ceylon 119 

Shah  bay.  Lew  Chew,  coal  at 311 

Shanghai,  visit  to 140 

Commodore   Perry  on  commercial  im- 
portance of 212 

Shang  Hung  Hiun,  new  regent  of  Lew  Chew. .215,  217,  218 

regent  of  Lew  Chew 279 

Shang  Ta-mu,  regent  of  Lew  Chew,  letter  of,  to 

Commodore  Perry 159 

Sharks  taken  by  dogs,  Bonin  islands 202 

Sheude,  capital  of  Lew  Chew 163 

Shiomio-zhi,  a  Buddhist  temple,  Hakodadi 443 

Shipyards,  Hakodadi 457 

Shipwrecked  sailors,  American,  in  Japan 382 

Shira-hama,  Simoda 411 

Shirasawaki,  near  Hakodadi 448 

Shoes.  Japanese,  of  straw 51 

Sho-Ho-Yt=,  or  Chess.-. 4C5 

Shops,  Simoda 404 

Shrines,  Simoda 404 

of  temples,  Simoda 406 

roadside,  Hakodadi,  frequent  genuflexions 

at 445 

Shrubs,  new  varieties  of.  Lew  Chew 107 

Shui,  a  "University"  at 223 

Shuntecn  dynasty  rulers  of  Lew  Chew 221 

Shutters,  Simoda 404 

Siamese  naval  commander  visits  Com.  Perry 120 

Sida,  or  Indian  gooseberry.  Peel  island 205 

Siebold,  a  writer  on  Japan 4.7 

his  comparison  of  the  language  of  Japan 

with  that  of  the  adjacent  shores 10 

remarks  on  the  Siktoo  worship 19,  20 

remarks  on  .Japanese  teas 52 

his  opinion  of  the  Japanese  expedition  ..  61 

story  of  his  banishment  from  Japan 69 

desirous  of  joining  the  Jnpani-se  expedition  70 

his  jMimphlct. 70 

letter  tu  an  oOicer  of  the  .lapim  expedi- 
tion  71 

remark  on  Gutzlaff  and  Forcadc,  mission- 
aries    72 

account  of  Oho-sima,  or  Tatao 229 

inaccuracy  of  his  map  of  the  bay  of  Tedo.  .126 

account  of  wlialcsliips,  .la|>an 4.*il 

on  .Japanese  mining.. •183 


534 


INDEX 


P«ge. 

Signs  of  shops,  Simoda. . 404 

Sikai,  or  "ten  counsels"  of  Buddhism 21 

Sillvs,  Japanese 268,458 

woven  bycriminals 51 

Sillibaboos,  piclied  up  at  sea   by  the  Southamp- 
ton  - 501 

surgical  examination  of  the 503 

left  to  be  sent  home  from  Manilla 504 

Silver,  abundant  in  Japan 60 

Simoda,  opened  to  trade  by  the  United  States 69 

discussion  relative  to   opening  tlie   port 

of 364 

approval  of  as  an  American  port 377 

Japanese  proclamation  to  the  Americans 

at 390 

Japan - -  401 

beauty  of  the  enx-irons  of 402 

its  antiquity - 402 

docks,  streets,  sewers  of 403 

houses,  shops --  404 

officials,  biiths,  diet,  vegetables 405 

rice,  religion,  temples,  monasteries,  shrines  406 

sculpture,  pictures,  demons,  gravc-yards-  407 

festivals,  "Mariners'  Temple". 410 

environs  of 411 

its  topographical  characteristics 413 

government  of 414 

harbor  of -- 415 

Commodore  Perry's  return  to 477 

regulations   respecting   American   vessels 

at 487 

earthquake  at 510 

harbor  unaffected  by  the. 512 

Simpson,  Alex.,  letter  respecting  the  Bonin  islands  305 

Sinagana,  a  suburb  of  Yedo 267,343 

Singapore,  visit  to 125 

Sintoo,  the  priests  of .- 13 

religion  of  Japan 19 

its  deities 19 

idols 19 

temples 19 

priests,  question  of  their  marriage 20 

pilgrimages 20 

duties 20 

festival  services 20 

sects 21 

temple,  Simoda 406,409 

shrines,  Simoda 410 

Siutoo,  a  Japanese  belief ;  its  rules 22 

Sira-hama,  bay  of,  near  Simoda 416 

Sirija  Saki,  Nippon 430 

Sirocco,  the,  compared  with  the  Harmattan ..  89 

Sitkokf,  an  island  of  Japan 7 

Slave,  value  of  a  Lew  C'hcwan 226 

Slavery,  system  of,  in  Lew  Chew 226 

Sledges,  carriages  drawn  on,  at  Funchal 84 

Smith,  Sir  Thomas,  licensed,   as  governor  of  the 

East  India  (Company,  to  trade  with  the  Japanese  34 

Society  in  China 296 

Socks,  Japanese 317 

Sorghum,  or  millet,  I>cvi'  Chew 173 


Page. 

Sotowra,  near  Simoda 411 

Soundings,  bay  of  Uraga 232 

Southampton  rock,  near  Simoda 417 

Soitheast  bay,  Peel  island 208 

Southern  Head,  Bonin  islands,  natural  tunnel  at..  20 

Sovereignty  of  the  Bonin  islands 213 

Sowas,  a  metal  made  by  the  Japanese 50 

Spaniards,  intercourse  of  the,  with  Japan.. 4 

Spaniel,  an  English  species  of,  possibly  introduced 

from  Japan 369 

Spars,  purchase  of,  at  Simoda 484 

Spectacles,  Japanese 462 

Speiden,  W. ,  purser,  report  on  Japanese  currencies.  478 
Sphynx,  her  British  Majesty's  ship,  visit  to  Napha, 

Lew  Chew _.  215 

Spies 193,194,217,423 

at  Lew  Chew. .157, 160, 172, 176, 192,  219,  220,  226,  280 

in  the  bay  of  Uraga 236 

vigilance  of,  relaxed  at  I^ew  Chew 284 

bad  effects  of  the  system  of 285 

Japanese 328,347,359 

follow  American  officers  in  Japan 418 

Spooner,  Mr. ,  hospitality  of 139 

Springs,  Peel  island,  brackish 209 

Squadron,  disposition  of,  for  the  return  voyage 491 

St.   Geran,  shipwreck  of  the  French  vessel,  the 

foundation  of  the  story  of  Paul  and  Virginia 112 

St.  Helena,  visit  of  the  expedition  to 91 

military  strength  of 94 

greediness   for   money   of   the    people 

of 94 

St.  Pierre  Bernardin 111 

St.  Thomas,  said  to  have  preached  in  Ceylon 120 

Standards,  Japanese 252 

Stapleton  island,  Bonin  islands,  goats  on 203 

Steam-engine,  astonishment  of  the  Japanese  at 155 

not  unknown  to  the  Japanese 248 

Steel,  Hakodadi 456 

Stirling,  Admiral,  makes  a  treaty  with  Japan 63 

copy  of  his  Japanese  treaty 388 

Stone  worked  by  Japanese 400 

Storms  off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 104 

Streets  of  Simoda  guarded  by  gates 403 

Styx,  her  British  Majesty's  steamer 105 

Subscription  list  in  a  Sintoo  temple 410 

Sugar-cane,   Lew  (Uiew 173 

Sugar  crop  at  Mauritius 109 

Sugar-loaf  island,  Lew  Chew 178 

Sugar  mills.  Lew  Chew. 313 

Sugar,  use  of,  Lew  Chew 313 

Sulphur  in  Japan 60 

spring.  Peel  island 209 

Sunday,  observance  of,  by  the  expedition 240 

Supplies  for  whale  ships  at  the  Bonin  islands 203 

for  American  ships  in  Japan 356 

cost  of,  Simoda 484 

Supply  rock,  near  Simoda 417 

the,  nearly  wrecked 144 

Suraga-no-kami,  Japanese  commissioner.. 477 

Surro-kubo,  or  Cajjc  Blunt 430,431 

Survey  of  the  bay  of  Uraga 238,241,267,268,270 


INDEX. 


535 


Puge. 

Survey  of  the  bay  of  Yedo 332 

of  the  bay  of  Vedo,  signals  for  the 355 

of  Voloino  bay,  Endermo  harbor 468 

Surveys,  Kelung 501 

of  the  Japanese  harbors,  copies  of  pre- 
sented to  the  Japanese  government 351 

Susaki.  Simoda 411 

Cape 427 

Susquehanna  bay,  Japan 268 

Swell  from  the  northwest  at  sea 88 

Swords,  Japanese- 248 

Japanese 456 

Syakfdo,  a  species  of  enamel  work 59 

Table  bay,  visit  to !)S 

Table-cloth,  a  cloud  on  Table  mountain. !I9 

Table  mountain 09 

Tailoresses,  street,  China 292 

Takahasi,  his  connection  with  Siebold 70 

Take-no-uchisetaro,  Japanese  commissioner 477 

Talipot  tree  of  Ceylon 118 

Tanka  boats 294 

boat  girls - 294 

boats  at  Macao - 140 

Taoutai,  commander-in-chief  of  Chinese  fleet 504,505 

Taoutai,  or  governor  of  Shanghai 146 

Taro  plant,  Peel  island.. 205 

Tatao,  one  of  the  Lew  Chew  islands 229 

Tatznoske,  Japanese  interpreter 244 

interpreter,  his  facility  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  languages. 251 

his  conviviality  and  shrewdness 269 

Tayko,  opposes  the  Portuguese 26 

Tayko-sama,  his  history 12 

Taylor,  Bayard,  his  manuscript  journal iv 

description  of  Lew  Chew  from  the 

sea 152 

joins  the  expedition 152 

account  of  the  harbor  of  Kapha  by.  154 

first  landing  on  Lew  Chew 156 

exploration  of  Peel  island 204 

Tea  and  pipes  served  to  guests  in  Lew  Chew 158 

culture  of,  by  the  Japanese 52 

drinking.  Lew  Chew 219 

T<:^n-sun,  the  first  ruler  of  Lew  Chew — 221 

Teeth  dying  in  Japan 395 

Telegraph ,  magnetic,  in  Japan 357 

Telescope,  Japanese 447 

Temperature  at  sea,  near  Japan,  in  July -  230 

bay  of  Uraga 239 

of  Simoda 413 

Temple  at  Lew  Chew,  visit  to 158 

Tcncriffe  not  seen - 87 

Ten  Fathom  Hole,  Port  Lloyd,  Bonin  islands 202 

Ten-sio-dai-zin,  the  patron  divinity  of  Japan 19 

the  most  sacred  of  Jajianesc  shrines  20 

Testacea,  IVmin  islands 202 

Theatrical  performances  by  sailors  of  the  expedition  470 

Thermometric  range  at  Point  de  Oalle,  Ceylon 115 

Thieves,  Chinese 138 

Thorn,  Dr.,  a  writer  on  hurricanes 113 

Thunberg,  a  writer  on  Japan 4,7 


Pnjo. 

lliunberg,  his  account  of  Japanese  rouge 395 

Tides  in  the  straits  of  Malacca 123 

of  Cochin  China 132 

at  Shanghai 144 

at  Napha,  Lew  Chew 195 

bay  of  Yedo 272 

Tigers,  ferocity  of,  at  Singapore 130 

Tima-gusko,  ruins  of  the  castle  of.  Kapha 280 

Tin.  in  Japan 60 

Titsingh,  a  writer  on  Japan 4,7 

account  of  the  operation  of  the  Dozia 

powder 56 

Toasts,  drinking,  in  Lew  Chew. 191 

Tobacco,  Peel  island 206 

smoking.  Lew  Chew 219 

Toda-Idzu-no-kami,  Japanese  commissioner. 251 

Todo,  Japanese  commissioner 255 

Togirasaki,  a  Japanese  village 268 

Tomatoes,  Peel  island. 208 

Tombs,  Lew  Chew 167,  16S 

called  "houses  of  the  devil's  men,"  Lew 

Chew 173 

Lew  Chewan 226 

Tomes,  Robert,  his  share  in  the  authorship  of  this 

publication iv 

Torigasaki,  village  of,  bay  of  Yedo 328 

Town  hall,  Tumai,  Lew  Chew. 158 

Trade  winds,  northern  boundary  of 88 

encountered  by  the  expedition 90 

Trades 97 

Treaty  between  Japan  and  the  United  States 350 

of  commerce,  terms  proposed  by  the  Japa- 
nese   361 

Commodore  Perry's  replies  to. 362 

conversation  between  Yenoske  and  Commo- 
dore Perry  respecting  the 372 

conference  respecting  the 376 

between  the  United  States  and  Japan 377 

objects  secured  liy  the 380 

difficulties  incident  to  its  formation 380 

progress  of  the  formation  of  the 383 

discussion  as  to  when  it  shall  go  into  effect  384 

patience  required  for  its  negotiation 386 

qualifications  of  the,  inserted  by  the  Japa- 
nese    386 

advantages  secured  by .-  388 

the,  sent  to  the  United  States 393 

ratified  by  the  Senate 509 

time  of  ratification  of,  in  Japan 513 

"Treaty-house,"  Yoku-hama 344 

Treaty  Point,  near  Hakodadi 430 

Trees  of  Japan 61 

Trials,  mode  of  conducting  among  the  Japanese  ..  18 

Tsuki  Point,  near  Hakodadi 432 

Tuchara,  island  of 222 

Tunnels,  natural,  in  the  Bonin  islands 201 

Turcomans  of   Asia  Minor    use   ladles   similar    to 

those  of  the  Japanese 157 

Turtle,  Peel  island 205 

green  - - — --  202 

Tiirtles  from  the  Bonin  islands 424 


536 


INDEX 


Page. 
500 
311 
477 
347 
417 


TS'phoon  near  Formosa 

Typhoons  felt  at  Lew  Chew 

Tzudsuki,  Japanese  commissioner 

Udono,  Japanese  commissioner 

Ukona  rocks,  near  Simoda 

Uniform,  Jap.^nese 237,  243 

United  States  commercial  agent  at  Point  de  Galle, 

Ceylon,  imprisoned  for  debt 115 

correspondence  of  the,  with  Holland, 

relative  to  Japan '      66 

intercourse  with  Japan,  expedition 

ofl846 -- 47 

priority  of  their  treaty  with  Japan.  74 

seamen  imprisoned  in  Japan 48 

forced  to  trample  on  the  cross  48 

released 48 

the  "Middle  Kingdom" 75 

Un-na,  Lew  Chew - - 180 

Uraga,  Japan - —  231 

bay  of,  Japan  -. - --  232 

city  of —  232 

vice  governor  of,   received  on   board  the 

squadron 234 

picturesque  shores  of  the  bay  of- 237,  265,  267 

survey  of  the  bay  of 268,  270 

proposed  as  a  place  of  negotiation 328 

discussion  respecting  a  meeting  at 336 

Vandalia,  voyage  of  the,  to  Lew  Chew 286 

Vandalia  bluff,  Simoda  harbor  - - 416 

Van  Twist,  Duymaer,  letter  to    Com.    Perry  an- 
nouncing the  death  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan —  322 

A'cgetablcs,  Simoda 405 

Vegetation,  peculiar,  of  the  Bonin  islands 209 

luxuriant,  of  the  bay  of  Yedo. 394 

Vessels,  sea,  of  the  Japanese -  53 

Victoria,  Hong  Kong 134 

Victoria,  the  English  bishop  of,  and  his  account 

of  his  official  visit  to  Lew  Chew  in  1850 223 

Victoria,   the  English  bishop  of,  remark  on  the 

writings  of  Confucius -- 224 

Victoria,   the  English  bishop  of,  account  of  Dr. 

Bettclheim - 225 

Village,  Lew  Chew,  description  of —  218 

Villages,  Lew  Chew --  173 

Virgin  and   child,   image  of,  found   in  a   lieathen 

temple  in  Singapore  - 128 

Vocabulary  of  Lew  Chew  and  Japanese  words 315 

Volcanic  formation  of  Peel  island 209 

Volcano  bay,  survey  of 468 

Volcanoes - 7 

in  Endermo  harbor 469 

Vries  island,  or  Oo-sima,  bay  of  Yedo -  231 

Japan 271 

Vulcan  island,  Japan 271 

Wages  of  laborers,  Lew  Chew 220 

Walls  of  coral  in  Lew  Chew 156 

Wampon  river . 144 

Wardenaar,  his  connexion  with  the  expedition  of 

Raffles 42 

Washington,  George,  remark  of  Lew  Chew  official 

on 16   si 


Page. 

Washington,  "  very  gre.at  mandarin"  - -  192 

known  to  the  Japanese 333 

styled    the   great   mandarin  at  Lew 

Chew 496 

monument,  Japanese  stone   for 4S5 

stone  contributed  to,  from 

Lew  Chew .-.  497 

Washington's  birth-day,   celebration    of,    by   the 

American  squadron  in  Japan 333,  334 

Watch,  a  curiosity  in  Lew  Chew 175,  176 

Water  buffalo  of  Singapore 131 

Wax  plant.  Lew  Chew 168 

Webster  island,  Japan 353,  399 

We-dae-o-gang,  or  smaller  officials  of  Lew  Chew..  226 

Weirs  for  fish.  Lew  Chew 168 

Whale  ships,  supplies  for,  Bonin  islands 203 

fishery  off  Japan  opened  by  the  treaty 212 

fishers,  protection  to  shipwrecked,  demand- 
ed of  the  Japanese 257 

Whaling  depot,  Hakodadi 451 

Whampoa,  a  Chinese  merchant  at  Singapore,  his 

hospitality 128 

anchorage  at 135 

pagoda - 135 

Wharf,  temporary  Japanese,  of  bags  of  sand  and 

straw 254 

Williams,  Wells,  interpreter 154,  155 

Wind,  direction  of -  89 

Winds,  encountered  off  the  Cape  and  in  the  Indian 

ocean - -  103 

Winter,  severity  of,  Japan 342 

Women,  seclusion  of.  Lew  Chew 193 

industry  of.  Lew  Chew 219 

position  of.  Lew  Chew  ;  dress 316 

foreign,  not  wanted  in  Japan 385,  386 

American,  at  Simoda 390 

driven  away  on  approach  of  Commodore 

Perry. 394 

Japanese,  visited  by  Commodore  Perry..  395 

J.apanese,  woric  in  the  fields 396 

social  position  of,  in  Japan 397 

Wood,  dense.  Lew  Chew. 177 

Wood-cuts,  Japanese - - 459 

Woosung,  village  of 144 

Wives,  importance  of  the  number  of,  in  China  —  296 

Woven  fabrics  of  the  Japanese 51 

Wrecks  of  American  vessels,  Japan,  communica- 
tion respecting 471 

Wrestlers,  Japtinese -  369,  370 

Japanese,  drawings  of.- 461 

Wrestling  match,  Japanese 37 1 

Writing,  hand.  Lew  Chew 224 

Xavicr,  his  mission  in  Japan -  24 

establishes  Christianity  in  Ceylon 120 

Yang-tso-keang  river - 144 

Yedo 6.7 

town  observed  on  the  bay  of -  241 

plan  of,  shown  to  Japanese  officials 251 

port  of,  in  sight.. 267 

advantages  of  the  survey  of  the  bay  of 273 

shores  of  the  hay  of,  in  winter 326 


INDEX. 


537 


Page. 

Tedo,  bay  of 327 

Japanese  refuse  to  receive  the  expeditiou  at.  330 

bells  of,  heard  by  the  American  expedition.  337 
surveying  boats  of  the  expedition  approach 

within  four  miles  of S-iO 

populousness  of  the  bay  of 343 

an  American  officer  on  his  way  to 359 

glimpse  of,  through  a  fog -- 388 

Commodore  Perry's  reasons  for  not  visiting.  399 

scurvy,  Ainos -. 451 

Tcnoske,  a  Japanese  interpreter 340,348,417 

reply  to  the  letter  of  the  President  of  the 

United  States  - 350 

visits  Commodpre  Perry 372 

duplicity  of 395 

readiness  to  assume  blame 485 

his  farewell  visit  to  Commodore  Perry..  486 
Yezaimen,  governor  of  Uraga,  visits  Commodoie 

Perr)' 237 

his  second  visit 240 

his  third  visit  to  Com.  Perry 244 

bearer  of  a  letter  from  the  Emperor  of 

Japan  to  Com.  Perry 249 

visit  to  the  Susquehanna  on  the  day  of 
the   reception  of  the  letter  of  the 

President-  - 253 

conversation  with  Captain  Buchanan..  2 63 


rage. 
Yezaimen,  his  examination  of  the  engine  of  the 

Susquehanna  when  in  motion 264 

his   visit  of  expostulation   on   the  ad- 
vance of  the  squadron 265 

his  appreciation  of  good  cheer 260 

brings  presents  to  Com.  Perry 268, 269 

bis  friendliness 269 

parting  health  to  the  Americans 270 

visits  the  squadron 337 

\-isits  the  Powhatan 340 

takes  charge  of  a  letter  from    "  Sjim 

Patch,"  of  Japan 340 

conversation  with  Captain  Adams 34 1 

makes  arrangements  for  the  delivery 

of  the  Emperor's  letter 342 

Yokuhama,  Japan _ 343 

Yomi,  the  pure  Japanese  dialect 9 

Yoritimo,  his  history 11 

Yuitz,  a  Sintoo  sect 21 

21ietsa-zhi,  a  Buddhist  monastery,  Hakodadi 443 

Zhiogcn-zhi,  a  Buddliist  temple,  Hakodadi 442 

Zhi-zo-bozats,  a  Japanese  deity 412 

Zingoons,  or  temporal  sovereigns  of  Japttn 11, 13 

Zin-mu-ten-woo,  the  founder  of  the  Japanese  sov- 
ereignty   11 

Ziogoon,  now  dethroned. 15 

Zipangu 4 


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